Art and Story by The Luna Brothers
The Sword is a series from the Luna Brothers about a young girl who discovers her father was the caretaker of a powerful sword that if returned to the Gods he took it from would grant them ultimate power and that those gods would use it to take over the world. Those gods made up of a couple of brothers and one sister stay in hiding because the sword is the one thing that could destroy them. When they discover the whereabouts of the sword they kill everyone in the girl’s family in hopes of retrieving it. Instead she gets the sword and has begun using it to seek revenge on the gods for the brutal murders of her family.
The Story
This comic series is surprisingly brutal. The artwork is basic and at first blush seems harmless but through further investigation you’ll see limb removals, and most recently Dara, the girl with the sword gets half of her face knocked off. This happens when a thug that works for one of the gods gets the sword. In this issue she retrieves the sword and in a quick gory move is able to heal her face. So this isn’t your momma’s funny book, no way.
Dara has found another of the brothers and is ready to kill him. This brother, the one with the deepest religious connection to his father finds his powers based in earth, literally. It’s funny that knowing that he compares humans to grains of sand. Many gains come together to do his bidding in some really dangerous ways. You could look at this element as representative of how he would rule humans if he were to get the sword. He tries to explain himself to Dara but she’s not having any of it. This human is able to match wits with him just as she can match abilities with him. The ladder unfortunately hinges on her maintaining control of the sword.
She attacks him taking the battle into a full brutal fury. This fight is her toughest yet because her enemy’s faith seems to be at play helping him. Each installment of this series up to now always ends with an OMG splash page and this does not disappoint. The fight seems to be just beginning by the end of the book and then that last stunning page…
The Sword is easily one of the most entertaining series coming from Image comics currently. It’s not overly complex or deep but it carries a believable emotional impact and each cliffhanger has been amazing throughout the 16 issue run. Dara started out the series in a wheelchair and as long as she has the sword her body is healed and she can walk, along with everything else she can do. There’s always an undercurrent of fear from her that she’ll end up back in that chair and incapacitated once again. So the sword is more than a tool of revenge, she counts on it now for her wellbeing.
Again the fight is brutal and so are the emotions behind it and the last page is another zinger!
9/10
The Artwork
The artwork is the weakest part of experiencing The Sword. That’s not to say the art is bad because it’s not but it’s also not exceptional either. Backgrounds often look heavily photoshoped and character faces feel just a little generic. There’s sparseness to the art that’s actually quite appealing though. It’s simple and basic and it doesn’t overpower the story. Each section of books seems to have color tweaks that play well with the thematic elements of the powers of these gods such as water and earth. There’s an overall sepia and brown tone to the series, and this particular book that works very well with the story.
7/10
The Sword is easily one of the best series out there even with the less than stellar artwork. This story is begging for a feature film or television series adaptation so go read it!
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
The Review
The Story 9/10
The Artwork 7/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10