King Tractor Press is a Los Angeles film development company; now moving into comics, they have two interesting titles coming in March. One is Innocent: the Sword, which draws on author Shawn Granger’s long interest in biblical apocryphia and pseudepigraphia (that is, the “lost books” of the Bible).
This first issue begins with a bang and some classic apocryphal imagery – an angel in battle with a dragon. This takes place in the snowy mountains of Japan, where a group of villagers happen on the battle’s aftermath. The first fifteen pages give us the raging battle and some indications of the epic spiritual conflict, literal in this case, that rage around us. The villagers run to this assistance of the wounded angel. They don’t realize what he is, and his arrival touches off some down to earth conflicts within the lives of the villagers.
As first issues go, it reaches out to hook the readers’ interest, but it is very much introductory in scope. We don’t know why the angel, named Innocent, is fighting dragons in Japan. We don’t know the source of the familial tensions in the village. Granger has taken a risk in giving us so little, but I think it pays off. We meet a lot of the village, and get a sense of the relationships there. We don’t learn much about Innocent in this issue, but I understand he is featured in other King Tractor comics. The only thing that I had any concerns about is the very non-traditional costume worn by one woman, but I suspect that will be explained in future issues.
With Dark Horse’s Revelations and Vertigo’s Testament comics that utilize religious stories or institutions are starting to get beginning to make a mark on LCS shelves. If Granger wants to continue to explore these themes, I don’t think he could have picked a better time. Innocent the Sword ties these themes into a fantasy setting, and should appeal to readers of Conan-like fantasy and historical dramas alike. |
