Today's featured comic book is The Sword by The Luna Brothers.
Myths are strange things. We like to pretend that we're beyond the era of letting myths have power over our civilization - but that clearly isn't the case. Leaving aside major religions, which clearly have a lot of clout and influence in the countries where they dominate, myths pervade our lives in surprising ways. The Birther movement is based on the myth that Obama isn't an American...I guess in a plot for Kenya to take over the US? I'm not really sure what the endgame would be there. The Truthers of course cling to the myth that 9/11 was an inside job - a huge conspiracy perpetuated by our own government for sinister ends. Is Global Warming a myth used to scare people and excuse punishing, anti-corporate legislation?
And not all of today's myths are politically charged. How many of us believed that item about KFC changing its name from Kentucky Fried Chicken because they were using genetically altered poultry known as "Cluck?" Or any number of these historical "facts" that are nothing more than simple visual shorthands for complicated eras? Myths abound - not just in the pages of Edith Hamilton's book or the stuffy classroom of cultural anthropologists - but are a part of our society and the ongoing conversations we have regarding politics, science and every other aspect of modern life.
But why? What purpose do they serve? Myths are our way of explaining something we just can't understand. Why is a politician I hate so successful? How could this terrible thing happen? Where do we go when we die? These myths are our way of trying to make sense of something that is otherwise impossible to grasp or fully wrap our heads around. Or else they are ways for us to entertain our worst parts - the schadenfreude that delights at thinking that Rod Stewart had a pint of semen pumped from his stomach, or the macabre aspect of ourselves that relishes the image of a poodle exploding in the microwave. Myths are used to either shed light on a subject that's too murky to comprehend, or else it's our way of exploring the darkness we otherwise despise.
Myths are part of our culture, engrained in the way we interact and understand the world. They are just as powerful now as they were in our more primitive days; just because the trappings and the details change, doesn't change their essential value to societies. Myths are potent containers for our species fears, a source of power that can inspire us as easily as they can oppress with their hazy forms of logic. But what happens when the myths are real? What happens when those stories turn out to be only too true and that power is unleashed in the real world?
The Sword, written and drawn by The Luna Brothers, examines an instance where mythical figures suddenly become flesh and blood terrors out to punish the mortals that have reduced them to half-remembered stories and forgotten nightmares. Dara Brighton is a paraplegic art student with a loving family whose life is startlingly - and gruesomely - thrown into disarray by the arrival of three powerful people. The three people - Zakros, Knossos and Malia - are gods from an ancient civilization looking for a powerful artifact that has stood in their way of global domination. Now Dara is trying to find answers - dangerously pursuing these three powerful beings while evading those that would possess the artifact for their own purposes.
Beyond examining the role myths have in our lives - and how we build up mythologies of our family members and our world in order to feel like we "understand" them better - The Sword also delves into the nature of revenge. There's an ancient proverb that "before embarking on a quest for revenge, be sure to dig two graves." A life dedicated to destroying another ends up being an empty existence that can only lead to death; or a hollow feeling of accomplishing something that will never truly satisfy whatever drove one to that path in the first place. As King once wrote, "an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."
So should Dara seek vengeance on these beings? What will be the price for embarking on such a mission? And even if you set aside the moral quandaries, can she even hope to take on powerful gods that can command the very elements of the earth? With the group of people she can trust rapidly dwindling, Dara has to cross the globe in pursuit of the people who have utterly changed her life forever and hope she has a fighting chance against these villains.
It's a compelling book that is wickedly entertaining and has some of the best action sequences outside of early Luc Besson movies. It has thematic similarities to Kill Bill (the wronged woman asserting her power and independence through revenge against overwhelming and powerful forces), with breathtaking visuals, interesting complicated characters and iconic moments that resonate emotionally with the reader. And there's an excellent use of flashback and emotional call backs throughout the series - a fantasy (or more fantastical) version of Lost that ties quiet moments of character interaction into more bombastic scenes of heart pounding violence and narrative progression, all usually leading up to some sort of great cliffhanger/plot twist image on the last page that compels you to keep following
The final issue (#24) of the limited series is due to come out in May. In the meantime, Vol 1 - 3 (titled Fire, Water, Earth) are currently available for purchase. And if you're curious if this is to your liking - you can read the first issue for free by clicking on the image below:
