A MISCHIEF OF MAGPIES #1 (DSTLRY)

A young boy named Marinus leads a tough life, that only gets weirder when he falls asleep. While asleep he is transported to a world where he doesn’t know if it’s real or not. But the mystery of the reality of the place is only the tip of the iceberg.

A Mischief of Magpies #1 - Written By Simon Spurrier – Art By Matías Bergara – Colors By Matías Bergara & Kike J. Díaz - Letters By Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou – Edited By Eric Harburn - Published By DSTLRY

Credit: DSTLRY

STORY OVERVIEW:

Marinus is a young boy who has had a very rough life despite being young. It seems like everything that can go wrong does go wrong. He is bullied, beat up, and treated like he is invisible by his peers. The adults in his life don’t know how to treat him and what ails him. And to top it all off his younger sister, Sally, is really sick and this ties up his parents and puts extra stress on him. He needs an escape and fortunately for him that comes in the form of what appears to be a lucid dream. But as the years go on, this dream becomes increasingly more real. This world is strange and appears to need his help, which makes him feel needed for the first time in his life. But is this world real or just a dream?

WRITING:

The first issue of this new series is intentionally disorienting, and that off-balance feeling becomes one of its strongest storytelling tools. Simon Spurrier does not ease the reader into Marinus’s situation so much as drop them directly into the confusion, sadness, and strangeness that define his world. The result is a story that feels unpredictable from page to page, shifting between the harsh reality of Marinus’s daily life and the surreal dreamscape he enters when he sleeps. That dream world is filled with fantastic and unsettling imagery, but Spurrier makes sure it never feels like simple escapism. Instead, it carries its own tension, rules, and mystery, making the reader question whether Marinus has found refuge, stumbled into danger, or uncovered something much larger than himself.

Spurrier is especially effective when building Marinus as a character. He is not just written as a sad child or an easy figure of sympathy; he is presented as someone worn down by neglect, bullying, fear, and loneliness before he has even had the chance to understand himself. The way others dismiss him gives his isolation a painful weight, and that makes his connection to the strange dream world feel meaningful rather than random. For the first time, Marinus appears to have a place where his presence matters and where he may be capable of doing something important. That emotional contrast gives the issue much of its power. The story remains dreary and heavy, but beneath the gloom there is a fragile sense of possibility, as if Marinus’s pain might lead him toward purpose instead of simply swallowing him whole.

ARTWORK:

The artwork in this first issue perfectly captures the emotional weight and strange atmosphere of the story. Matías Bergara brings Marinus’s world to life with visuals that feel both grounded in sadness and touched by something unreal. The scenes from Marinus’s everyday life have a heavy, worn-down quality that helps the reader feel the despair, loneliness, and exhaustion he carries with him. His surroundings never feel welcoming, and the way the artwork frames him often reinforces just how small and isolated he is in a world that does not seem to understand him. That visual approach makes his pain feel immediate without needing to overstate it.

Even when the story shifts into the stranger dream world, Bergara keeps the art from becoming too bright or comforting. The fantasy elements have a subdued and uneasy feeling, which makes the setting feel mysterious rather than purely magical. The color work by Matías Bergara and Kike J. Díaz adds a lot to that mood, using darker and gloomier tones through much of the issue while allowing small moments of warmth to break through. Those warmer moments never erase the sadness underneath, but they do suggest that there may be hope hidden inside the darkness. Every panel feels carefully connected to Marinus’s emotional state, making the artwork more than just a visual companion to the story; it becomes a major part of how the issue communicates its loneliness, fear, wonder, and fragile sense of possibility.

CHECK OUT MY REVIEW OF WHITE BOAT #3

Final Thoughts:

A Mischief of Magpies #1 is weird depressing introduction into a strange world that may not even be real. The story explores a young man’s rough life well intertwining it with a strange and hopeful dream world. This is a heavy read that brings a gloomy feeling of hope to the reader. Even though this is a heavy read, it’s still a worthwhile read. Give this issue a shot and grab a copy on Neon Ichiban today.

FINAL GRADE: 8.6/10

Let me know your thoughts on A Mischief of Magpies #1 in the comments below. Thanks for reading!