The Black Mage

by Daniel Barnes, DJ Kirkland

Overview

Harry Potter meets Final Fantasy in this subversive original graphic novel where race, history and magic collide.

When St. Ivory Academy, a historically white wizarding school, opens its doors to its first-ever black student, everyone believes that the wizarding community is finally taking its first crucial steps toward inclusivity. Or is it? When Tom Token, the beneficiary of the school's "Magical Minority Initiative," begins uncovering weird clues and receiving creepy texts on his phone, he and his friend, Lindsay, stumble into a conspiracy that dates all the way back to the American Civil War, and could cost Tom his very soul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620106525
Publisher:	Oni Press
Publication date:	10/29/2019
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	539,773
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Daniel Barnes is a writer from Fresno, CA. After serving in the U.S. Navy for four years, he enrolled in Academy of Art University, where he currently pursues a BFA in Animation Production. When he’s not writing or procrastinating on his schoolwork, Daniel enjoys geeking out about Nintendo and being a weeb. He currently resides in San Francisco, CA. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @Danny8bit, if you're into that kinda thing...

D.J. Kirkland is a comic book artist from Charlotte, NC. He graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2009 with a BFA in Sequential Art, which is just a fancy word for comic books. When he’s not drawing comics, D.J. spends his time doing MORE drawing, playing fighting games, watching anime and talking about all of those things on a podcast with one of his best friends called Magical Boys. You catch him yelling about all of those things on Twitter and Instagram @OhHeyDJ.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/01/2019

Gr 7 Up—Tom Token is the first black student—and black mage—to be admitted to St. Ivory's Academy of Spellcraft and Sorcery. Tom's first day sees him fighting racist students and encountering faculty wearing Klan hoods, but he also befriends Lindsay, his student liaison, and soon, he stumbles onto a conspiracy. It looks like there might have been black students at the school in the past. Tom sets out to unravel this secret, with the help of not only Lindsay but also the ghosts of legendary wizards Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. The world of St. Ivory's is littered with references to "Harry Potter," Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Sailor Moon, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even more obscure media, such as G Gundam, much of which might fly over younger readers' heads. There are also allusions to racial tensions throughout history; those who reread and reexamine imagery will be richly rewarded. The pace is brisk, and Tom and Lindsay receive only a modicum of backstory before the story picks up. But the vivid, anime-esque artwork and creative, at times explosive panel layouts make up for the gaps in characterization, engrossing readers in a one-of-a-kind adventure. VERDICT Barnes and Kirkland's dynamic tale is best described as Jordan Peele's Get Out for the graphic novel set. Action packed, thoughtful, and visually delicious, this is a story that's not to be missed.—Matisse Mozer, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

2019-08-28
St. Ivory Academy of Spellcraft and Sorcery has launched a Magical Minority Initiative, but newly enrolled Tom Token discovers it's harboring some long, dark secrets.

Artistically influenced by anime and manga, this volume puts a contemporary racial twist on the misadventures of teenagers in a wizarding school à la Hogwarts. Readers are introduced to St. Ivory—think ivory tower—which presents itself to the brilliant yet underserved black teenager Tom as interested in increasing diversity and stepping away from its separate-but-equal past, or so says headmaster Atticus Lynch III. Readers can expect racially coded puns throughout. Some might call it campy, others corny for its humor, which in no meaningful way disguises the meta-purpose of the text as a racial allegory on today's struggle amid much neo-Confederate discourse on increasing minority representation versus achieving substantive racial justice goals. Readers find the ghostly Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and the (possibly mythical) figure of John Henry thrown in to offset the obvious villains with a cohort of black resistance historical actors. After experiencing numerous stereotypical racial microaggressions, Tom and his familiar, a crow named Jim, are clued into a web of a conspiracy that goes back to the Civil War. With the help of his student liaison and newly-minted White Ally(™) Lindsay, they must act before fatal consequences ensue.

Succeeds at increasing black representation in graphic fantasy but not much else. (Graphic novel. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews

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