Queen of Swords #1 // Review
Deadheart the Barbarian is arguing with her sword. (Kind of.) She’s not crazy, though. Just legendary. The sword in question is the home of an evil spirit known as Ga’Bar. Deadheart and her sword are joined aboard a rotting pirate ship by the redheaded elf Serra and Ka--a scythe-wielding warrior who isn’t too fond of her. With Queen of Swords #1, writer Michael Moreci opens a whole new series featuring characters that were originally introduced in the pages of Barbaric. The adventure gracefully tumbles onto the page courtesy of artist Corin Howell and colorist Kike J. Díaz.
The ship was once the domain of Captain Ortega the Scurvy. As it turns out, he’s haunting the ship and all of the gold and treasure that rest in its hold. Ortega isn’t the only undead being on the ship; there's an entire skeletal crew that quickly attacks Deadheart and her allies. She might not have mentioned to either of the other two women that there would be demon pirates aboard the ship, but Deadheart sort of figured that sort of thing would have been assumed. It’s okay...she knows that Serra can deal with the threat. Serra’s a witch with more power than she knows.
Moreci cleverly mixes modern language and culture into a sword-and-sorcery fantasy adventure. The ensemble that he’s drawn together has a really fun dynamic. The spirit trapped in Deadheart’s sword is constantly taunting her. An open animosity between an intelligent sword and a barbarian warrior is a fun one. Serra, the elf witch, has a background that’s more than interesting enough to hold up her end of the story. She’d been involved in dark stuff before. Ka is a former assassin. The darkness between the three warriors is a fun element that could lead to fun energy as they are thrust into heroic action moving forward.
Howell has a brilliant grasp of action. Deadheart’s barbaric aggression is beautifully brutal. Serra’s haunting witch magic explodes across the page in the middle of battle...and then hauntingly lurks around the edges of page and panel during the more dramatic moments. Ka is cool, but she hasn’t really had much of a chance to deliver any action. Howell makes certain that she has a definite presence on the page, though. Díaz’s colors establish the tone and setting of the series quite well, but the radiance of magic and the sheen of the metal don’t seem quite as compelling as the shadows that Howell is draping over everything.
It’s a very promising opening. Moreci and Howell have the series off and running with three interesting heroic women (and a pretty cool sword). The drama moving the magic around the edges of the action is intriguing enough to keep everything moving from cover to cover. The contemporary wit of the dialogue keeps everything feeling brisk and breezy in an adventure that just might have considerable emotional depth lurking beyond the surface of what appears to be a really fun action serial.
