See This.

I found Magic Words through misersdream’s other comic, Miracle Simulator, which I followed for its entire original run.

Misersdream always has a fantastic handle on the emotional beats of her stories. I didn’t realize it, but I’d actually forgotten a lot of the details of chapter 1 in the two years since it came out. Rereading chapter 1 for this post felt almost like reading it for the first time, and I was immediately sucked right back into the story.

I was quickly taken by Gilda. You quickly get a sense for what she’s like as a person, how hard she’s been working to take care of Elis, and how much she’s been struggling in a village that rejects her. I really enjoyed how naturally and easily we were able to learn what she’s like and why, and was very immediately attached to her all over again.

Rereading also gave me new appreciation for Elis and W. Their dynamic is incredibly fun, usually very teasing and often at odds. But their talk at the end of the chapter is probably one of my favorite scenes in the comic, and I really love how they play off of each other and help each other grow.

In general, W as a character interests me a lot. He’s introduced as someone kind onstage and curt off, revealing himself to be a very selfish and arrogant character. He's short with others and adamantly refuses to help others, not to mention having a flippant, disrespectful sense of humor, especially when in danger.

...but it soon becomes clear there's a lot more going on with him. He cares far more than he pretends to and is kinder than he acts, though this facade is the first of many. W appears to be a character who lies far more than he's honest, and the more you learn about him, the less it feels like you know. I can never accept any fact he presents about himself, and am very excited to see what his actions reveal. He's a character with a lot of past and a lot of mystery, and that makes him fascinating to follow.

Rereading chapter 1 allowed me to see a few points of foreshadowing of later chapters that I didn’t pick up on when reading it as it aired. I’m pretty curious to know if there’s even more I missed because I still don’t have context, but I’ll just have to reread it again in another two years!

I’ve mostly been talking about chapter 1 for this post, but I do want to give a nod toward chapter 3 as well. I try to keep these relatively spoiler free, so I won’t give too many details, but I loved the mystery. Goldie has rapidly become my favorite character as well—I love her design, as well as her cool, collected intelligence. A lot of stories like to tell you a character is smart without doing the work to back it up, but Magic Words very effectively convinced and impressed me with her quick, sharp thinking.

Also—and this is such a small detail—but I absolutely adore how this comic draws fire. Any magic, really, but I’ll always have a soft spot for beautiful fires. I also included some in the preview image above, and there’s an incredible sequence late chapter one I didn’t include for spoilers, but I often have to stop and look at them.

…Something I’m noticing as I type this is that magical fire seems to be colored differently depending on who cast the spell. I’ll definitely be watching to see if that holds up as we see more magic users!