I really felt quite distressed at not receiving an invitation.

Maleficent has received her invitation from Dynamite Comics to join Scar and be the second villain to rule in their Disney Villains comics series. The Disney Villains: Maleficient miniseries will run for five evil issues.

Today, we will take a look at Disney Villains: Maleficent #1 published by Dynamite Comics.

Release Date: May 17th, 2023.

Writer/Illustrator: Soo Lee

Letterer: Jeff Eckleberry

Editor: Nate Cosby

Covers by: Jae Lee, Soo Lee, Jennifer L. Meyer, Rebeca Puebla, Erica D’Urso, J Scott Campbell, Ken Haeser, David Nakayama

Official Synopsis: Disney and Dynamite proudly present Maleficent, Queen of the Forbidden Mountain! Her realm is shrouded in darkness, and evil, and full of all things that go bump in the night. Her soul is cold, hardened by a lifetime of small-minded wanderers seeking to steal her powers to satisfy their mortal greed. Her patience wears thin. Her mystical might grows. It is a matter only of time before she descends the mountain and unleashes her horrible magics upon the powerless people below. A stunning vision of villainy from writer and artist Soo Lee!

Covers

This is a Dynamite Comics release. So you know that the evil sorceress is going to conjure up a kingdom of covers. In this section, I am going to highlight some of the enchanting covers for Disney Villains: Maleficent #1.

The Soo Lee cover is the most accurate to the Maleficent’s character design in the comic. You will be happy with whichever cover you get your hands on as this batch of Maleficent covers are evil works of art that all Disney Villains and Maleficent fans will treasure. I chose the David Nakayama cover for my collection to match the cover that he did for Disney Villains: Scar #1.

My Review

*STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS*

An uninvited guest/fool named Reynard travels into the Forbidden Kingdom to escape a pack of wolves. The lucky young man runs into Maleficent who saves him from being the wolf pack’s meal. Reynard is intrigued by Maleficent’s magical powers and asks her for a token of their encounter. Now most people would be excited by a magical compass that will guide you to your heart’s desires, but Reynard dismisses it for a common trinket. I mean it worked for Captain Jack Sparrow. Reynard has his eyes on a bigger prize…Maleficent’s staff. He sneaks to Maleficent’s castle in what will obviously be a failed attempt to retrieve the staff. Maleficent and her goons catch the not so slick thief, and she transforms the ungrateful thief into one of the wolves that was chasing him into the Forbidden Kingdom.

Soo Lee is pulling double duty on this comic series as both writer and illustrator. She absolutely nails the background atmosphere scenery in a Mary Blair way. There are a few pages of fast action and background illustrations of Maleficent’s castle, thorn bushes, and forest that tell the story so well that dialogue on the page is not needed. The illustrations definitely feel like they could be the Sleeping Beauty era of fine animation. I read all of Maleficent’s lines in my head as Eleanor Audley, the original voice of Maleficent from the 1959 Disney animated classic. There is no mention of Princess Aurora in this comic. So this may be a prequel before the Sleeping Beauty film.

Don’t sleep on Dynamite Comics Disney Villains: Maleficent.

The next issue of Disney Villains: Maleficent will awaken June 14th, 2023. Please make sure to support the Dynamite Comics Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, and Disney Villains: Scar comic series while you are out buying Disney Villains: Maleficent. I am excited for all future Dynamite Comics Disney Villain announcements. Which Disney Villain would you like Dynamite Comics to add to their Disney Villains lineup of comics next?

Let us know what you thought of Disney Villains: Maleficent #1 in the comments below. What cover(s) did you get?

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