Magic-Based Book ‘Excellence’ From Skybound Pits Generations At Odds

Justice League Dark, Magic Order; there seems to be something of a revival in magically powered comic book characters both new and old these days, and this May another comic book featuring such supernatural folk with Image/Skybound’s new series, Excellence by Khary Randolph (We Are Robin, Black, Tech Jacket) and Brandon Thomas (Horizon, The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury, Noble).

Excellence follows Spencer Dales, a young man born into a world of magic. His father belongs to the Aegis, a secret society of magicians ordered by their unseen masters to better the lives of others—those with greater potential—but never themselves.

Expanding on the outline, Thomas adds:

Excellence is all about contrasts—characters that are capable of doing these impossible things, but whose abilities are largely defined by others. This conflict explodes within a relationship between a father and son that have very different ideas about who should benefit from this power, and how long they’re supposed to wait around for things to get ‘better.’ Like most popular genres, fantasy is in desperate need of expansion, and we’re excited and honored to fill that void with this action-packed series, as we agree with our protagonist…it’s now or never.

And Thomas wasn’t the only one to big up this new book. Enter, Randolph to say this:

One of the major themes of this book was generational rifts, so from every aspect of the worldbuilding, I tried to mash up the old with the new. Taking visual cues from artists like Jim Steranko, Hitchcock, and Saul Bass and remixing them with anime, hip-hop, and video game influences. At the end of the day, we’re just trying to create a world that is beautiful to look at but also resonates on a deeper emotional level.

Sounds good? Well, if so, do look for it in comic book stores and digitally May 8th with FOC on April 15th.