Xarde #3: The Battle of Drachensburg is a comic written and created by L. Dean Gibson II with art by Tiago Barsa, Dinei Ribeiro, Bryan Magnaye, and Julia Santos. The forces of “Heiress” Xarde and Mercy finally meet on the battlefield as this conflict comes to a head. This is a combat-heavy issue with fighting on nearly every page. Xarde is a princess with dragon abilities such as growing scales, flame resistance, and flight. We also see many other characters with different abilities and unique looks. The plot up to this point has been pretty thick and slightly confusing but here we have a straight up battle. We have human-like creatures going up against ram-like beings with lots of up close fighting with blood and guts. The pacing is pretty fast due to it being a battle with zooming in and out and different perspectives. Things are very intense as the stakes are very high and the desperation on both sides is palpable. The dialogue is a bit of older English and occasionally you’ll be confused about who is currently talking. No wordy pages here which help the story move at a consistent pace. This is the penultimate issue and it provides us with lots of fighting and story progression and it prepares us for the coming finale.

            The art here has a gritty look and a bit of roughness to it. Most of the colors are brown or red due to this story taking place on a battlefield and brighter colors are reserved for mystical effects. The main location is a large open field next to a town with crucial scenes taking place in both areas. The expression level here is slightly above-average though most of the looks are that of anger or determination as these characters are fighting almost the entire time. The faces have a decent amount of detail but we don’t really see them up close and their sharpness can vary; for the most part they look good. There is extremely light face sameness that you probably won’t notice. The creatures are large and looming and look like they invoke terror. For weapons we have various axes, a multitude of spears, and swords. As mentioned earlier the magic effects do stand out but are overall kept to a minimum as most of the combat is weapon-based. The action is very bloody and does not shy away from with slicing and dicing all over the place. You might get discombobulated during some of the scenes but you’ll be able to catch up. Some of the ladies’ outfits might not seem best suited for combat but in-universe no comment is made about it.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like fantasy tales thick with story and combat starring determined women and featuring dragons this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Blood and gore all over the place.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I dropped her from high over her petty ruins. HAHA.”

 

Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/xarde-1-3-the-battle-of-drachensburg/x/26236710#/

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 36

Violent Pages: 19, for 53% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 4

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 5

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 5

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”