The natural order.
Creative Staff:
Story: Leah Moore
Art: Francesco Manna
What They Say:
The streets of London are no place for a woman all on her own. They are, however just fine for a woman wielding a Sword. Dejah Thoris is used to London’s dirt, and its rain, but she is growing tired of its people. She and Irene Adler must surely band together to find the Banth and get Thoris back to Barsoom, but to do that, one of them would first have to back down…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The final installment of the series has arrived and in the end it does set a little bit into motion that could impact the main storyline at a key point in time. The series has been one that’s admittedly a lot of fun even if it plays to familiar ideas simply because it lets both Dejah Thoris and Irene Adler have their fun together and separately. It’s a fish out of water tale to be sure with them thrown to each other’s worlds, but both places are definitely different for each of them and seeing them fit in is half the fun right there. The other half is watching them together, which is what the second half of this book brings, before it pushes us back towards the main event itself, at least for Dejah Thoris.
With Irene back on Earth and in London again, the case of mistaken identity is what keeps things moving as she chases the Banth as part of her larger job that started her involvement in everything. It’s a silly and fun ride overall, especially as she explains pieces of it to the cabbie, but the whole “Prime Minister got eaten by a cat” angle is something that just makes you laugh no matter what. On the flip side, Dejah is doing her best to catch up to Irene since she believes Irene to be the assassin that’s after her. Dejah’s adapted well to London overall, but there are always things that confound her and clothing is certainly one of them. Her frustrations in trying to get after Irene while wearing what she does isn’t overdone but it sets things right even as she adapts enough to make progress and confront her, hoping to take her down entirely.
Naturally, that leads to a little bit of a tussle but nothing that really goes too far as a few choice words gets both of them to explain more of their own adventures. It’s a little recappish in nature, but seeing more of what happened to Roger-Scott is interesting as is the way the two women come to a mutual respect for what they’ve been through since the whole thing started. The end result is something that does make you laugh a bit for what it all entails, discovering part of why the Banth was acting as crazy as it was, and the amusement of letting nature happen in order for the key that the prime minister had to be placed back into proper hands. But that’s all secondary at most within the book in a sense, a bit of closure overall to that part of the storyline. The best part is just the kind of simple fun and camaraderie that develops quickly between the two women, making me wish we had a lot more of that overall.
In Summary:
The concluding installment of this miniseries may not add all that much overall to the larger Swords of Sorrows storyline, though I’d like to believe the weapon Dejah acquires will have some significance. The book played well to the fish out of water element and that’s what I was hoping for in the end. The two women played well on their own in dealing with different worlds, cultures and designs, but I really wish they had more time together. I liked the subplot with Roger-Scott in a lot of ways because it delved into the obsessive nature of the man and how it took him to bigger and bigger things, but also his own end. The book hits things well with the dialogue, especially in the second half here, and Manna’s artwork continues to be great overall, though some of it gets lots due to the dark coloring style that’s applied to most of Dynamite’s books. A fun miniseries overall that runs alongside the larger work.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 5th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
