Sword of Sorcery #2

Umm. Amethyst kills her own mother in this issue? [After reading the comic, I get the cover. It's a mislead down the Path of Blood!]

This issue begins with Amethyst trying not to puke as she remembers killing that guy last issue. And then the title page pops up with "The Path of Heart." Well fuck me! They pulled the old switcheroo! The tag at the end of last issue said, "The Path of Blood"! That sounds way more exciting. I'm so disappointed. Maybe the Path of Heart means someone is going to get their heart pulled out of their chest! I hope so because otherwise Amethyst's confrontation with Mordriel will be filled with hugs.

Some boring business takes place where Graciel tends to the Portal Crystal which leads to Earth.

Never say never! Or, um, never say no chance!

Why do people in fiction insist on giving their children names that will inevitably set them up against one another with one being inherently good and the other inherently evil? Who decided they would name one daughter Graciel to represent grace and goodness. But then they named the other one Mordiel to represent death and badness. Way to go, parents!

Man. Now I want to have two children so I can name one Good and one Evil. Now anyone reading this that knows my last name is just sighing and saying, "That would be fucking ridiculous." You can skip that comment if you don't know my last name and feel left out by the comment.

In the bathroom, Amethyst learns that her clothing is called "Mist-Silk." It allows obstacles to pass right through it while Amethyst, whom it was made for, can grasp it. That sounds like the worst clothing ever! "I can't punch myself but anybody can grope me at their leisure!" I wonder if she can pee straight through it? Oh, she also learns that she's not just a princess of House Amethyst but of House Turquoise as well. But she doesn't learn why she is because her new best friend, the Citrine Princess, won't speak on it.

Later Amethyst learns a bit about her lineage and some of the history of Nilaa (Gemworld!) when she has dinner with her grandfather, the leader of House Turquoise.

Amethyst's father is apparently dead. But I bet he's not really! Twist!

At dinner it is decided that they will all take the Path of Heart! Or something. I don't know, it's a bunch of diplomatic bureaucracy. I've never had much of a taste for court intrigues. I guess I'm too low brow for it. Let's get back to the high school drama! I'm more of a Cruel Intentions person than a Dangerous Liaisons guy.

Except I've never seen either so I'm sure that's a complete lie since I prefer well-written things to the opposite of well-written things. In fact, that whole last paragraph was a complete and utter lie. I was just trying to come off as cool and casual and above it all when really I've been hanging on Queen Graciel's every word! How she was supposed to marry the heir to Throne Diamond but she fell in love with the heir to Throne Turquoise which meant a Thrown Away Opportunity. House Diamond didn't appreciate Graciel backing out of the arranged Diamond Marriage Plan, so the Lord of House Turquoise shared his power with his son to prevent Diamond from getting revenge. And that's when Graciel became knocked up by Vyrian, now Lord of House Turquoise. He was probably killed later by Mordriel and the House Diamond Ruffians which caused Graciel to flee to Earth with her daughter. Or her fetus. I don't know when she had to flee. Besides finding out that Mordiel was barren, that's about everything that was learned at dinner.

Before the Path of Heart takes place where the Amethyst girls will share the Amethyst power equally (that means Graciel, Mordriel, and Amaya (Amethyst!) will all have 1/3 of the power), a scene takes place in House Diamond to show that the youngest son, Hadran, is actually a good man. That must mean he'll be Amethyst's love interest later!

The sharing of the blood-power of House Amethyst goes according to plan even though Mordriel tries to use her influence to have Amaya choose the Path of Blood which means killing her mother and taking all of the power. But Amaya chooses the Path of Heart, surprisingly. Mordriel isn't exactly happy to have lost one-sixth of her power, so she contacts the Shadow Walkers of House Onyx to hire them for a job.

Of course the House of the Black Gemstone is shadowy and dangerous.

What Houses are there? I'm guessing there will be twelve by the looks of the portal room in House Citrine and simply because the whole link to birthstones and crap. The Houses that have been acknowledged so far are Diamond, Amethyst, Turquoise, Citrine, and Onyx. Maybe there were some others that I've forgotten. I'm sure there will be Houses for Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire. The last four might be Opal, Pearl, Garnet, and Aquamarine. Maybe there will be minor houses as well to represent all of the gemstones. Maybe the names of all of the houses are the secrets that will be revealed next month!

Anyway, it's time for the boy's story! This book is so gender coded! No, wait. That's me gender coding the book! I mean, now it's time for a story that can be enjoyed no matter what genitalia you have and no matter what genitalia you want your genitalia to interact with.

Last issue, Grendel had infiltrated Hrothgar's long house and was about to eat Wiglaf. Luckily, Beowulf comes to his rescue just in time! Or perhaps it was just lucky that Beowulf was using the kid to lure Grendel to him?

Well, that was a quick battle.

Cutting off Grendel's arms doesn't even come close to ending the fight. It just sprouts new ones out of its chest and presses the attack using its poison tipped tail and it's disgusting jelly fish jaws. Beowulf loses his sword and takes a moment to assess his opponent.

Come on. How awesome is this? This story is my absolute favorite piece of DC's world building experience so far.

Grendel flees from the hall screaming, "UNGLAU!" That might be a clue! Beowulf promises to track it to its lair and bring back its head for Hrothgar. He takes Wiglaf with him to help lead the way. Grendel's lair looks like it might possibly be the Blackhawk's Eyrie. As they enter, they find Grendel inside an Empire Strike's Back healing tank. But before they can smash it and kill the beast within, Grendel's mother stops them.

Mother Machine?

Sword of Sorcery #2 Rating: +1 Ranking. Yet again, the back-up story really carries this book. I think if the Beowulf story were the main story though, it would reveal too much each month and use up all of its tricks. As a short in the back of the book, it's perfect. It gives me just enough to want to see more of this post-apocalyptic New 52 world. I'm enjoying the Amethyst story but I think I'd like it better if we got back to some high school action and the plot sped up a little bit. Overall, this is a pretty well rounded comic book series.