Matt Wagner has been trying to get his superhero series Mage finished for decades now — and it looks like the end is finally nigh for Kevin Matchstick, because the last chapter in the saga just got announced for release this year.
Revealed at Emerald City Comic Con Mage: The Hero Denied will begin this July with a special #0 issue at San Diego Comic-Con, with the 15-issue series written by Wagner and illustrated by his son, Brennan.
It’s the end of a long, long road for Wagner, who’s other work over the years alongside Mage has included his creator-owned series Grendel, and work for DC on characters like Batman, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Sandman. Mage started all the way back in 1984, but production of the second chapter in the series was delayed for over a decade after Wagner fought to get the rights to the series back after the original publisher went bankrupt in 1990. It’s been another 18 years since then though, and the journey of Matchstick — a man who discovered a magical baseball bat and learns his true identity as a mighty hero — has gone untold until now.
Mage dealt with a lot of interesting themes over its first two chapters, as we saw Kevin growing up and maturing into his newfound heroic role, and grappled with the consequences of decisions made for him over the course of the series. It’s amazing to see that, all these years later, Wagner is going to get to finish this story.
[CBR]