Monday, June 22, 2015

Swords of Sorrow: Dejah Thoris & Irene Adler #1 - A Review

In the royal palace of Helium, Dejah Thoris ponders two mysteries - the disappearance of her ally Tars Tarkas and the gift of a strange sword.  It is as dark as the night sky and strong as any metal on Barsoom, yet as light as a feather in her grip.

On another world in another time, Irene Adler is concerned with two mysteies as well.  She's been secretly hired by Mycroft Holmes to track down an otherworldly creature that attacked the House of Commons and finds herself in possession of a remarkable new sword-cane. But she is not the only one hunting the lion-like beast and the secret of its origins will bring two equally remarkable yet completely different women face to face.


Leah Moore's script for this issue is wonderful.  The lion's share of it is devoted to Irene Adler and the story is largely told from her perspective in a wonderful emulation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's oeuvre. Then we reach the bits with portals leaving to other planets, an English big-game hunter being let loose on Mars and half-naked, red-skinned amazons in the streets of London and this book becomes sort of original pulp lunacy Moore excels at writing.


The artwork for the issue is of similar high quality. Francesco Manna fits an amazing amount of intricate detail into the backgrounds, faltering only in how forced some of the character poses seem. The color art by Inlight studios, however, is without fault.

All in all this is a rollicking ripping yarn that lives up to the concept of this crossover!

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