S.W.O.R.D. #9
The Shi’Ar come to Arakko for a visit, but Orchis has a plan in S.WO.R.D. #9, by writer Al Ewing, artist Jacopo Camagni, colorist Fernando Sifuentes, and letterer Ariana Maher. This is an aggressively okay comic.
This one is all about Gyrich, as the director of Alpha Flight and proud Orchis member, using an alien mercenary squad to try and hurt the relationship between the Shi’Ar and Krakoa. There’s an action scene, many Imperial Guardsmen get killed, Storm shows up to even the odds, and Gyrich reveals he has a traitor in S.W.O.R.D.
Ewing does a passable job with this one. Structurally, there’s nothing wrong with the comic. He gets all the characterization right, sets up the plot well, all of that. It’s just that everything feels so pedestrian. One of the most giant stumbling blocks at the beginning of this book was the fact it was all crossovers. Now that it’s not, it’s kind of hard to know what will happen with it. Is it still the S.W.O.R.D book? Is it the Arakko book? The last issue was spectacular. This one is just sort of there.
There’s action, intrigue, and set up of more to come, but it feels like it was written according to a formula. There’s nothing special to the story at all. It’s just a story. Is it entertaining? Yes, but in the most cliche way possible. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s just not anything special. Ewing is better than this, but this is what he turned in. It works, but it doesn’t really engender any excitement.
Camagni’s art is excellent, which definitely helps things. The action scenes look great, and Camagni really captures the smugness of Gyrich and the complicated feelings that Guardian has on working with the villain and being a member of Orchis. He takes the bargain basement script and makes it unique.
It feels like S.W.O.R.D. #9 is the bare minimum. It works on a surface level, but it feels like it was written according to a chapter in Comic Book Writing 101, and Ewing is just better than that. Camagni’s art is excellent, which is a plus. There’s nothing wrong with this comic, but there’s nothing special about it.