S.W.O.R.D. (2020-) #3 by Al Ewing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Manifold is a new character to me. I know he’s been around a while, in Hickman’s other work, and also in Black Panther, but I’ve not encountered him before…and he’s a really interesting character. A teleporter who’s not really a teleporter, but can talk to space and get it to do what he wants, whether that’s crossing vast distances in a single step, or cloaking him from view while he infiltrates the Alpha Flight space station and spies on Henry Gyrich.
And spy on Gryrich he does, and discovers that he’s working with ORCHIS, which is a very bad thing indeed. You see ORCHIS were the ones who were building a giant Master Mold in orbit around the sun…ORCHIS are the ones who are trying to create Nimrod.
We also see Manifold visit the Snarks, who are currently in the middle of Snarkwar, an all out war for the Snark throne. Being an old school Power Pack fan I always get excited when the Snarks appear. Manifold tries to recruit their aid in the fight against Knull, but they refuse to make a deal with him. Oh, yeah, did I mention this is a King In Black crossover? Because it is, but it’s done so well that it just feels like a natural part of the story.
Of course we’re reminded on the final page that Knull has taken over Krakoa by possessing Cable. But I guess we’ll be dealing with that next issue…
Anyway, this stuff is great, Ewing is an exceptional writer, and Schiti, who’s aided here by Ray-Anthony Height (another artist I’ve inked in the past) and Bernand Chang (although you can’t see the joins, thanks, in part, to Marte Gracia’s superb colouring), is an exceptional artist.
Bring on S.W.O.R.D. #4!
Random Ramblings Of A Ragamuffin 