The Magicians (French: Les Magiciens) is a comic book by Blexbolex. It was originally published in French in 2022 and translated into English in 2023.
A small, decrepit, and seemingly abandoned house suddenly bursts into activity when a Big Magician (who looks like an elephant), a Small Magician (who looks like a black bird), and a Girl Magician (who looks like a normal human girl) emerge from their magical hiding spots and venture out. They are pursued by the Huntress, a young woman wielding a sword and bow who seeks to hunt down all magicians, and her companion the Clinker, a mechanical creature with the head of a lion-dragon. As the magicians get into all sorts of trouble while avoiding their pursuer, we gradually get glimpses of their idiosyncrasies as well as the exact motivations of the Huntress.
Tropes:
- Blow You Away: The Small Magician can produce strong gusts of wind by flapping his wings. The tree that grows from the Small Magician's seed produces a leaf that Edward the janitor takes — and when sees that his coworker has made a mess of the room that he had previously cleaned, the leaf causes him to unintentionally produce a similar gust that blows the coworker, the furniture, and the mess out onto the street.
- Cruel Elephant: The Big Magician is a Jerkass who forces a group of frogs into being pawns in his schemes, tricks the children of a village into giving him food in exchange for "toys" (actually the aforementioned frogs temporarily changed into toys), and is rather abrasive toward his fellow magicians.
- Mistaken for Servant: The Girl Magician is tending to her garden by the magicians' house when a Grumpy Old Man sits at a table and assumes that she's the waitress for a roadside inn. She humors him for a while and gives him something to drink, but he eventually becomes so abrasive and complaining that she decides to scare him off by turning into a carnivorous plant.
- Nameless Narrative: Rather than proper names, the comic gives the characters simple and direct epithets like "Girl Magician" (a magician who is a girl), "Huntress" (a young woman who hunts the magicians), and "Clinker" (a mechanical creature who makes clinking sounds when he moves). But then we follow the Huntress to a realistic city and learn that her name is Aisha. We are later introduced to Edward the janitor, fellow band members Lilli, José, and Karl, and a young boy named Roberto. Given that this shift happens after The Magic Goes Away, it's meant to emphasize the change from mythical naming conventions to more mundane naming conventions.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The Big Magician is a Jerkass who forces a group of frogs into being pawns in his schemes, tricks the children of a village into giving him food in exchange for "toys" (actually the aforementioned frogs temporarily changed into toys), and is rather abrasive toward his fellow magicians. The Small Magician is an opportunistic thief and usually acts cowardly but is never actively malicious like the Big Magician. The Girl Magician is a Caring Gardener who is only ever mean to a cranky old man who was already being really rude to her, tries her best to make sure the other two know how to exploit the Outside and practice their magic, is the only one of the trio willing to take in a Doorstop Baby, and posthumously buries the hatchet with Aisha by restoring her youth and mind in exchange for carrying on the legacy of magic.
- Thieving Magpie: The Small Magician's focus chapter shows him breaking into a house and eating the food laid out on the table. The woman who owns the house subsequently tries to swat him away in retaliation.
