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Tripwire Reviews Brian Wood and Mack Chater’s Sword Daughter

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8 years ago

November 14, 2018

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♦ Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows reviews Sword Daughter: Volume One: She Burns Brightly hardcover, by Brian Wood and Mack Chater, out now from Dark Horse…

Sword Daughter: Volume One: She Burns Brightly
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Mack Chater
Colourist: Jose Villarubia
Letters: Nate Piekos
Dark Horse Comics

Brian Wood was the writer and creator of Vertigo’s Northlanders series and he has returned to a similar setting and characters with Sword Daughter, a new series from Dark Horse teamed up this time with artist Mack Chater. The pair collaborated before on Briggs Land also for Dark Horse.

The Sword Daughter of the title is a girl, Elsbeth Dagsdottir, who lost her mother to a raid and her father has spent a decade in a trance. She encounters her father again and they set out to get revenge on the people who killed her mother and his wife the Forty Swords. Sword Daughter is a simple tale of revenge but thanks to Wood’s inventive and clever characterisation, it barrels along at a great pace. As with Northlanders, he really brings the world of 1000 years ago to life with real flair and panache. Sword Daughter owes a great deal to things like Koike and Kojima’s Lone Wolf And Cub but also to classic westerns like The Searchers and The Magnificent Seven. Artist Chater is exceptional as he is able to switch between moments of emotional tenderness and brutal, bloody battles with a skill that is rarely seen these days. Colourist Villarubia is also the perfect foil for the artist’s lines and his colour work adds a great deal of texture and tone to the story.

It is evident that there is great chemistry between Wood and Chater and Sword Daughter is a classic adventure epic with an intriguing concept that makes the reader want to continue reading. Thoroughly recommended for fans of high quality adventure yarns.