S.W.O.R.D.R.I.P.

[angelophile]

Picked up my stack of comics for the last few weeks and in the pile was the final issue of S.W.O.R.D. It lived up to expectations and left me sad to see this great little series go.

Originally slated as an ongoing, this series saw cancellation after only five issues. In fact, according to writer Kieron Gillen, it was pretty much cancelled even before anyone had read a single page of the series, based on pre-orders from retailers alone. My comic store guy said, when we talked about it today, "Maybe Marvel will learn that they're just putting too much out." A slightly odd attitude, but I can sympathize with retailers who have to lay down cash for stock - if it's an obscure project, it's not really a huge surprise that they pass. I know my store only got the title in based on myself and one other regular asking for it to be stocked.

A shame, because the five issues we did get of S.W.O.R.D. were almost ridiculously fun. As a total fanboy, there's an element of "you had me at Death's Head" about it, but there was way more than just a snarky, 30ft tall, business obsessed mechanoid bounty hunter freelance peacekeeping agent to enjoy.

Thankfully Kieron Gillen had planned for cancellation, because what we fo get is a great little safe-contained arc in which Beast and his girlfriend Xenophiliac Experimentation Partner Abigail Brand (from Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-men run) seek to save the world from imminent alien invasion, while Norman Osborn appoints Henry Peter Gyrich as co-head of S.W.O.R.D., leading to his making the decision to extradite every alien immigrant from the planet.

It's an impressive feat that Gillen manages to run these two storylines, along with subplots about Brand's half-brother, the aforementioned mechanoid, build up Beast and Brand's relationship, introduce a new character, UNIT, who's akin to a robotic Hannibal Lecter and also put the spotlight on Lockheed in the space of five issues. It's a harp back to "proper" comic book pacing. Each issue works as an individual chapter and also a part of a whole. In the days where decompression can still be a killer for momentum, I applaud Gillen for packing so much in. And he also deserves credit for making the whole series what's sorely lacking in modern comics - fun. The scripts are witty, action packed and light in the best possible way, proving that you don't need tragic character deaths and awfulness to make a comic work. You can do it with light-hearted and quirky humour, fun characters, heroic situations, a touch of romance and witty banter between the two leads and, yes, a giant mechanoid bounty hunter with a snarky wit.

Steven Sanders has come under a lot of flack for his depiction of Beast in his art. I can't really say I'm a fan of the look myself, although finding out he made him rather longer in the snout in tribute to the Red Dragon from Bone did soften my views. But, given the fact the character's not had anything like a consistent look since he was catified in Morrison's New X-men, I can't say I found the look particularly distracting. Especially not when I found the rest of the art attractive, light and clean and very suitable for the style of the book.

I do find it depressing that this - a comic that's in almost every way fun, enjoyable and readable - is killed quickly, while (to my tastes) morally repugnant books like Cry for Justice leap of the shelves. But I shouldn't complain too much, I guess. At the end of the day I got a five issue series I enjoyed immensely and had great fun with. I doubt many readers of Cry for Justice and the ilk can claim the same.

Either way, I can heartily recommend picking this title up in trade form, when it surfaces. I hope it will find its niche there and Kieron Gillen's demonstrated that he deserves a big title at Marvel and isn't just suited to indie stuff like Phonogram. Maybe his brief run on Thor will help with that.

At least runs like this remind me there's still fun stuff out there. Hoorah! (If only briefly.)