“Perhaps the most interesting character to pop out of recent comics is Mr. Ward, who is rather a curiosity in the new book from IDW, SMOKE AND MIRRORS. You see, he’s a magician, the kind who does card and coin tricks. Cups and balls. You know, the classics.

Here’s the thing, though: SMOKE AND MIRRORS doesn’t happen in our world. It takes place in an adjacent universe, where magic is very, very real. Instead of electricity, magic runs all of the technology, from automobiles to thermostats. When we first enter this world, we see a Steve Jobs-ish kind of presentation of a new product called Gesture. In order to get all the world’s devices to work, you have to speak incantations to them. However, that can be pretty cumbersome, especially if you’re doing other things, like talking to friends. Here’s a new voice-free magic technology that depends on hand gestures instead. (By the way, instead of Apple, we have the Trade Circle, a coven who comes up with innovative new ways to use magic.)”

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