Swords of the Swashbucklers

Swords of the Swashbucklers
by Bill Mantlo (story) and Jackson Guice (art)
Marvel Graphic Novel No. 14 (1984)

'Swords of the Swashbucklers' (64 pp.) is Marvel Graphic Novel No. 14, and was released in 1984.

As 'Swords' opens, it's the morning after a major storm off the South Carolina coast. A teen-aged girl named Domino is wandering the beach to see what has washed ashore.

Among the dunes, Domino comes across a strange piece of machinery that has become uncovered by the storm. The machinery emits a signal pulse.

The action then shifts to another part of the galaxy, where ships 'sail' the depths of space thanks to enwrapping force-fields that retain a bubble of breathable air for the crew.

We are introduced to the pirate ship 'Starshadow', her crew of alien scum, and the captain, a red-headed woman with horns (?!) named Raader. 

Without giving away spoilers, I'll simply say that Raader and her ship are the scourge of the spaceways, and the sole opponent of the rapacious Colonizers. And there is a connection between Raader and Domino, a connection that stretches back hundreds of years and across light-years of space.......

'Swords of the Swashbucklers', needless to say, is an attempt to infuse a sci-fi adventure narrative with the theme of the pirates of historical fact. In this, Mantlo's script does a reasonably adequate job, although the presence of a lot of hanging plot threads at the book's conclusion signals that the creators were hoping to launch a franchise from this Graphic Novel. This of course came to pass, with the 'Swords' series of 12 comic books that were released, under Marvel's Epic imprint, from March 1985 to March 1987.

Jackson Guice's artwork is the major selling point for this Graphic Novel, as it represents his customary level of high quality. Alfred Ramirez's colors at times overwhelm Guice's penciling, but this is simply a reflection of the limitations of the color reproduction processes Marvel employed for its Graphic Novels in the early 80s.

Summing up, 'Swords of the Swashbucklers' is another of those 80s sci-fi Graphic Novels that sets out to be a fun and entertaining read, no more, no less. It has a lighter quality than the overwritten, weighty sci-fi comics one sees nowadays (like Saga, Descender, Bitch Planet, and Invisible Republic) and if this is appealing to you, then acquiring a copy is recommended (used copies of 'Swords' can be found for under $10).