Old Guard: Tales Through Time #1

The Old Guard: Tales Through Time #1

Image Comics 2021

My Mother’s Axe

Written by Greg Rucka

Illustrated by Leandro Fernández

Zanzibar and Other Harbours

Written by Andrew Wheeler

Illustrated by Jacopo Camagni

All Colours by Daniela Miwa

All Lettering by Jodi Wynne

Andromache the Scythian—a warrior over six thousand years old, who has fought more battles than she cares to remember—has kept one constant companion through her long lifetime of combat…her labrys. Andy's battle axe takes many forms, and many lives, in its centuries at her side.

Meanwhile, Nicolo "Nicky" di Genova and Yusuf "Joe" al-Kaysani, lovers since they tried (and failed) to kill each other in the First Crusade, spend an evening at Berlin's famed Eldorado nightclub in the twilight era of 1932, sharing drinks with drag queens and fistfighting Nazis.

Here is something that I wasn’t expecting to see with this issue and that’s it felt like we were getting two stories from one creative team. Sure the stories are slightly different but their essence remains the same and it’s that which you cannot replicate so I am not really surprised that these two were paired up for this issue. Sometimes what can resonate with readers the most is something more emotional and personal to the characters that is relatable to the reader as well.

I love the way that these are being told. How we see the story & plot development through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exquisitely well. Up first are the ladies and a training session turns into a bonding session and something of a history lesson. Meanwhile the boys are on a date and start to reminisce about their dating history thanks to seeing the German soldier. In both instances we get to see how memories strengthen their ties to those in their lives whether present or not. The character development is incredible. Just seeing how both are being told and how completely personal it feels gives these characters that extra layer of personality beyond what we’ve become familiar with. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way its a quiet kind of powerful.

I like how this is structured and how the layers within the story are there and how the underlying theme here is being brought to light. These are both stories about their pasts and things that are important to them whether it’s known from the onset or no. how we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow is nicely done.

The interiors match each set of characters extremely well. I will say the boys is my preference with its clean, crisp and strong lines. How we see the kinetic energy playing out and how the detail work shines through, both, and with the backgrounds within the composition of the panels bringing us depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some talented eyes for storytelling. The colour work is fantastic and how we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extremely well rendered.

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I’m thoroughly and utterly impressed with the pair of stories here. The boys a little more with how their past plays into this present and the first for the emotion connection to her mother through her weapon. This has been such a delightful franchise and it’s high time we got to see more new stories with these character and hopefully there will be a new sweeping arc on the horizon.