Sword of Sorcery #2 – Review

By: Christy Marx (story), Aaron Lopresti (art), Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: Amy just wishes her mother and aunt would quit playing these mind games with her.

The Review: If you cornered me into identifying the reason why Amethyst and Gemworld remain such popular concepts after all these years, I’d say it’s because they just naturally hold a wealth of storytelling potential.  If every gem represents a different civilization, and you have dozens of different gems, then you’re basically giving the writer a chance to develop a plethora of cultures, histories, and political relationships from whole cloth.

In other words, Marx has her work cut for her.  So far, she’s done a respectable job showing the different talents of the various Houses without forcing the characters to just stand around, explaining everything.  Instead, the details pop up organically through the plot.  House Citrine is a kingdom of recorders, House Turqoise includes some highly talented weavers*, House Onyx seems purely mercenary (ready to aid and attack the same House by request), and House Amethyst evidently produces some quality portal-crystals.

Fun and interesting it may all be, but the drama feels distinctly high-schoolish in the way it demands tension from fairly straightforward conflicts.  Graciel is happy to share power (the “path of heart”); Mordiel is not.  Except for Citrine and Turquoise, none of the other houses seem interested in getting in the middle of that particular cut of beef, either way it’s sliced.  If there’s any cutthroat, Game of Thrones-style intrigue to be had, we have no sign of it yet.

Marx simplifies matters quite a bit, maybe even to her detriment, by making Amy so easygoing.  Despite getting whisked to a whole new world and thrown into powers and violence she wants no part of, she doesn’t make much resistance or protest to any of it.  While I appreciate that Marx avoids the horribly overdone “Oh, Mom!” sighs and spats that characterize the typical mother-daughter relationships in stories, it does take away a reliable source of personal conflict.

Also played for suspense but in actuality rather underwhelming is the scene of Mordiel wresting for Amy’s mind.  Any time you get into a character’s head, it seems to me an opportune moment to show something about their core personality, and we don’t get any of that in this issue.  Again, it’s a refreshing attitude from a fictional teenager, this “wait and see” manner of handling situations, but it does make it harder to find a connection to our heroine.

Lopresti displays his lavish style of art in his depiction of Manipoor, capital of House Citrine, which is breathtakingly pretty and convincing, the city of wonders you might see in a summer blockbuster.  Lopresti has also grown more proficient in capturing the dramatic moments, though he edges a little close to going too big and too much at some points—Amy’s possessed malevolence and Graciel’s gawping horror, for example.  Hi-Fi’s exuberant colors take an already shallow drama and make it even less affecting, though he creates a livelier Gemworld—sorry, Nilaa—in the process.

Tony Bedard’s “Beowulf” remains a dependable back-up, offering the edge that Amethyst’s adventures lack.  I still find it interesting that Bedard places his tale firmly in the DCU, a sort of post-apocalyptian world—which doesn’t bode well for Earth Prime, does it?  Note the cross-references to Beast Boy, King Shark, and Animal Man as Beowulf fights off “Grendel”—intriguing, no doubt.  No less so is the reveal at the end of another reimagined figure from the Anglo-Saxon legend, which promises some revelations next month.  Jesus Saiz and Brian Reber deliver suitably dark, sophisticated art to play out this sci-fi fantasy, a stark contrast to Lopresti and Hi-Fi’s near dazzling work in the main feature.

Conclusion: Some solid teamwork between two very different, yet complementary stories, though lacking in the kind of substance and complexity you’d expect of grown-up fantasy.

Grade: B

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: * Mist-silk is pretty cool as far as enchanted textiles are concerned, but I’m not sure the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.  Sure, you’ll probably never have to buy new clothes again, but you can’t expect your outfit to mitigate any damage in battle, protect against accidental injury, or provide shield from wet or snow.