Blazing Blade of Frankenstein #2 is a comic written by Clay Adams with art by Kyle Roberts and colors by Ilaria Chiocca. Maggie and Adam travel to the castle of the Fish King and discover things are not as they once were. This is a fantasy tale with lurking evil and prophecies that promise a way out with a cast of characters full of personality. Our leading man is Adam Frankenstein, a creature made out of an assortment of body parts and who has a past he is desperately attempting to atone for. Accompanying him is Empress Maggie, the former ruler of this world who has been deposed by the Dark Prince and is now on the run. Introduced in this issue is the Fish King, an ally of Maggie and possibly her only hope to regain her throne. There are also a few other allies and enemies we’ll meet. The story has our traveling pair finally make contact with the Fish King and throughout their visit to his palace we’ll learn quite a bit about the world, the prophecy, and where loyalties lie. There is a lot of hard-hitting, bloody action with many altercations, but no gore. This being a fantasy comic in the vein of the classics means the plot is slightly slower than normal so that everything could be soaked up. There are a number of intense moments that will go in surprising directions so you will be on your toes at all times. The characters here speak like people from British period dramas but it’s not so proper that you’d get lost. Though some might seem a bit on the heavier there are no wordy pages here. This is a great follow up issue that provides us with nice little peeks into different areas of this world while giving us strong, fleshed-out characters that make the story come alive.
The art style here is reminiscent of fantasy comics from the 70’s with large amounts of detail in every panel and an overall grand appearance. The coloring here appears to be as realistic as possible for this genre with things having colors similar to their real-world counterparts. There is little scenery to look at here due to most of this story taking place inside the castle, but the backgrounds are full of so much to look at. All the luxuries and furniture in the different scenes add life to this comic. The expression level here is very high, even when it comes to the characters with less than human faces. The range of emotions shown is vast and they can be easily understood without words. The faces have a large amount of detail no matter how close they are to the page which helps the expressions come across clearly. The non-human creatures are anthropomorphic and maintain much of what makes them unique. The action scenes here are scattered throughout and vary in length but they all have heavy-handedness to them and usually result in blood being spilled. Things do get gory at one point. The outfits here are medieval-like which fits this genre.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like fantasy tales starring a famous literary monster and a royal woman and dealing with a corrupting evil and hopeful prophecies this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, gore.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“More like the little girl who refused to fight for her people.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900595556/blazing-blade-of-frankenstein-2/description
Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/blazing-blade-of-frankenstein-1-2/x/26236710#/
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 29
Violent Pages: 12, for 41% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 1, for 4% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 3
“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 – 4
“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 – 2
“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.”
