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Language: eng
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REVIEWS

SWORD

reviewed by alasdair stuart Written by Kieron Gillen

Art by Steven Sanders and Jamie Mckelvie

Published by Marvel Comics

Abigail Brand has a problem; his name is Henry Peter Gyrich and he’s the co-Commander of SWORD, along with her. SWORD, the Sentient World Observation and Response Department, is SHIELD’s sister organisation and it has a wide variety of problems, ranging from a fugitive begging for sanctuary from a bounty hunter to the fact an alien war fleet seems to rather fancy taking North Carolina away from them. Hank Mcoy, Abigail’s boyfriend, has no problems; after all, he’s

brought the morning coffee and remembered the muffins too. SWORD , picking up on characters introduced by Joss Whedon during his run on Astonishing X-Men, is possibly the single most fun comic you’ll read this year. The stakes are clearly massive from the first page and Gillen’s script never lets us or the characters forget it but that’s not all there is. Under the constant imminent disaster there’s a barely contained sense of glee, a joy at your day job being negotiating with alien warlords and bounty hunters, that your office is in Earth orbit, that you have your own spaceship. This is a comic about having the best job in the world and it’s constant flow of movement, ideas, characters and jokes is reminiscent of The West Wing at its best.

It’s in the characters where Gillen really flies though. Abigail Brand is neatly repositioned here as a fiercely competent, droll young woman who is far better at her job than she gives herself credit for. The romance with Beast is inspired too, Abigail’s tightly wound militaristic approach perfectly contrasted by the amiable, blue-furred scientist. Gillen has struck gold with them as his central double act and thanks to Sanders’ energetic artwork and skill with expression they can make you laugh simply by sharing a panel.

The other characters score too, in particular Lt. Sydren, a slightly put upon telepath and UNIT, a friendly, congenial figure kept in informational quarantine who is clearly the most dangerous figure in the book. There’s also a welcome return for Lockheed, Kitty Pryde’s dragon, that promises one of Astonishing X-Men’s biggest loose plot threads will soon be resolved. Finally, Gyrich and a guest appearance by Death’s Head, Marvel UK’s Transformer-sized bounty hunter rounds the cast out to give the book the epic scope it needs whilst still keeping it focussed on character.

SWORD is a rare book, one that fits perfectly into an established universe but clearly has it’s own voice and identity. It’s quick witted, funny, oddly sweet and filled with likeable, interesting character. Smartly written and beautifully drawn, this is about to close to perfect as a debut gets. If you’re even a little fond of science fiction, character based drama or amiable, blue, furry scientists then this is for you.

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