Sword of Ages #2

Written & Illustrated by: Gabriel Rodriguez

Colored by: Lovern Kindzierski

Published by: IDW

World-building is the best way to describe what Rodriguez seems to be trying to accomplish with his new series Sword of Ages. In my previous review I mentioned how this new series is a clear take on the old Arthurian legend and this issue continues to showcase some of those classic scenes that we all know from Arthur, Merlin and the Sword in the Stone.

Having said that, even though we are presented with these elements from the past, Rodriguez with deftness, makes sure to modify our preconceived notions of the legend to establish his own take. Avalon, the Arthur of this story, and her compatriots, the knights, are already faced with their first challenge in this second issue. Having just met each other, we get a sense that they are not as of yet comfortable with each other and their way of doing things. This leads to more effort required to accomplish their task, but it is the better for it. We get to see these new character’s that we have just met as the reader grow.

The other parts of the issue that do not directly deal with Avalon and her crew, can be a little confusing at times since this world is not yet fully established. We have two different storylines that are being told concurrently and it can be sometimes hard to follow.

The first revolves a militaristic power who seem to be hellbent on bringing “their way of thinking” to the different species of the world. We met some in the first issue, but I’m still unsure whether they are based on the same world as Avalon or in space somewhere.  

The second deals with a prince who clearly knows Avalon and is awaiting her return to the palace. However, his duty brings him to a rival’s camp where he and his companion observe the baddies from the previous paragraph meeting with his rival.

Both of these subplots are clearly there to help with the world-building of the issue, but suffer from one minor issue that could become major if not addressed: reading this second issue, with no real recap, I had zero clue who these two parties were. Yes, I think we met them in the first issue, but unless you were taking notes of who all the actors are in this series, you could be excused for not knowing who they were.

To be honest, that is the only true negative of this series up to date, and it is not this series fault - this is a bigger problem in the comics industry in this, the age of the trade paperback where you almost have to read a full story arc in one go (and not month to month) to not get lost in the story.