When science becomes miracle.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marc Guggenheim
Art: Andrea Mutti
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
The last we saw of the crew of the Starshadow in the pages of Bill Mantlo and Butch Guice’s Swords of the Swashbucklers, it seemed that all was lost. Decades later, Raader and her crew return to bring their adventuring to the cosmos once again! Learn of the return of the legendary space pirates as The Saga Continues!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The early 80’s was “my time” as a comics fan as I had been buying from newsstands for a while or plastic baggie packs from toy stores. When I discovered my first direct market store as a teenager I ended up discovering whole new worlds to immerse myself in, more than I could ever have time for. One of those worlds was the Swords of the Swashbucklers series that started as a graphic novel from Marvel and then a twelve-issue series. Originally created by Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice, I had always seen it but had never picked it up for myself. Dynamite worked to handled the original material through a Kickstarter campaign that I missed out on but I was curious to see this new series as written by Marc Guggenheim, whose work I’ve largely enjoyed, and artwork by Andrea Mutti, who won me over handily with his work on the Rebels series. That, for me, was the draw to check this out to see what he’d do in this environment.
Guggenheim handles this well for new readers like myself in that we get a page or so that covers some of what happened toward the end of the original series with the war that was fought between the Swashbucklers and the Colonizers, making clear the sacrifice and what it inspired for the war that took down the Colonizers. The loss of the captain, Raader, and much of her crew is a strong way to end a book. But what we see in the minutes afterward is that the device that the Colonizers used was so advanced and unpredictable that combined with her hybrid DNA allowed herself to heal from just a speck of blood. Yeah, science/magic, it gets the job done though Raader feels like she’s uncertain about how it happened and whether it’s a good thing or not. What she does know is that she has survived and is intent on finding her crew and to figure out what’s been going on since the attack on the planet that ended everything for her originally.
What allows this to move forward is a scrapper type named Callos that’s in the area looking to make some money and instead discovers her and her companion Servitor, who Raader is able to bring back to life as well. The book moves quickly from there as she’s all imperious and demanding of another captain of his ship but the concern is strong for her own ship out there somewhere and her crew, especially upon learning their fate and that of the Cloudwall where the battle sprawled. Guggenheim keeps things moving at a good clip throughout this to bring some of the crew back together, such as Logik, but also to put an end to the ship from the first series so that things can move forward. We’re teased of what’s next in the last page but much of the book is focused on Raader simply trying to understand what happened to her and her crew and to try and bring them back together all while Callos does as he’s told because it’s quite clear that she’s not to be crossed.
In Summary:
While a bit light in some areas I really enjoyed the opening issue to this. There may be some that will be frustrated by the way it somewhat negates what happened at the end of the other series with the sacrifices and inspiration but I understand the desire to bring these characters back to life and create new adventures with them. I’m not invested in the past so it bothers me less. Guggenheim sets the stage well for everything here even while I’d prefer a “next generation” approach to build on events and Andrea Mutti delivers some great pages with fun designs. I love seeing his take on this particular world and to get to do some swashbuckling in space, which is what will get me in the door with it until Guggenheim can ensure that I become invested in the story. I’m intrigued by what’s here and looking forward to what comes next.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: April 4th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
