Creative Staff:
Story: G. Willow Wilson, Erica Schultz
Art: Noah Salonga
What They Say:
When Kato’s luxury getaway car, Black Beauty, takes on a mind of its own and goes on a rampage through the streets of New York, Masquerade is hot on its trail…but when the two clash, who will end up in the driver’s seat? Strange forces are at work and unlikely heroes must come together to solve the mystery!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As more of the one-shots come out for the Swords of Sorrow series, we get to see more of the connections made between various characters ahead of the larger fights to come. And they’re useful in how they present the background for the characters at hand, so that those going into the main series can understand them. Some can be a bit heavy handed as we’ve seen previously, while others can blend a bit better and be condensed more, allow for more story of the moment to be told rather than just providing an origin story or two together. With this installment, we get the pairing of the female Kate and the character known as Masquerade as they become involved with the swords themselves.
The focus this time around is more on Masquerade, which makes sense since she’s the lesser known of the two and her abilities makes it easier to bring out the background. It’s a bit complicated at first since her power lets her take over others bodies while passing through them, so the initial encounter of dealing with some gang members while she hunts down her opponent of the moment is confusing in terms of the thought/narration boxes, but it clues us into her abilities well and what she sees of them. Her time is quickly changed, similar to what we saw with the Vampirella special, as the envoy from the Traveller arrives and informs her of what’s to come, while also gifting her with the Sword. It’s admittedly a little boilerplate if you’re reading all the books, but Masquerade comes to an understanding of things quickly, though her primary focus is still finding Kato and figuring out what kind of person she is since her encounters with her has her viewing Kato as a criminal.
Suffice to say, it doesn’t take long for the two to cross paths and run into problems with each other due to their individual approaches and personalities, but it leads to a fun action sequence that gives us a two page spread showing Kato’s origin – which is all that’s usually needed to get the key points across. It doesn’t make these two friends, but it shifts the dynamic to partners since they both have Swords, and their opponent, the prince, has sent Purgatori to take over Kato’s car, Black Beauty, and use it to eliminate the two of them. The book works through some straightforward action sequences between the various encounters it has, and it works very well in revealing the powers and abilities of the pair while also letting Purgatori’s powers and personality come through. It’s got a very smooth read once it gets past the awkwardness of trying to discern Masquerade for new readers, and that helps to build a bit more foundation for the main series itself.
In Summary:
Having not read much of either of these characters before, nothing at all really outside of some brief flashes here and there, this one shot for Swords of Sorrow does a solid job of bringing us into the loop of who they are, what they can do and how their personalities work when it comes to the big picture events coming their way. I liked how it brought in Purgatori for a bit, though admittedly the whole thing with the Black Beauty car was just kind of goofy, though I can see the appeal for those that are long time fans of the property. Outside of some light stumbles at the start just in figuring out the narrative itself, the book is a solid read that definitely sets up more of what’s to come and will most definitely make the mean series feel a lot more fleshed out and engaging. And it has me interested in checking out any future Masquerade books.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 27th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
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