The 1930s is one of the perfect settings for practically anything, especially cop noirs. It may be saturated, but in the hands of a great writer, a story like that can be excellent. Comic writer Christian Ward throws his hat into the arena and coming up with an interesting twist in Tommy Gun Wizards†with art by Sami Kivelä and it has some potential. In an alternate 1931 Chicago, alcohol isn’t the only thing outlawed.
A substance called “Lick†that grants people magical powers is also outlawed due to magic being outlawed. After a raid on a speakeasy, a group of detectives is trying to take down not just Al Capone, but churches ad even wizards. This is a different take on the prohibition era. There is a lot that can be done once you introduce magic.
The idea of Al Capone may be having a magic wielder under his employ has a lot of potential to be great. The characters themselves fit the genre perfectly with some nice additions. A secretly gay character, a hipster and a drunk who goes to church just for the wine are hilarious.   There’s also a chance that this can go wrong. This whole magic thing can just be a way to make this stand out from the other comics in this genre and will just be used as nothing more than just another alcohol. If Ward can avoid these downfalls this can be an entertaining comic.    Â
The art manages to get the 1930s look down correctly while at the same time adding some groovy colors. While there are normal colors, sometimes there would be some colors that usually don’t mesh well with the era. These colors seem more like they’re used for whenever something magical happens which, yeah, magic can cause some crazy things to happen, even make colors have flavors. There are some early signs that “Tommy Gun Wizards†has the makings of something interesting with a great story, idea and art, but there is a chance that things can go south fast.
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