By Zack Quaintance — Barbaric #1 was the best first issue of a sword and sorcery comic I’ve read in I don’t know how long. Within three pages, the book rapidly introduces us to its excellent concept. There is a barbarian bound by powerful magic to do what’s right, and, in his own words, “no one’s more unhappy about it” than he is. On page four, said barbarian starts talking to his axe, and — get this! — the axe not only talks back, but goes on to get hiccupping drunk on the blood of evildoers. It’s great, and made even more so by artist Nathan Gooden and colorist Addison Duke’s gritty visuals combined with writer Michael Moreci’s finely-honed (see Wasted Space) ability to tangle crass hilarity with timely bouts of philosophizing and an absolute perfect pace.

This is all my way of saying that the first issue of Barbaric was so damn good, I worried a bit about being let down by the second. The first issue had done a great job of seeding a larger story arc. Our hero had been cursed to the type of service most characters undertake willingly by a trio of witches. They had a mysterious plan that he fit into, and he accepted his role as a participant to A. extend his life, and B. get revenge on them. That’s compelling, turning the classic sword and sorcery hero into a bitter, almost-unwilling participant in his own tropey heroics. And now I roam, cursed, of all things, to be good. Whatever the fuck that means. As such, he sits in the back of taverns rolling his eyes as other heroes share his deeds as if they were their own.

Perhaps even more interestingly, the firsts issue concludes by introducing our hero to a secondary lead (see the cover of this issue below), and it’s that creative choice that to me really sets up the second issue to shine almost as bright as the first. Our second lead is a witch — a necromancer, to be exact — as well as the first other person who can hear the hero’s blood-drunk axe speak. The second issue starts with a bit of light recap (always welcome!), before launching into the necromancer’s back story, which is then doled out in greater poetic detail as the events of this comic proceed.

This is inherently slower than the first issue (just a bit), but it’s also a welcome slow down, one the creative team makes light of by having the barbarian interject within the exposition, asking things like, hold up, does this story have any nudity? Just another clever bit of sendup for typical sword and sorcery comics, which have long been marked by gratuitous nudity. We’re getting another deconstruction with the addition of this second character. Our hero is cursed and reluctant, our second lead is the same. They are not the destined shining leads we’re used to in such books. They are us. They are doing their best. They are tainted. They are over with it. Nothing’s perfect, people are flawed, but you have to keep searching for absolution, casting your spells or swinging your axe. As the barbarian says to the axe at one point, doing what’s right isn’t always a straightforward endeavor (despite what this very genre would often have one believe), and when you solve all problems with killing, nobody learns.

The further exploration of those ideas is the beating heart of Barbaric #2, but within that, the book shines just as bright in all the execution. Gooden and Duke get to expand on the work they did in the first issue by illustrating fantasy trappings of a more mystical bent, while Moreci keeps up with the witty humor, ranging from a standout gag that has the axe trying to explain his backstory as the hero just cuts him off at the start to an illustrated anecdote about a cult leader getting hit with his own poison snakes. Jim Campbell is also — unsurprisingly — doing a fantastic job lettering this book, giving every last word balloon jagged and rough-hewn edges that mirror the content of the story.

Throw in a great last-page cliffhanger ahead of a promise to conclude the first book of this story in issue #3, and this is one of the best second issues of the year as well. I just can’t imagine anyone with even a vague interest in sword and sorcery as well as comics not liking this book.

Overall: A worthy followup chapter to one of the best first issues of the year, Barbaric #2 delivers more of everything that made the first issue great, the gleeful deconstruction of fantasy tropes, the witty humor, the gritty visuals, and the guiding notion that @*!& is hard and it’s necessary to grumble as you make your way through it. 9.8/10

REVIEW: Barbaric #2

Barbaric #2
Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: Nathan Gooden
Colorist: Addison Duke
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Vault Comics
More blood! More mayhem! More monsters! Will Owen storm the abbey with Soren the witch? Will axe get drunk on blood? Yes! And you're going to love it.
Price: $3.99
More Info: Barbaric #2

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.