One last chance…
Creative Staff:
Story: Chad Bowers, Chris Sims
Art: Ghostwriter X
Letterer: Josh Krach
What They Say:
Armed with the knowledge of the history of the Sword, Peter and his team continue their plan to plan to steal it, while dodging the conspiracies brought here from another world! Or are they a bunch of crazy people trying to steal a prize from a video game expo? YOU DECIDE!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Swordquest series has been an interesting one for me but one with a kind of distance as I never played any of the original games way back when and have no bond with it. Bowers and Sims have given us a real world kind of drama with some fantastical elements sprinkled in that allowed it to be a human story with what was happening to Peter Case and his attempt at closure from his childhood. It’s worked well and particularly thanks to Ghostwriter X’s artwork (man I hate using pseudonyms like that) as it has the kind of roughness that just works for it really well. I like the look of the characters, the layouts, and how well they handle the dialogue/exposition heavy material of this issue.
And that’s really what dominates this installment as we get ready for the finale that’s coming up next. The group has had their encounter with Konrad Juros and Peter understands things in a new way here after that experience. That sets them up for a comical Ocean’s Eleven style plan to get the sword during a panel that Amy will run at the convention that they got into at the last minute. The planning is cute (is that Playmobil figures I see?) and it sets up the plan well enough for how meager it is since they’re basically expecting the simplest of things to fall into place, including having the sword shown on stage during the event. That it’s all approved makes it clear that the thing is a trap but these guys aren’t exactly all that swift in some ways.
So, when Juros approaches Peter as he enters the convention you know that the gig is up. There’s a lot of dialogue between the two where Juros talks of how he had to shift methods here in a world without magic and it’s fun in a limited kind of way to see how much he has the upper hand on Peter. But that confidence is his natural undoing as he thinks simply having Peter banned from the convention will stop him from being able to get in at the right time. It’s a nice call back to the mission planning earlier in the issue but in the end it gives us that big moment that we’ve waited five issues for so far where Peter gets his hands on it and is transported to another world. Part of me still wants to hedge and think it’s all delusion or something, the mental escapism of a man dying somewhere, but I’m still expecting his journey here to be the thing that cleanses him and allows him to live beyond the three months he thinks he has.
In Summary:
Swordquest hits the moment we’ve been waiting for and puts us in a new place to deal with for the finale, which should be able to cover a lot of ground if it’s as dialogue heavy as this issue. Bowers and Sims keep things moving in their own way here but part of me still feels like this whole series could have been tighter and more engaging in four issues than six. I like some of the nods made in here from Juros about the plans for the original games and his confidence while the artwork continues to hold up well in presenting a world that feels and fits right for the material. I’m curious to see how it’ll all come together but at the same time I’m not holding out a lot of confidence for a strong ending rather than an acceptable ending.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: October 18th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
