Seven Swords #2

Seven Swords #2

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Even Daugherty

Illustrated by Riccardo Latina

Coloured by Valentina Bianconi

Lettered by Dave Sharpe

D’Artagnan must gather the greatest “swords” of his day if he has any chance of stopping the devilish machinations of Cardinal Richelieu. Unfortunately, that’s proving easier said than done…

One of the Seven Swords is his old rival with the prominent proboscis, Cyrano de Bergerac, who not only has a rapier wit, but also a literal rapier…which he’s been using to fight an on-again, off-again duel with D’Artagnan for years. That’s not even mentioning La Maupin, a sword-mistress who is quite literally a diva…of the operatic variety. Or Don Juan…whose "under cover" proclivities nearly doom the mission before it even begins…

Well as the fourth Musketeer must gather his forces in order to stop Cardinal Richelieu we are seeing something happening within these pages that takes things in a decidedly different direction than I had expected to see. Don’t get me wrong I’m completely and utterly intrigued that someone who claims to be a Cardinal would stoop to the position of seeking a sword such as this, though my opinion of the church isn’t very high or holds them credible so maybe it does fit right in with how I would envision such thing occurring. What this exactly means however remains unclear even to my trusted Magic 8-Ball.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react tot eh situations and circumstances which they encounter fleshes them out entirely all too well. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we are pulled deeper and deeper into the conspiracy of it all.

I am thoroughly enjoying the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve, strengthen and emerge. The layers contain the characterisation, the plot twists and so much more and whether they work with the main arc or swirl around it they add depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

The interiors here a mindbogglingly gorgeous! The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level of detail work is truly astonishing. How we see backgrounds being utilised throughout the book leaves me absolutely chuffed to bits and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is rendered magnificently well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as brilliant as well. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a brilliant eye for how colour works and how to maximise the effects it has.

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Is there are real reason why Don Juan wasn’t shown full frontal? I mean c’mon now I think with all the talk surrounding it we should’ve seen it. With this issue we almost see the entire group recruited, or is it already? I’m not sure but the title says seven so we’ll see next month whether the cast is assembled or not. With some amazing writing and smart characterisation alongside these mind numbing interiors continue to impress and amaze me with the quality of storytelling that we see.