Twinblades

I have a new comic review up at Paperback Reader. We received .pdf advance copies of a new series from Alias Publishing. http://www.paperbackreader.com/review.php?ReviewID=1345

For comics that have scantily clad female warriors, usually the emphasis has been on the body. While TWINBLADES does have the scantily clad maidens fighting with swords, that is not the main emphasis. It was great to see a comic that concentrated on the character, exactly the same way it would have if the main protagonists had been male.

Alias Publishing is not very well known to me. To be honest, I didn’t even know they were around. I’ve been wary of new publishers ever since Valiant and especially after CrossGen folded. However, Alias looks like it is going to great lengths to produce quality books that have great art and a decent story. A new comic is coming out from Alias called Twinblades by writer Adrian Todd and new phenom artist Ryan Odagawa. Two daughters are thought to be the saviors of their people, “trained in the arts of war to bring peace.”

Odagawa’s art really contributed to this book. I thought the fight scenes were amazing. The swordplay was synchronous from scene to scene, which was nice. The way Odagawa draws facial expressions almost rivals that of what I remember from 1980s Justice League artist Kevin Maguire.

With storytelling, some of the pacing may have been a bit off. When the sister was taken off the battlefield in the first issue, I was not entirely sure what was going on. It seemed to happen in only one or two panels. Also in the first issue, I was not sure who some of the characters were yet. When one sister questioned the words on the ancient stone, I thought she was talking to her sister; however, the dialogue made me believe it was a mother that I had not seen yet. I felt that we had not delved into the world enough before the intrigue. Maybe that is all right for some, but I like to get a feel for the world before much of the action. This is especially true in a new fantasy world. In particular, the second issue gave me the sense that there was some magic, or possibly even some technology. I still don’t know for certain. Was this a fantasy or a historical epic?

I also hope they are going to edit the dialogue. Some of the word balloons did not trail off with ellipses. There were several misspellings. Also, some of the word balloons broke at odd intervals to continue the dialogue. It was a bit awkward.

I do have to say that I enjoyed this comic. The characters needed to be developed and differentiated a bit more, but the fantastic art more than makes up for that. This was a pretty book that I dived into. If this is the type of stuff that Alias is putting out, I am going to find out more about them. Today.