You know what’s cool? Vikings. You know what else is cool? Samurai. You know what’s the coolest thing ever then? Yup, Vikings fighting Samurai. And no, I’m not talking about that Cowboy Ninja Viking comic from nine years ago about a dude with a split personality (which will be a movie in 2019), but a legit Vikings fighting Samurai comic. Helmed by Brian Wood, the powerhouse behind the Viking epic Northlanders, Sword Daughter follows the life of a father-daughter team as they hunt down those that are responsible for burning down their village. But this isn’t another Lone Wolf and Cub scenario; this dog and puppy don’t exactly see eye-to-eye and clash with each other as much as they clash with their enemies. A tale of family, blood, and spectacular revenge, Dark Horse Comics’ latest work writes a poignant tale of blood that’s not always thicker than water and the lengths one goes to set things right.
Sword Daughter opens up on fairly mute girl name Elsbeth, one of two survivors on a village attack in Viking conquered Europe. The other, her father Dag, goes into a coma for ten years, waking up just in time to find his daughter a wild creature surviving by trading with whoever she can and burning with revenge. When they finally re-unite, Elsbeth follows her father, who is also looking to avenge his fallen family, as he searches for answers about the group who attacked his village a decade prior. He learns that he’s looking for a tribe called the Forty Swords, a masked gang of marauders that rule the mainland of his land though violence and intimidation. With his daughter on his heels, they go together looking for answers only for him to learn that Elsbeth might have old scores to settle with him as well.
Brian Wood does a lot with this comic despite being allowed to never have to write Viking comic again after four years of Northlanders. What he did with the short-anthology format of Northlanders he does with Sword Daughter, that is, stuff it full of blood and feels. You get a real feel for both the father and daughter, who had spent ten years away from each other, and how that time had completely destroyed that relationship. Aside from revenge, neither of them have any connection left to each other and are only together due to blood and fate, something that isn’t lost on Dag. He knows he has lost his bond to Elsbeth and is, in a very macho and Viking way, attempting to reconnect by not throwing her off a cliff when she tries to steal his sword. It’s a lot sweeter than it sounds. Elsbeth, on the other hand, completely evokes the lone-wolf aura of her years of lone survival and even in the first issue, you really feel for her. In a time of male power, she survives on her own, a very powerful statement to the tenacity of her will. Their bond speaks to the dynamics of parent-child love and all the complications of having a strained relationship.
Of course, we can’t forget about the samurai and yes, they are very cool. We don’t get to see a lot of samurai action in the first comic, but the brief glimpse we do get shows them to be a group of Vikings dressed in masks and Japanese inspired armor covered in thick fur capes. Their story is just as shadowy as they are and they seem to revel in the chaos they leave in their wakes. It’s a plot picked right up from classic samurai stories! Sword Daughter is very much an East-meets-West type of work that fans from across the board should appreciate and the accompanying art is nothing to sneeze at either. Handled by Mack Chater, the illustration is solid and straightforward with a solid amount of scratchy art for when things get…scratchy. Elsbeth’s dialogue is cleverly replaced with symbols instead of words, giving her a more feral feeling than her father and fits perfectly with the aesthetic of the story. Overall, the writer and illustrator play well together and I hope to see more of their teamwork in the future.
Sword Daughter #1 is out in less than week! Treat yo’ self!