REVIEW: Sword of Sorcery, #1

[CBR News]

Christy Marx and Aaron Lopresti's "Amethyst" is pure fun and a guilty pleasure, and Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz continue to flesh out their mysterious and grim, half-medieval, half-futuristic take on "Beowulf."


Full review here.

[Shimarenda]

Excellent review. Completely agree. I added this to my pull list because it was something different, thinking it would be an amusing diversion. It has turned out to be a favorite.

[gwydion]

For me, this is the best DC title in terms of actually delivering a completely fun read.

[ILoveVibe]

Pardon the pun, but this book is an absolute gem. A depart from the standard super hero book. The art is amazing in both stories and it all feels fresh, to me.

[InformationGeek]

For me, this is the best DC title in terms of actually delivering a completely fun read.

Exactly. We need more fun books in the DC line. I enjoy these deep and dark stories as much as the next guy, but a little variety when it comes to tone would be nice for once.

[ILoveVibe]

Exactly. We need more fun books in the DC line. I enjoy these deep and dark stories as much as the next guy, but a little variety when it comes to tone would be nice for once.

Yes, some more fun in the DCU would be great. Hey I cannot be the only one who read Young Heroes In Love...maybe they can bring a version of them back...though I would LOVE to see a fun detective series featuring Ralph and Sue and globetrotting writers and detectives....kinda of like the show Hart to Hart, but with humor.

[ILoveVibe]

double post

[Black Manta]

I thought the stories were pretty average. I liked Amythest better when she was a kid on our world and became an adult on the Gemworld. Kind of like Billy Batson. I'll buy a couple more issues but if it doesn't get any better I'll probably drop it.

[Retro315]

First issue was a little rocky, but this issue delivered for me in spades. It took me a while getting around to it, busy week and all that, but I think it was exactly what I was hoping for out of this series. I don't think it needs to be as violent as it is, but it certainly apes modern fantasy pretty closely, and I feel like the Amethyst cartoon (and inevitable cartoon tie-in comic) can handle the more kid-friendly version of the concept while this sticks to the LOTR/Game of Thrones stuff for older teens.

But getting down to the part that was exactly what I wanted - it was purely the various houses, and the color shift that comes when a scene moves from the orangey Citrine territories to the high contrast whites and blacks of House Diamond. That's the magic for me, where a comic can convey something so well - it's the same reason I'm crazy about Scottie Young's Wizard of Oz stuff, whole color-based kingdoms. Classic archetypal cartoon stuff, and there's no shortage of gemstones in the universe to coopt, anthropomorphize, add archetypal traits to and release into Gemworld.

While Amethyst herself finds her footing and we meet the Citrines, certainly the Diamonds stand out for me as the ones I'm watching. Opportunistic, bickering brothers with snooty white hair and reverse skunk streaks? Hell yeah ... right out of the mold of your various Lannisters, Malfoys and other antagonistic types.

I've also got to give props to Lopresti for the differing designs of the various tribal costumes, he gets to be the entire Weta Workshop for this gig, basically, so it was great to see the more equatorial influences on the Citrine, and the very, very Prince Valiant designs of the Diamonds. (For ease of remembering names I've also taken to referring in my head to characters using their house names as their last names ... Amaya Amethyst, Ingvie Citrine, Reishan Diamond. Makes it very easy for me.)

[areacode212]

At first, it was a little hard to adjust to how bloody and different it was compared to the 80s Amethyst, but I'm really enjoying the Game of Thrones approach to the various gem houses and such. This is one of my favorite DC titles, too, and I hope Marx sticks around for a long time.

[brandnewfan]

Is this a Dark book? Or Young Justice? ...or even an Edge book? The reason I ask is because the print on the cover that says "The New 52!" is usually color coded with whatever line the book is apart of. "The New 52!" is always black on Dark books and it's different shades of red for YJ and Edge books. That part on both issues of Sword of Sorcery so far is in red, though I can't tell if it's closer to YJ red or The Edge red.

[Jason456701]

Is this a Dark book? Or Young Justice? ...or even an Edge book? The reason I ask is because the print on the cover that says "The New 52!" is usually color coded with whatever line the book is apart of. "The New 52!" is always black on Dark books and it's different shades of red for YJ and Edge books. That part on both issues of Sword of Sorcery so far is in red, though I can't tell if it's closer to YJ red or The Edge red.

Sword of Sorcery is part of the Dark line though i feel the main story could fit in the Young Justice section (Amy is 17 and if Raven is put in the Young Justice section she would fit right in) and the Beowulf back-up looks like it would fit right in with the Edge line.

[brandnewfan]

Sword of Sorcery is part of the Dark line though i feel the main story could fit in the Young Justice section (Amy is 17 and if Raven is put in the Young Justice section she would fit right in) and the Beowulf back-up looks like it would fit right in with the Edge line.

I've always thought it was a Dark book too. That part of the cover threw me off though. I think it'd be a good fit with Young Justice, but like you said, just the first story...not the second. I guess the covers have just been errors?

[flottanna]

This title was really a surprise to me. I picked up #0 and enjoyed it. But #1 was even better. I think I'll be picking this one up every week.