ARCANA

The appearance of a missing heir triggers a long-buried curse.

Flirting with a handsome photographer who walks into his coffeehouse leads to a big surprise for Eli Jones, when he learns that the powers he’s been hiding for years are actually witchcraft. After that attractive stranger, James Birdwhistle, catches Eli practicing his craft in an abandoned farmhouse in the British countryside, he’s quick to bring Eli for training by the Arcana, an ancient society of witches based in London that’s tasked with investigating and containing supernatural occurrences. But the Majors, the Arcana’s ruling body, are less than pleased with this development; Eli’s arrival coincides with strange happenings. Determined to get to the bottom of the Majors’ caginess and explain the dark energy stalking them, Eli and James band together with levelheaded trans woman Daphne, library-loving researcher Grayson, and tarot reader Koko to uncover the truth. Prentice-Jones’ illustrations employ a muted color palette of cool blues, olive browns, and burgundies that flow organically into one another, accentuating the clean, uncluttered panels and fluid lines. He also plays effectively with proportion and shape in his character drawings. The cast members, who largely seem to be adults rather than teens, are diverse across many dimensions, including race and body type. This first installment in a new series teases satisfying developments to come.

An unapologetically queer story that effectively explores an intriguing mystery.