Mage: The Hero Discovered # 7 Pg. 17

Nice Sam Kieth inks! Congrats

Outstanding piece! What's more rare than OA of Edsel, OA of a VW! I love it. Kind of Dan to trade this to you. Congrats Jim! 

Three cheers for Sam Keith!  I really feel like Sam was the R2-D2 to Matt's hyperdrive, enabling Matt to explode in all the right, thrilling ways and propel his story into the heavens.  So much of Mage is about the economy of storytelling, both visually and conceptually (I remember reading an interview of Matt's some time ago in which he said something along the lines of how he wanted the story to be "cut to the bone" as much as possible: all killer / no filler, and that always has stuck with me as a fundamental truth of the work) and Sam was the one who smoothed edges and gave the whole piece a slick, refined look that streamlined the visual storytelling to the degree that Matt wanted (and was able to learn from and utilize himself when he inked his own stuff after this point).  I love the panel designs of tiers 2, 3, and 4 here, as Mirth and Edsel move right to left to gracefully counter the moves of the Beetle (and simultaneously open more of the panel real estate up to allow room for the vehicle).  "Bulky" is not really a word that one associates with a VW Beetle, but imagine having to fit a Grac driving a Caddy on this page...!?!  (A "Cadill-grac"?).  And, yeah - Kevin, Mirth, Edsel, -AND- a Grackleflint on the same page?!?  You won CAF today, good sir!  Another superb add, Jim!  Huge congrats!

Dan's a great guy and this is a great page! Keith really helped to elevate the second half of MAGE. Congrats Jim!