Customer Reviews

The Sword Volume 1: Fire (Sword (Image Comics))

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The dynamic duo that is the Luna Brothers have been impressing me ever since I purchased Ultra. While some of their stories are unique or a new take on an old genre If you take the time to read these comics you will find brilliance. One thing you will notice about their comics is that there is a bit more dialog going on than most comics. It really helps flesh out the characters and helps broaden the world. I will say it now, if you like this then pick both Ultra and Girls.

SPOILERS!!!

The story is that of a young college girl, Dara Brighton, who is disabled from the waist down and just trying to get through everyday life. She has a great best friend who is with her through thick and thin and a supporting family who does just the same. Her entire life comes to a crashing halt when three mysticaly powered strangers come to her house and demand her father gives them their sword. The father denies knowing anything about the sword causing the strangers to kill her entire family. During the course of this debacle Dara crashes through the floor of her now destroyed home. She find the sword under the house and is miraculously healed of paralysis and thus begins the rest of the tale.

The art of this comic is what i would call deceptive art. It's not necessarily the most highly detailed but it easily conveys the story and there is a suprising amount of violence and gore. The closest way I can describe it is adult Saturday morning cartoon. It's pretty colourful and continues in the same style that their other comics were in. It's very much their own when it comes to the art.

I'am quite pleased with how the story started with this volume and volume 2 comes out in December so I will be picking that up as well. The only thing I can say that might through more casual comic reader off is the amount of dialoge. Like I said before thee is a lot but I feel it helps the story out very nicely. I personally can't wait for the next volume.

The Sword is the first story I've read by the Luna brothers, and I had passed over the book in single-issue form many times - I think because the art didn't immediately grab me, or maybe because the story sounded predictable. When I actually sat down with the first volume I was surprised by how quickly I grew to like the simple, yet expressive artwork and the book's thoughtful and realistic characters. I was immediately sucked in.

The Sword respects its readers in the highest form possible - by gracefully allowing its characters and their actions to make sense. I cannot stress enough how rare this is in mainstream comics, film and tv storytelling. Dara is a smart, strong young woman who makes tough but credible decisions under some incredible and traumatic circumstances. And I appreciate the fact that (unlike so many other contemporary stories about young adults) Dara, her friends, and the characters who populate The Sword don't waste their/our time spouting inane pop culture references or having empty soap opera histrionics. The story is lean and thoughtful, the stakes are high, and the book's pace is an expert display of economy and purpose - all very refreshing and highly entertaining.

I bought volume 2 the next day, and having read that as well I am very eager to uncover the rest of the story. The Sword is a book I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to fans of all storytelling where the characters feel true, and the tale is thrilling. I will especially enjoy having another title I can confidently recommend to the women I know who have an interest in comics, but are always looking for alternatives to the typical super-hero laden mainstream.

KAPOW! (my mind blowing up). Thats what it was like when I first picked this up. I had never heard of the Luna Brothers before though I read the first issue of The Sword online at the image website and shortly bought the first trade. The art is amazing, and the dialogue is on par with some of my favorites (Kirkman, Ennis). After reading this I checked out their other work which includes Ultra and Girls. Ultra I didn't like too much, but Girls, again, blew my mind.

Back to The Sword, it's a story of a disabled girl whose family is killed by 3 intruders looking for a mystical sword that her father supposedly had. She is the lone survivor and when she finds the sword it cures her disabilities and gives her great powers, but only when she's holding it. I can see why the three intruders wanted it so bad, but why? Well, you'll just have to read to find that out!

The dynamic duo that is the Luna Brothers have been impressing me ever since I purchased Ultra. its awesome i love it

The Sword is a 4 part self-contained comic saga by the Luna Brothers. This volume kicks it off introducing Dara a paraplegic art student and her family. Their normal life is shattered when 3 strangers arrive demanding her father give them 'the sword'. When he claims ignorance they kill him and Dara's family, leaving her to die in the burning house. Then things get interesting...

The Sword has all the features of the Luna Brother's earlier work Ultra. Natural dialogue, characters who respond in realistic ways and absolutely brutal fights. The Sword is not for the squemish, the creators give some thought to what would happen if someone is hit with superhuman strength, tossed across the room into a wall. It also has room for friendship, love and character development. Dara changes more in this one book than Batman has in the last 20 years.

The Luna's obviously wrote with collections in mind which makes the series stronger. Book 1 ends at a natural pause and makes you eager for book 2.

The one fault I would give this book is the art. The Luna Brothers have a nice clean, minimal style and can do good facial expressions and draw different body types. But their faces and body language are very stiff, almost plastic. In one early scene where Dara's family is threatened everyone stands ramrod straight showing no real sign of fear in their poses. With some work on poses their art could really improve.

If you haven't yet sussed out that the Luna Brothers are comic books' next big thing, it's past time you did. These guys did marvelous work in their two limited series ULTRA and GIRLS, but I like THE SWORD even better. While ULTRA is a satirical jab at superhero tropes and GIRLS is an engrossing take on alien invasion, THE SWORD steeps itself in the modern-day fantasy genre. Joshua and Jonathan Luna are co-plotters, but it's Joshua who scripts the thing and his narrative grounds itself on well-crafted characterization and allows for events to gradually unfold. The Lunas demonstrate a knack for introducing real people and then putting them in horrific out-of-the-ordinary situations. Given the central theme of THE SWORD, the story gradually evokes a mythic quality.

The Brightons seem a normal family living ordinary lives in Annandale, Virginia. One night, three intruders enter their home demanding the whereabouts of a long-sought-for sword. Some time later, frustrated, they slaughter the Brightons, but unwittingly leave behind one survivor, Dara Brighton, a college art student and paraplegic. Part of the ceiling had collapsed on Dara who fell thru the floor and down into a pit, where she finds a sword stuck in the dirt. She finds herself standing, holding the sword.

THE SWORD Vol. 1: FIRE collects issues #1-6 and tracks Dara as she figures out the sword's peculiar properties and shockingly learns of her father's past. Because her father, Alex Brighton, isn't simply the college professor he'd been masquerading as. For one thing, he'd lived for four thousand years... The murderers of Dara's family aren't about to quit trying to obtain the sword. Dara finds herself on the run not only from them but also from the authorities. The police suspect her of having killed her family. And bad joss for Dara's friend, Julie, and for Justin, a former student of Professor Brighton's who showed up for the Brightons' funeral. Julie and Justin find themselves reluctantly embroiled in Dara's predicament.

It starts out slow and with plenty of exposition, but the dialogue flows naturally and these characters act so much like real people and it so doesn't feel like a "superhero" story. Which makes issue #3 come across as that much more of a shock. This is when Dara finally springs into action and unleashes the sword. What she does is eye-popping stuff (and, trust me, more than eyes get popped out). The Luna Brothers also do a cool thing in that Dara's remarkable exploits don't go unnoticed, not in a world where everyone has cell phones with a camera function. Soon, the media is frenziedly reporting on this mysterious girl and capturing reactions from the astonished eyewitnesses. I like it when the fantasy element trickles into and affects the unsuspecting everyday world.

Jonathan Luna's art is neither flashy nor, at first glance, lends itself to the epic. What he's got is this clean, unassuming style, and it works marvelously well for those moments when nothing seems to be going on except people talking. Jonathan Luna conveys the moods of the narrative and then there's a quiet cinematic dynamism that defines the action scenes. That the art isn't flashy actually serves to emphasize the fantastical feats Dara commits. I frankly dig Jonathan Luna's art. Combine that with a sympathetic heroine, amazing action set pieces, and enough unpredictability to raise expectations even from the jaded reader, THE SWORD cannot be more highly recommended.

The story here is truly great. Great concept, great execution, great piece of work. The only drawback I had was the offensiveness of the language. Now, it may not bother many, most, but I found its use of derogatory terms to be over the top. And I did look beyond this in order to finish the story. But it was pervasive. Just as "heads up" that the language is pretty rough.

The Luna Brothers' epic "The Sword" is the sort of comic that fans will press on their non-comic reader friends.
It's that good.
It achieves that wonderful balance of being accessible to both people new to comics as well as the long term fans.
Plot? Magic sword causes havoc in present day USA. But it's so much more - the pacing and characterisation make this worth seeking out.
If your budget can manage it, buy all three volumes. You'll enjoy reading the chapters one after the other.
Those of us following comic have to wait a month between installments.
The original comic is currently working towards it's conclusion, so it's all waiting for you.

A word of caution - this is a comic about what a magic sword can do to people, so the violence is a level or two beyond what you may be expecting.
If you can get by that, you're in for one of the best reading experiences you're had in years.

The Luna brothers have an excellent idea on their hands, and one of the reasons it works is because it is so simple. Dara is an art student at college, living at home with her family when things go horribly wrong and three strangers walk into their house. From there, things get intense and it all works out to be an amazing revenge comic.
The gore factor in it is pretty high, but if you've read Kick-Ass or Walking Dead, then you already know what to expect. The action is top-notch, and circles around the central characters, as not to get confusing. The plot line isn't too deep, but is involving enough to keep interest. The artwork is standard, which isn't a bad thing. There's plenty of detail. It's just a good overall comic so far, and I just finished the third volume this evening.
I would highly suggest this to anyone who liked Kill Bill (my girlfriend loves that series of movies, and loves The Sword as well), or to anyone who likes comics about ordinary people in extraordinary situations (like the above mentioned Kick-Ass, The Walking Dead, as well as Y: The Last Man).

Simply wonderful,

In this amazing comic series, the Luna Brother's work their magics, creating a world of modern day gods and goddesses. Through their gifted writing, they help the reader to share Dara Brighton's journey of vengeance and redemption as she seeks to punish unjust gods for the murder of her family. One cannot simply read this book, one experiences the passions, the highs, the lows, the joys, the fears and the sorrows of the characters. This is the comic book at it's best.

But it. Read it. Live the adventure.