Books: Magical Mayhem Limited Series Double Feature

I've been working on my backlog of comics, and I thought these two magic-focused trade paperback collections were worth a mention:

Monte Cook's Ptolus: City by the Spire

I had never heard of Monte Cook's Ptolus campaign setting, so maybe it wasn't surprising that this book was sitting in the bargain bin in my local comic shop. It's not an RPG sourcebook, but a straightforward comic series about swashbuckling treasure hunter Sheva Callister and her adventures in the titular city. The series only lasted six issues, so this is a breezy read if you're in the mood for some swords and sorcery.

Sheva's a great fighter and thief, but otherwise she's in way over her head as she tries to recover a mystical artifact, resurrect her dead friend, and avoid getting fried by otherworldly monsters and powerful arch-mages. "Ptolus" gets the nod from me based on an interesting Indiana Jones-meets-noir tone, pretty good art, and interesting mystical factions that I'm probably going to steal for my next D&D campaign.

Smoke and Mirrors

Many comic books have magic in their settings, but "Smoke and Mirrors" is very much about magic. In the book, stage illusionist Terry Ward is suddenly transported from our world to a parallel universe: one where real magic not only exists, but is so ubiquitous it powers stuff like cell phones. Stranded in an unfamiliar land, Terry finds that his sleight of hand and mentalist tricks seem like "magic" to the people in this new world, and he must use them to survive.

It's a fantastic conceit, but "Smoke and Mirrors" doesn't quite do enough with it. The story centers around Terry's friendship with a teenage boy and his battle with a Steve Jobs-esque tech mogul, so you actually see very little of this strange new world. Still, it's co-written by professional magician Jon Armstrong, and there are actually mentalist tricks woven into the book itself that the reader can try - how many comic books can you say that about?