Kendra #2 is a comic written by Ben Dunn and Joe Wolfe with art by Ben Dunn and colors by Shantona Shantuma. Kendra and the rest of her party get into a few scrapes as they head to their destination. This is a high fantasy comic with party arguments, tragic backstories, and mysterious characters. The leading lady is Kendra, she is a very skilled sellsword who is quick to choose violence. She has a talking sword and set of armor that only she can hear. Ayan is the young boy who’s hired her for reasons of vengeance and he is adept with a bow. Randall is the studious magic user hired by Ayen and he and Kendra regularly butt heads. This story begins where the last one ended with this trio battling a bandit trio in a forest. They manage to get the upper hand and after traveling a bit further they decide to take a rest. Around this campfire is where we’ll learn a bit more about Kendra’s compatriots. This takes place in a world with orcs, demon-like creatures, and anthropomorphic animals. The violence here is physical with the heavier stuff being implied but not seen. The pacing is overall steady with a fantasy adventure tone. There are many violently intense moments and a few dramatic ones. The dialogue is conversational with an older English talking style. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is an exciting and informative sequel issue that fleshes out the main characters and gives them a clearer goal.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed slightly cartoonish style with decent lighting and shading. The color palette is fantasy medieval with warm tones with brighter colors being rare. For scenery there are thick, green forests along the dirt paths that lead to towns. The main location is the outdoors whether that is in nature or on the village/town streets. Backgrounds are usually full of trees, grass, and dusty roads with action line-filled gradient colors being rare. The expression level here is above-average as these characters are constantly reacting. Emotions on display here include anger, shock, annoyance, fear, rage, and irritation. The faces have big eyes, a level of detail hovering around average, and they can get a bit animated; this leads to most of the expressions being very clear. The magical powers shown have a neon glow or a sun-like brightness to them. Weapons used in combat are swords, clubs, bows, and fists. There are some hard hits and falls but there isn’t any blood, gore, or gruesomeness. The action scenes tend to have a higher amount of panels with a smooth flow. All the women here have large breasts and Kendra wears a revealing outfit that shows off a lot of skin, including her butt. There are at least a few lewd shots and angles.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like high fantasy stories that star a lady sellsword and that features a contentious party, mysterious characters, and dramatic backstories along with some violence then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“What in the name of Hades are you doing?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/toyboxguardians/kendra-sell-sword-no2/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26

Violent Pages: 8, for 31% 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 – 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 – 1

“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 – 1

“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.”