Barbaric #3 // Review
The enchanted flail seems really happy to be paired-up with someone as eager to kill as it is. The enchanted axe is every bit as happy to see everything moving towards some kind of bloodbath. (So does the sword.) There’s a whole lot of tension in the moment and all of that tension has to go somewhere in Barbaric #3. Writer Michael Moreci gets somewhat unexpectedly deep in another issue brought to page and panel by artist Nathan Gooden and colorist Fabiana Marques.
The mortals are lost in aggression and there are those wheeled quite a bit of power in some sort of an approximation of immortality. But the gods are the ones that are in present and they are the ones that are that much more powerful than anyone else. The orcs show up and things get really, really bloody. But they're only part of a larger equation that features quite a bit of magic. And the magic seems to be twisting things in weird directions. The barbarians are poised to defeat. Those were wielding magic. But it might come as a great cost to them. After all, they're using sentient enchanted weapons. Things could get pretty ugly pretty quickly.
Michael Moorcock had done some interesting things with a sentient weapon wielded by a powerful warrior. Again, get kind of creative with it. But the allegory of weapons sentient is something that hasn't really been exploring great blank. And it's not like Moreci he is doing a whole lot with the allegory here. But the fact that he's addressing it on any level at all delivers, added sense of depth to the page. The glib dialogue and the quick pacing of the action keeps it all feeling fresh without being too bogged down in abstract concepts, or any kind of world building. It's just fun. And the the deeper elements of it are a part of that fun.
The art rather beautifully focuses-in on action. The drama feels rather over the top when it's present on the page. There are moments that do contain a degree of subtlety. But the script doesn't really allow for a whole lot of that. So the kinetic nature of the action becomes the central energy of the third issue much like it had been in the first two. The color is gorgeous. Marques uses a beautiful color, palette that balances things out on every end of the color we have on any one dominant set of colors. The depth and texture that are present on the page are really quite beautiful.
It's hard to do epic fantasy in a way that feels fresh or new or original. And while Barbaric doesn't necessarily feel like it's doing a whole lot that hasn't been done before, it's really appealing aesthetically and conceptual. Characters are just interesting enough to be fun to hang out with for about a half hour every month. The backstory on the world of the series continues to develop itself for time. It's a really well balanced series of thus far.
