Maestros Volume 1

by Steve Skroce, Steve Skroce (Artist)

Overview

The Maestro and his entire royal family have been murdered. Now, his banished son from Earth will inherit the Wizard King's throne along with a spell that turns its user into GOD. With enemies everywhere, will this Orlando-born millennial be able to keep his new magic kingdom? From STEVE SKROCE, the storyboard artist of The Matrix trilogy, the artist and co-creator of WE STAND ON GUARD and Doc Frankenstein, the writer / artist of Wolverine, and the artist of Amazing Spider-Man and ALAN MOORE’s YOUNGBLOOD.

Collects issues 1-6.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534306738
Publisher:	Image Comics
Publication date:	11/06/2018
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	557,640
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

Editorial Reviews

10/15/2018
This black-humored, cheerfully violent fantasy saga opens with the gruesome murder of the Maestro, the despotic magician emperor of another dimension, leaving his disavowed Earthborn half-human son, Willy, heir to the throne. The roguish Willy boasts his own magic, along with a vague sense of morality. With the aid of his estranged mother, Margaret, and his childhood friend and protector, Wren, he seeks to recapture and bring at least an illusion of order to the Infinite Realms. The realms’ diversity of cultures include elves; demons; Backstabber, a talking sword; and a giant sentient sunflower named Gah’ree. Skroce, a cartoonist (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Hollywood storyboard designer (The Matrix), drops a huge amount of plot into this breakneck adventure through infodump dialogue, but it’s handled with such a light touch it’s forgivable. His fine-lined, psychedelic penwork and subtly diffused palette of bright colors pop off the page. Mixing the rebel-hero trope of caper movies with the questing knight of high legend, this fantasy series is rich with double crosses and wicked imagination. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Maestros is manic magic! We've waited too damn long for Steve to have his own book but this was worth the wait. Maestros is a Skroce Hadron Collider where panel-packed action slams into his wicked sense of humor releasing some of the most original and gleeful fun comics has seen in some time.” -Lana Wachowski, creator of The Matrix and Sense8

"Funny, violent, psychosexual insanity." -Comic Book Resources

"A deliciously detailed journey into the bizarre." -ComicBook.com

"Skroce’s dynamic style and pacing keeps the pages turning so fast that fans might want to read this one two or three times in order to catch the exquisite detail (enhanced by the work of colorist Dave Stewart) and impressive worldbuilding on display. Tons of fun, with the welcomed promise of future volumes.” —Library Journal, starred review

“A beautifully drawn book pulsing with details you can’t imagine, featuring wizardry cloaked in a sheen of sarcastic sleaze.” —The Oregonian

“This acerbic book promises to be a nice balance to all the more serious fantasy stories in comics right now, and that it looks good while doing it is icing on the cake.” —Uproxx

From the Publisher

12/01/2018

Will makes a nice living selling enchantments to unscrupulous businessmen and has little ambition beyond that until his father, the most powerful wizard in existence and ruler of a vast empire, is murdered. After discovering that he's next in line to the throne, Will must contend with memories of his traumatic upbringing as an unwanted half-breed (his mother is human) and multiple monstrous enemies determined to get their hands on a dangerous spell capable of granting total omnipotence. Skroce (We Stand on Guard) has been one of the most admired illustrators in comics for year and here proves himself a terrific writer as well, delivering a cleverly plotted story with loads of swashbuckling action, gore, pathos, and sleaze. VERDICT Skroce's dynamic style and pacing keeps the pages turning so fast that fans might want to read this one two or three times in order to catch the exquisite detail (enhanced by the work of colorist Dave Stewart) and impressive worldbuilding on display. Tons of fun, with the welcomed promise of future volumes.—TB

Library Journal