Comic Book Review: Skybourne #1

Jared Leatzow |

Sep 15, 2016

From the mind of comic book artist Frank Cho, Skybourne #1 is The Highlander meets King Arthur meets James Bond, and it is a whole lot of fun.

[easyazon_image align=”center” height=”500″ identifier=”B01L2ULUKU” locale=”US” src=”http://boundingintocomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/51fffMH32BL.jpg” tag=”bounintocomi-20″ width=”325″]

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01L2ULUKU” locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Skybourne #1[/easyazon_link] introduces us to Grace Skybourne as she tries to recapture the legendary sword Excalibur. Grace like the other members of her family appear to be imbued with the unique ability of super strength and indestructibility.

This indestructibility makes her a one woman wrecking crew as she dismembers enemies with her bare hands. She looks to be seemingly invincible, but by the end of the comic she is left dying in a pool of her own blood. Cho uses this to delve into Grace’s character showing us true surprise when Grace seems completely unaware that she was even able to injured.

At times Cho’s artwork has gotten him into hot water, he tends to have a penchant of drawing busty women. However, in Skybourne #1 his sometimes over the top rendering of the female form seems to be dialed down a bit while drawing Grace.

Grace looks strong and confident, she is dressed in business casual, and doesn’t appear to have a button popping bust size that can sometimes feel common in Cho’s work (see Power Girl.) She looks more like a fit Crossfit competitor than a Playboy pin-up.

Skybourne #1 is very action driven with most of the pages being devoted to Grace maiming, mauling, and murdering people who refuse to give her Excalibur. Cho delivers this violent combat with fairly traditional paneling. Each panel is like a rapid fire movie still that when placed side by side make up one continuous and flowing action scene. He does stray a little bit from this format at times. One example is when Grace doing a flying side kick that seems to explode out of the panel and into the others that are on the page.

While the story is straightforward, Cho still does good job with the dialogue.. He does a good job of adding bits of humor, or set ups for later punchlines in the issue. One particular instance involves Grace warning one of the bad guys that if he cooperates she will only break his leg, later on in the story she ends up decapitating him. In the midst of her doing the beheading she tells him he should have just let her break his legs.

Skybourne #1 doesn’t traverse into heady philosophical or theological territory, instead it delivers a fun action adventure tell. It’s like a summer move action flick turned into a comic book.

The Verdict

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01L2ULUKU” locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Skybourne #1[/easyazon_link] is a fun first issue, that feels as if it draws inspiration from several different properties. It feels like the comic book equivalent of an action movie, and provides just enough plot to set up the fun and ridiculous action scenes. For comic book fans who look for headier narratives in their comics this might not be for them.