The 7th Sword #1
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: John Raffo
Artist: Nelson Blake II
Cover: Andrew Robinson
Daniel Cray is a samurai/mercenary on the wrong end of a job when it all goes downhill. He’s now captured and presumed a spy, which lands him square in the middle of a conflict between a warlord and the settlement of ZenZion.
The 7th Sword begins in the middle of Cray’s mission, and while Raffo delivers on the action it’s the character development in this issue that lacks a bit. This is mainly with Daniel Cray, who is our main character, because several of the other characters were a bit more interesting than him. Some of his actions seemed a bit rushed and out of place, especially when you see him give up his sword near the beginning of the story. Sure, the events that preceded that were horrible, but did it have to result in such a drastic decision? Now, there could also be plot elements further down the road that explain the “why” of all of this in more detail and make sense of it all. However, if this does not happen then it could leave a reader scratching their head. Especially if you think his actions are to hide who he is from anyone he might encounter, though he reveals himself pretty quickly to his captors.
As far as the artwork goes you’re treated to visuals by Nelson Blake II with colors by Dave McCaig. There’s a lot of good here and the action sequence in the beginning is a pretty strong scene. When the narrative slows down a bit we’re treated to some pretty detailed and nice panels that allow for a better look at character design. Though the one that stands out the most would be Cyber-Sapien, Superfecta Five which we first get a glimpse of on the cover. The rest of the issue moves quite well, and hopefully we’ll get to see more of those acid spiting clones as the series continues.
There seems to be a lot going on here that we’re not privy to yet, which hopefully will be explained as The 7th Sword continues. The story itself is good enough to warrant coming back again to see how events play out, and hopefully a better representation of Cray as things develop.
Infinite Speech
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