Matthew Dee grew up a slacker of the highest order, annoyed that he was forced to read fiction about far-away lands and magic, more interested in learning about the real problems of growing up: working, paying taxes, and worrying about dying of cancer. Fast-forward 15 years and life seems to be imitating the fiction Matthew was so uninterested in. He’s working for a government agency dubbed Majestic and is currently on a mission to rescue a genius professor who’s been kidnapped and forced (via drugging with magic mushrooms!) by an extreme cult to build a device that would bridge our dimension with one that’s inhabited by an extra-terrestrial race called The Daoine Sidhe. Not only that, but Matthew has magic at his disposal, a talent that sees him able to vocalize sigils to conjure some nasty effects. Along with his partner, the attractive Agent Gygax, the mission is successful but opens up a huge can of worms that the agency he works for wants tied up. How did these guys get the blueprints to build the machine? Who exactly is the cult and why would they want to unleash a deadly race of aliens that has been suppressed throughout the ages? And just who is the mysterious person in Matthew’s apartment that’s more than a bit jealous about his recent mission with Agent Gygax?

The first issue of Lucid is quite a kick-off, one that almost has me frightened right from the get-go that a 4-issue mini-series might not be big enough to tell such an ambitious tale. While the story certainly isn’t breaking any new ground, there’s a ton of possible story threads that are introduced here, including Agent Gygax’s advances toward Matthew and her background with the organization they work for (her father was an agent as well), the mysterious person (is it even a woman?) in Matthew’s apartment that we only hear from briefly, the conjuring of souls from the ether to gain information, and the race of aliens themselves. One of the more interesting little tidbits in this opening issue is that The Daoine Sidhe have been attempting to take over Earth since the dawn of time, until Merlin of Camelot (!) cast a spell banishing them to their current dimension. This is a pretty neat story thread for a sci-fi book, and I’d love to see them expand on it. Just this nugget alone screams for a prequel mini-series if this one is successful, and I truly hope it is as there’s a lot to enjoy here and a heck of a lot of story progress is made in just 22 pages.

The dialogue is crisp and entertaining, and even with some characters only having a few lines to contribute, there’s enough conveyed in said lines to show everyone’s individual personalities and traits. One thing I do hope we get to see is Matthew’s coming to grips with his magical abilities and the bizarre world he’s entrenched in, as the quick flashback we get shows he obviously wasn’t one to ever entertain a belief in aliens or magic. Anna Wieszczyk (a very sexy comic artist if there ever was one) gets her first crack at a semi-ongoing series and she makes the most of it, giving things a unique feel that certainly helps this comic stand out on the rack. It evokes the mood of manga but with a more Western slant; the closest thing I can compare it to is Peter Chung’s work on the incredible Aeon Flux animated series. There isn’t a whole lot of cross-hatching or texture work going on, instead focusing on clean lines and some great color work (also courtesy of Wieszczyk) that creates a subtle yet deliberate futuristic mood. Basically, her work is a wonderful fit for McMillian’s story.

Overall I was quite impressed with the inaugural issue of Lucid, so much so that I’m almost saddened that it’s only slated for 4 issues. There’s a lot of things that could go wrong in the upcoming three issues, but there’s also a ton of interesting ways it could go and I’m hoping for the best as the foundation is solid and if things continue to move along a positive track, story-wise and in sales, it might be a safe bet we’ll see more of this universe after this mini is concluded; the fact that this is the first release in Archaia’s deal with Zachary Quinto’s Before the Door production company gives me even more hope. Lucid has all the hallmarks of a potential sci-fi sleeper hit.

The second issue of Lucid veers off into some unexpected territory, as Majestic agent Matthew Dee has been assigned to stand guard as the President of the United States delivers a speech on President’s Day. Shit hits the fan when an assassination attempt is successfully pulled off and a magic bullet strikes the president. Matthew is able to cast a number of spells that effectively shrink the bullet, slowing the effects of the magic down inside the president’s system, but the assassin was working for someone, and unless he’s found and killed within 24 hours, our nation’s leader is as good as dead.

I was sort of taken aback at the story present in the second issue of Lucid, as things go in a direction I wasn’t expecting whatsoever. After the failed invasion attempt of The Daoine Sidhe in the first issue, all signs pointed to that being the central focus of this 4 part mini-series. However that’s not the case at all; remember that little tidbit about Merlin of Camelot banishing them from Earth? That actually looks to be the more important plot device at work, as Majestic’s goal of operations is revealed to be something akin to a police force for the inevitable second coming of Camelot, where not just those trained in magic would have access to spells, but every single person walking the Earth would be able to wield them. The Pendragon, who can be reborn through the centuries, is apparently the catalyst for this revolution, and some people are out to put a stop to him once they discover who he is, fearing that magic for all would cause chaos across the world. It also appears that there’s someone posing as The Pendragon and using the mantel for personal gain.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with this issue; in fact, there’s some very cool instances such as playing with non-fictional events in American history that are pretty amusing, but at only 4 issues total this already seems like a derailment from what was established in the opening chapter. Agent Gygax is nowhere to be seen here and The Daoine Sidhe, who were such a focus during the opening of the story, are nary mentioned, and instead we get a bigger focus on the President who only got a couple of panels in the first issue and wasn’t expressly identified as the actual President of the United States. By the end of the issue, it all starts to tie up okay, but I can’t help but think with this portion of the narrative getting to the obvious main plot that will drive the rest forward, if maybe the first issue wasn’t a waste of time when such a short window of opportunity is being worked with. These guys could prove me wrong in the final half, and I sure hope they do.

Praise should be heaped on Matthew’s character development throughout this installment, as well as a quick bit of dialogue that effectively summarizes his acceptance of the weird job he’s taken on. I’m also getting the vibe that the mysterious woman from Matthew’s apartment, who can now be confirmed as such with the name Ariah, will prove to be a surprise before all is said and done. The dialogue holds true to its quick and entertaining pace, and the artwork is still quite alluring. A bit of a deviation of what most readers were likely expecting after the debut issue, this follow-up plants some nice plot seeds that I’m keeping my fingers crossed can be handled with only two issues to go.

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