If it’s got Red Sonja in it, I’m there.
Creative Staff:
Story: Gail Simone
Art: Sergio Dávila
Color: Jorge Sutil
Letters: Erica Schultz
What They Say:
DYNAMITE’S FIERCEST FEMALES IN THEIR BIGGEST EVENT EVER! Fan favorite GAIL SIMONE (RED SONJA, BATGIRL) and rising art star SERGIO DAVILA (LEGENDERRY) combine to tell the ultimate pulp adventure, featuring Vampirella, Dejah Thoris, Red Sonja, Kato, Jungle Girl, and many, many more! Villains and heroes from a dozen worlds and eras face off against a legendary evil that threatens all their homelands. Don’t miss this thrilling epic tale, an event supported by one-shot side adventures written by the hottest writers today, like G. Willow Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Nancy Collins and more!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Great forces stride the multiverse, playing a game of worlds, of life, of death all on a cosmic scale. And as is the case when Gods war, humans get caught in the middle. The Prince—a being of great power and reach—threatens the existence of everything, and only the Traveller—an equally mysterious and powerful being—stands in his way. However, she can’t do it alone. She needs generals, and luckily she’s got the entire span of space and time from which to choose them.
Red Sonja lies dying of thirst in the desert, Deja Thoris investigates a strange occurrence on Barsoom, Jana the Jungle Girl attempts to save children from a rampaging T-Rex, Vampirella stalks supernatural prey, and Kato and Jennifer Blood fight it out on the rooftops of Century City. A strange man visits them all, offering aid, advice, and powerful relics called the Swords of Sorrow.
Other characters receive swords as well, such as Iren Adler and Lady Zorro, and by now it should be obvious the scale in which Simone is writing this story. To say it’s big would be an understatement. Quite frankly, I’m surprised that the story doesn’t collapse in on itself from the weight of so many characters and plot points. Obviously, it doesn’t, and I’ve read enough of Gail Simone’s work to feel confident that she can continue to juggle these metaphorical balls without dropping any.
Swords of Sorrow is basically the Who’s Who of badass ladies in the Dynamite roster, and Simone effortlessly switches from one to the other with no problems whatsoever. There’s no bleed through with personality or speech patterns—Vampirella never talks like Red Sonja and Deja Thoris doesn’t suddenly begin drinking and being stinky—and even though we only get glimpses of these characters, each scene establishes who they are and what they want.
At least for the most part. I’m a big enough pulp fan to recognize Vampirella, Irene Adler, and most of the other characters, but some of them are cyphers, such as Jennifer Blood. I have no real idea who she is or what she wants. At first I thought she was out to kill Kato (who is female in this comic, which may confuse those who only know the character from the ‘70s TV show), but she could have been there to take down the same thugs that Kato pursued. The same goes for the final page, which reveals the Prince’s generals. I think that a great deal of the significance of the reveal is lost on me because I don’t recognize any of the characters.
This makes me wonder how sustainable this comic will be. As I said before, I trust Simone as a writer, but this is also a huge canvas she’s working on, and she is in a tough spot in terms of providing backstory and context. Too much and it slows the story down, but not enough and the reader may not know who or what is going on, exactly. A misstep in either direction could seriously hinder the story.
A great deal depends on the series’ format. It could be that this first issue works to set the stage and introduce the major players, and the subsequent issues could instead focus on one particular character at a time. That would allow for more narrative room to provide information, but it would also take away from the chief draw of this title—namely, seeing all of these different characters interact.
Artwise, this is a good-looking, if maybe a little generic book. While Sergio Dávila has a fine eye for perspective and action, there were a couple of times when the panel placement was a little awkward and hard to follow. To be honest, I’m not quite sure why his art leaves me a little cold. The best I can say is that it lacks a sense of voice, of personal style. Other than the panel issue, I can’t really point out anything objectively wrong with his work, and while the style did leave me cold, as I said, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the issue, so take my ramblings for what you will.
In Summary:
Swords of Sorrow 1 is a pretty solid first issue that establishes the major conflict and characters. While I do worry about the scope of the story and how much of it will depend on audience knowledge of these characters, this was fun enough to make me want to read the next issue.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 6th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
