Sword of Sorcery (USA) di Christy Marx

[Azrael]

SWORD OF SORCERY #4
Written by CHRISTY MARX
Backup story written by MARC ANDREYKO
Guest art by TRAVIS MOORE
Backup story art by ANDREI BRESSAN
Cover by WALTER SIMONSON
1:25 B&W Variant cover by WALTER SIMONSON
On sale JANUARY 23 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
• Amaya travels home to Earth from Gemworld only to find new trouble! What will happen to her powers when she becomes Amy Winston again?
• Guest-starring John Constantine!
• And in the new backup story, enter a world of modern magic and terror with Stalker, the man without a soul!

[Green Hankey]

spero che continui questa serie perchè merita 

[Azrael]

Preview: SWORD OF SORCERY #1

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[Azrael]

EXCLUSIVE: MANAPUL'S AMETHYST IS DEADLY IN "SWORD OF SORCERY" #2 VARIANT

DC Comics has provided CBR with an exclusive first look at Francis Manapul's Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld variant cover for "Sword of Sorcery" #2, which features an "Amethyst" story by Christy Marx and Aaron Lopresti and a "Beowulf" backup by Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz. Manapul's cover features Amethyst as she looks out from behind a bloodied sword and her cape flows out behind her.

"She's not going to change age between the two worlds," Marx told CBR of the character in June. "Amy's someone who's just turned seventeen and at seventeen some very significant part of her childhood ends as she comes to learn about her world and all of her background. I made seventeen a pivotal age -- that turning seventeen is significant in this approach. I thought it would be more interesting to deal with a teenager or young woman and not have to deal with age changes. She starts out as someone who has had a very strange upbringing because her mother has basically been spending her life training her and preparing her for this moment of which she really has no clue. She's always felt like a bit of an outsider on Earth, and then she's going to go to this entire other world that she knows nothing about and have to cope with all these new challenges."



CBR

[Azrael]

"Sword of Sorcery" #1 delivers a duo of fantasy stories, "Blood of Amethyst" by writer Christy Marx and artist Aaron Lopresti and "Beowulf Chapter 2: Iron Trolls" by writer Tony Bedard with art by Jesus Saiz.

"Blood of Amethyst" picks up directly from the cliffhanger at the end of "Sword of Sorcery" #0 and all of the action happens on Nilar, the Gemworld. It's a pleasure to see more of this candy-like, pink and purple, blonde and bejeweled land, colored in a pure, bright palette by Hi-Fi, but we lose "Sword of Sorcery" #0's excellent contrast between Amy Winston of suburban Earth and Amara of Nilar.

The plot itself is a deliberate stew of clichés, but not in a bad way. A young girl coming of age realizes that she is a princess in a faraway land, or is adopted, or has latent magical powers or skills. Sound familiar? It's a well-worn, well-beloved epic fantasy setup. It's also typical for the newly empowered princess to handle the news coolly or grumpily. Not only does the narrator get to be a princess, she is totally unimpressed with these new developments.

Nilar is handily filled with magic and gemstone artifacts, including Gemworld's version of a babelfish, and there's the always engaging if gimmicky setup of warring factions/houses and their chosen jewels, colors, animals and whatnot. Marx plays to these fantasies of power and poise, clan and country, but such with skill and enthusiasm she makes them fresh as well as fun. It's as if she's saying, "I know this is over the top and ridiculous, but you know you love it." The way Marx unabashedly and knowingly celebrates and delights in genre conventions is pure fun and a guilty pleasure.

Through Marx indulges heavily in tropes, her world-building and narrative action don't feel tired, nor do her characters feel like types. This is due to the strength of her natural dialogue, particularly for Amy/Amara. The mother/daughter dynamic between Gracie and Amy is comfortable and realistic and their obvious affection, tempered by the adult/adolescent divide, reminded me of Buffy and Joyce from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Lopresti's action sequences are fluid and kinetic, and his excellent facial expressions definitely contribute heavily to pacing and characterization. Despite having only twenty pages, Marx and Lopresti map out a satisfying second chapter, with lots of action between character interactions, drawing the chapter to a quiet, ominous end.

Bedard and Saiz's "Beowulf" isn't as immediately likeable a story as "Amethyst," but it's not trying to be. Bedard has deliberately made his version of Beowulf an unpleasant and morally ambiguous "hero" -- violent, arrogant and impulsive -- and Wiglaf, the teenage protagonist, is sympathetic but somewhat depressed and self-pitying.

The mix of futuristic and medieval in this take on "Beowulf" can be jarring, yet Bedard and Saiz mostly bring it off. Bedard unfortunately relies more on interior monologue than dialogue for backstory and characterization in this issue, but Saiz's skills make up for it. In a dinner scene, Bedard's text boxes are almost unnecessary, because Wiglaf's dismay and solitude are in every line of his face and posture. Bedard and Saiz make good use of their measly ten pages, and the last page's cliffhanger is visually electric.

The pairing of these two storylines sets up an interesting contrast, intentionally or not. "Amethyst" and "Beowulf" differ wildly in tone, even as they both have a quasi-feudal setting and a teenage narrator. The "Blood of Amethyst" story centers on a trio of women in an unabashedly bright and feminine world, and while there is violence and a royalty/commoner distinction, the primary, most compelling relationships getting screentime are those of family -- sister/sister and mother/daughter. The "Beowulf" story is all warm tones, populated almost entirely by men, and the tone is far grimmer, with relationships centering on hierarchy and the mythology of a great, brutal warrior.

My biggest complaint about "Sword of Sorcery" #1 is that these two strong storylines in "Sword of Sorcery" #1 could easily have taken up a full-size issue by themselves. However, it's a tribute to Marx, Lopresti, Bedard and Saiz that they work so well with the size of the stage they have.

4/5

CBR

[Azrael]

SWORD OF SORCERY #5
Written by CHRISTY MARX
Backup story written by MARC ANDREYKO
Art by AARON LOPRESTI
Backup story art by ANDREI BRESSAN
Cover by AARON LOPRESTI
On sale FEBRUARY 20 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
• Amy learns how her father died and is forced to test her skills when she's attacked by assassins from House Onyx!
• Plus: In the backup story: STALKER, the immortal warrior without a soul, must beat Lucifer at his own game!

[Azrael]

Preview: Sword of Sorcery #2

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[Azrael]

Both the "Amethyst" saga by Christy Marx and Aaron Lopresti and the "Beowulf" tale by Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz continue to be excellent fantasy fare in "Sword of Sorcery" #2. New plot twists and characters are introduced, and dialogue, pacing and art all continue to be engrossing and skillful.

In "Amethyst: The Path of Heart," Marx and Lopresti's world-building is rich and exuberant. Marx has named all the locations of the houses -- like Rappandard Peak, the citadel of House Diamond -- and her casual inventions like "mist-silk" also add to the verisimilitude of Nilaa as a world with culture and history going back for generations.

Lopresti's rich backgrounds also reinforce Nilaa as another world. The detail in the opening double-page spread of Manipoor, the capital city, gives the reader a classic, horizon-wide, bird's eye view of a foreign land. The interiors, clothing and hair that Lopresti designs for the different characters and houses help readers distinguish between them. In particular, the furnishings within House Citrine show a love of beauty and comfort, and Lopresti's attention to attractive detail, like the trim of the windows and pitchers on the tables, adds to the personality of House Citrine and its inhabitants. Hi-Fi's colors are flattering complement for Lopresti's art, and the shift in palette for the nighttime scenes convey the feeling of dusk perfectly.

Lopresti's camera angles and pacing are a great match for Marx's quickly-moving, dramatic script. His skill with body language and facial expressions plays throughout the story, especially in the dinner scene, in which characters feel shock, uneasiness, annoyance, patience, surprise and determination. The scene also highlights Marx's humor in a moment of culinary culture shock for Amaya, and Marx's sense of the dynamic between adults and teenagers is still spot-on. The older generation speaks more formally, but Amaya's speech still has its delightfully casual American teenager rhythms and accompanying "ums" and "likes."

Marx deftly expands of the cast with the introduction of House Onyx, and a quick glimpse into the internal politics and relationships within House Diamond. The conflict between Prince Zushan and Prince Hadran is a clichéd shortcut to establishing character, and it's the only time in "Sword of Sorcery" #2 that Marx's writing loses its freshness and slips into predictability. However, the scene quickly establishes a good prince/bad prince setup, and I'm already predicting that sparks will fly when Amaya inevitably meets Hadran.

In Tony Bedard's backup story "Beowulf," character development also deepens as the action quickens. Wiglaf shows himself to have inherited a sense of honor from his father, and Beowulf unexpectedly becomes a more sympathetic hero when events and a battle show him to have judgment and intelligence as well as strength and savagery. The combination of high-tech and medieval setting is still disconcerting, keeping the reader guessing about whether Beowulf's next move will be guided by reflexes and iron or data and technology.

It's interesting to see what Bedard keeps from the original myth and what he discards. Even though the appearance of a certain character is from canon, the cliffhanger ending in "Sword of Sorcery" #2 feels surprisingly fresh. This is due in part to Saiz's art, which has excellent action sequences and pacing that ground the reader in this new take on Beowulf's world. Reber's shadowy palette keeps the tone appropriately grim and emphasizes moments in battle like the flash of teeth of the brightness of weapons.

I continue to be impressed with how efficiently Marx, Bedard, Lopresti and Saiz advance plot and characterization within their allotted pages in "Sword of Sorcery" #2, each team succeeding in building a complex world gracefully and fleshing out complex settings and characters through action and dialogue.

4/5

CBR

[Azrael]

SWORD OF SORCERY #6
Written by CHRISTY MARX
Backup story written by MARC ANDREYKO
Art and cover by AARON LOPRESTI
Backup story art by ANDREI BRESSAN
On sale MARCH 20 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
• Amaya becomes the Lady Regent of House Turquoise and discovers the startling truth behind its power!
• A mysterious evil originating from Nilaq is now on Earth, and John Constantine doesn't like that one bit!
• And in the backup feature, Stalker must defeat Lucifer to save his scion!

[Azrael]

Preview: SWORD OF SORCERY #3

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[emmeemmeesse]

Qualcuno la sta seguendo?

[Azrael]

Marx Explores Family Dynamics in "Sword of Sorcery: Amethyst"



http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=42714

[Lyer]

Se arriva da noi lo seguirò senz'altro

[Azrael]

3/5

CBR: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=5515

[Azrael]

SWORD OF SORCERY #7
Written by CHRISTY MARX
Backup story written by MARC ANDREYKO
Art and fold-out cover by AARON LOPRESTI
Backup story art by ANDREI BRESSAN
On sale APRIL 17 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
• What is the great evil Constantine unleashes on Gemworld, and why is Amethyst powerless to stop him?