SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki Review!

Simply beginning as slice of life web comic Supermutant Magic Academy is a compilation of comic strips from this not so ordinary high school. Where we see little interactions between the students, teachers and themselves experiencing the most mundane high school situations like failing a test, prom, trying to find the school’s wifi hotspot or procrastinating on a project but with the added twist of magic wands, lasers, and shape shifting into trees. We also see the characters discovering their sexuality, superpower or the secrets to the universe between classes, during P.E. and in their dorm rooms. Making this a very witty, quirky, and relatable graphic novel that summarizes high school with each panel.

Although what is probably the best thing from this graphic novel is the hilarious and very diverse characters. From an everlasting boy who continuously dies and regenerates, an artist hell bent on making a statement about the world to her less appreciative peers, a shy and sarcastic dungeon master attempting to confess her feelings to her best friend and a jock named Cheddar who only has time to go off on existential rants as he refuses to become the chosen one. And yet this is only skimming the surface of all the characters featured in the novel and as you may be able to tell that they are quite distinct and memorable.

Overall the art style and story telling of this graphic novel is very welcoming and a whole bunch of fun in its simplicity. Making it a great book for people trying to get into graphic novels but are sort of struggling with the transition from text only to primarily illustrations and dialogue because like a real novel there are spaces left for you to fill in, but instead of it being images and characters it’s the story and how everything comes together which allows your imagination to roam and flourish at the Supermutant Magic Academy.