What You Should Be Reading: The Sword

Hello, this is Servando Gomez and current leader of the blog your reading.   I'm not all that great at introductions but since you're spending the time to read this I feel I should explain what i'm all about.  I'm the guy that loves reading with preference for sequential art.   You know, comic books and manga.  My taste in these things range from different things works such as zombies as in "The Walking Dead" to spy Thrillers ala "Queen and Country" to mainstream stuff like "Astonishing X-Men".  As for what i'm doing here, I'm the comic book columnist for the blog and it leads me to make this first post about one of my favorite out now.

  The Sword by the Luna Brothers is a cult favorite published by Image comics and it's about a girl named Dara whose family is slain by gods.  In her narrow escape from them, she comes across a mystical sword her father owned and it then grants her powers that makes her more or less superhuman. It is then from there becomes a quest for vengeance like no other that involves settings from the world over in Dara attempt to avenge her family.

As for the art, The Luna's style for the comic is far removed from most forms of mainstream comics or manga you can get.  In the their unique, original style; they bring a level of life to their characters that most comics/manga fail to bring.  It lends well to developing their characters and getting the reader care for them.  From small, tender moments to the  Full Throttle action sequences the series is known for; The Luna's Style holds it on against masters like Bryan Hitch (current artist for Captain America Reborn and of The Ultimates Fame) and Takeshi Obata of Death Note.  It helps that the two of them have great chemistry making the story together.

Example of Ahem, Not fighting

But enough about story and art; the reason why it gets the praise it does is for the level of action and utter awesome moments surpasses anything out there on the market.  Titles such as Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and Bleach with all their fighting scenes in comparison fail to elicit the action movie feel "The Sword" brings. Maybe it's due to the fact that "The Sword" Paneling is a deep black that gives it a widescreen Hi-Definition feel to it. But overall, no other comic book (or manga for that matter) had me saying "Oh MY God" as much as The Sword.

 Action Sequence For The Matrix?

Yet, i must caution that it's truly a gruesome comic with explicit art showing of killing and dismembering of people but it is nothing worst you see in a slasher flick.  Still, for all it's violence and graphic depiction of killing, it never glorifies it in the way Quentin Tarentino does in his films such as Inglorius Bastards or Kill Bill.  Something that i give credit for "The Sword" that it takes into account that killing is serious and it's a constant delima Dara faces through the series.

A death of a Sister

Now despite the violence, the story that LUNA brothers are crafting within "The Sword" is second to almost none with maybe the works of Alan Moore's Watchmen and the like barely being above it.  Still, it's much better than anything else on the market and with the three trade collections collecting issues 1-18 out now; it's a great time to come into reading it as the final arc (issues 19-24) began last month with the lanuch of issue 19 in September.