Tag: Seven Swords

With Further Ado #154:  En Garde!

With Further Ado #154: En Garde!

 When I was in a college freshman, it was mandated we take two gym classes.  I wanted to try something I had never tried before, so I signed up for fencing.  There was an Olympic fencer from my hometown who was a bit of a local celebrity, but the real reason I was interested in fencing was because I loved movie swordfights.

As a freshman in that class, we learned the basics for the first four weeks.  We studied and practiced lunges and parries and all that stuff.  Soon it was time to actually fence against another person.   Within seconds, I forgot everything I had been learning and it all reverted to any other backyard swordfight.  I relied 100%  on those summer days when my brother and I would swish sticks in the backyard and say things like “ah-hah!”   Needless to say, I was not invited onto the fencing team.

But… in the spirit of those summer swordfights, let’s review some comics!

The Fox So Cunning and Free

American Mythology is a new publisher, just celebrating its 5th anniversary. One of the licenses they have acquired is Zorro, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The Mark of Zorro : 100 Years of the Masked Avenger is an impressive coffee table book celebrating this long-lived hero’s many incarnations.  James Kuhoric and Jason Ullmeyer have assembled a collection of amazing images from every Zorro adventure – all the books, pulps, movies, cartoons and comics. It’s heavy on imagery and light on text, so it is a quintessential ‘flip through” book.

Comics creators Matt Wagner and the legendary Don McGregor (who created my favorite version of Zorro) supply the introduction and forward respectively to make the proceedings all the more special.

D’Artagnan Returns

Seven Swords is a new comic series from another “new” publisher, AfterShock Comics. They’ve been putting out so many titles they don’t seem new anymore to me, though. Seven Swords is written by Revan Daughtery and the art is provided by Riccardo Latina.  This new series focuses on a middle aged D’Artagnan, who you will remember from Dumas’ classic The Three Musketeers. In this story, however, the Three Musketeers are offstage, and D’Artagnan seeks to avenge them by recruiting a new team . He goes all-in Magnificent Seven style.

Latina, an Italian artist who is new to me, employs a classic style that suits the material, but he leverages a sense of dynamic movement, so it never looks dated.

A Look Back at an Invincible Sword

Recently, Back Issue Magazine shined the spotlight on Conan, the Barbarian. One of the articles reviewed all the ‘other’ barbarian characters from the Bronze Age, and I was fascinated by Dagar, the Invincible.  A Gold Key/Western “Sword and Sandals” character, Dagar was created by Don Glut and Jesse Santos. Wonderful painted covers graced each issue, many may have been painted by George Wilson. I would have ignored this series as a kid, but lately I have I been scouring back issue bargain boxes for it.  Glut is an imaginative and clever writer, and able to pack so much into one-and-done single story issues.

Santos, part of the wave of brilliant Filipino artists who illustrated 70s comics, is simply fantastic.

The layouts, anatomy and inking are all inspiring.  All of Santo’s barbarian women look like they walked off the set of a 1969 Hollywood movie, but that’s not so bad.

Of note if you want to join me in the noble quest of collecting Dagar:  he didn’t really have his own title. It was officially Tales of Swords and Sorcery featuring Dagar the Invincible.


“Don’t leave home without your sword- your intellect.”

-Alan Moore

New Number Ones: New Comics Titles Coming in June 2021

New Number Ones: New Comics Titles Coming in June 2021

This month we give our readers a list of the exciting new comic book series debuting in June. We have compiled an alphabetical list with cover art and the official solicitation text from the publishers. Check below for our PCS NOTES to find out what we just have to tell you about the new comics in question.

There are a bunch of great new and interesting series starting this month from AfterShock Comics, Boom! Studios, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Vault Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics, Scout Comics, and Black Mask Studios.

There are a few one-shot comics on this list. We usually stay away from those and stick to ongoing or mini-series, but these are too good to ignore.

We will bring you reviews of most of these debut issues as they come out, and don’t forget to use the comments section to let us know what you think of this list.

You will find the books listed below in the order of when they are released.

Week of 6/2/21
Week of 6/9/21
Week of 6/16/21
Week of 6/23/21
Week of 6/30/21


Week of June 2


Basilisk #1
Boom! Studios
Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Jonas Scharf
Cover Art by Scharf

Who Can Stop The Chimera?

Five individuals bound by a cult-like hivemind, they terrorized small towns with their horrifying supernatural sense-based powers, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

Regan, one of the Chimera, escaped and has been in hiding, with her murderous eyes bound, overcome with guilt.

Until now… when a victim from her past forces her to hunt down the other four of her kind.

New York Times bestselling horror writer Cullen Bunn and artist Jonas Scharf reunite to unleash a supernatural horror series for fans of Killadelphia and Stillwater rooted in the way we process the world – our senses.

Release Date: June 2, 2021

PCS NOTES: Let’s start out with a bang. The super-prolific Cullen Bunn leads off this month’s list with an intriguing new story. Don’t think this is Mr. Bunn’s only entry on this list.


Cherry Blackbird #1
Scout Comics
Written by Joseph Schmalke
Art by Schmalke
Cover Art by Schmalke

Rockstar Cherry Blackbird sold her soul for fame. Now at the age of 26, time is running short. The day she turns 27, she’ll be dragged to Hell. But Cherry is not one to go quietly. The Devil tasks her with collecting seven demonic souls that have escaped the Abyss. If she can do this before her next birthday, she’ll be released from her infernal pact and spared eternal damnation. Heaven help anyone who gets in her way!

Release Date: June 2, 2021

PCS NOTES: We are excited to get our hands on this Joseph Schmalke effort.

Continue reading “New Number Ones: New Comics Titles Coming in June 2021”