Review: Swordsmith Assassin #1
Release Date: August 2009
Writer(s): Andrew Cosby and Michael Alan Nelson
Artist(s): Ayhan Hayrula
Cover(s): John Cassaday, Joe Corroney
Colors: Andres Lozano
Letterer: Johnny Lowe
“I was a demon born from the hellfires of my forge.”
– Toshiro Ono, Swordsmith Assassin
Thanks to the great people over at Boom! Studios, Fandomania is lucky enough to be able to provide our readers with advanced reviews of some of Boom!’s upcoming releases. This week, we not only have an advanced review, but are also able to offer you a sneak peek at the first 10 pages of issue #1 of Swordsmith Assassin, a comic that will be of particular interest to fans of director Quentin Tarantino’s popular Kill Bill franchise.
Written by Andrew Cosby (creator of Boom! Studios’s Eureka) and Michael Alan Nelson (author of Boom!’s Hexed comic series), Swordsmith Assassin reads like a short story or an excerpt from a novel rather than a collection of simple dialogue (a problem that besets many comic series that fail to succeed past the initial few issues). Swordsmith Assassin details the story of Toshiro Ono, a great Japanese swordsmith bent on revenge and intent on restoring honor to his family’s name. Readers are introduced to Ono as he approaches a Japanese General who is in possession of one of his swords. Ono tells the General of his father, Hideko Ono, who was also a master swordsmith, one who believed strongly in principle and would only make swords for men who followed the way of the warrior (much like the Japanese swordsmith in Kill Bill).
Unlike his father, Toshiro was seduced by the desire for a more grandiose life; he chose to be swayed by men who offered little more than large sums of money. As Toshiro’s story unfolds, it turns out to be a rather predictable one, however its predictability does not detract from the quality of the comic overall. The story is an interesting one, and we highly recommend that you take the time to read through the 10-page preview of Swordsmith Assassin. In addition to providing readers with a delightful mix of violence, storytelling, and compelling imagery, Swordsmith Assassin also offers a touching story that has multiple levels of meaning.
With art by Ayhan Hayrula and colors by Andres Lozano, Swordsmith Assassin is a cohesive comic with a great deal of potential, and one that we highly recommend checking out. Issue #1 (both covers A, art by John Cassaday, and B, art by Joe Corroney) of Swordsmith Assassin will be available for purchase in August. For more information about Swordsmith Assassin, Boom! Studios, or any of Boom!’s other comic series, head to Boom! Studios’s Official Web Site.
