Inaki Miranda and Roy Miranda are no strangers to crafting new worlds full of possibilities and bold ideas, as one needs to look no further than their wonderful series We Live for proof. Now they have teamed up with Eva De La Cruz and Dave Sharpe to launch a brand new world full of intrigue, conflict, and volatility in Mad Cave Studios’ Blade Forger, and the big debut is rich, complex, and immensely ambitious. There’s a lot to process out of the gate, and the time jumping can lead to some moments of confusion, but I already find myself beyond invested, especially as those last few pages recontextualize everything you thought you understood. Long story short, I’m all in on Blade Forger, and I simply must know what lies beyond the next corner.
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Blade Forger is tackling a lot right off the bat, as it spins a story around the individual of destiny that is Owada. Owada is one of the few capable of stepping into the role of a Blade Forger, who has access to a unique Forge (The Purple Specter in his case) and a powerful Battle Kaiser, who are essentially powered-up warriors, and Owada’s powered-up form is Taro The Invincible.
Owada looks to win the right to become Emperor and bring peace and a unified vision to the world. This tournament is only held once every few years, but the people believe in him, and readers will get glimpses of various times in Owada’s history that will help shape him as a character and his role in this purpose and destiny. By the way, that’s all just the beginning of what’s at play here, as by the end of the issue we have shifted back to his childhood, shifted forward to forty years in the future, and then to a key moment that reshapes everything we thought we knew.
If that sounds like a lot, well, it is, and it can be a bit challenging at times to figure out where you are in time, especially in relation to other events you’ve just seen. That said, don’t let that dissuade you, because there’s so much already in place to make this series something truly special.
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Owada is already an intriguing lead and only becomes more compelling as the various layers of his life are revealed. The impact of his rule years into the future is another major thread full of unearthed mysteries, and as the story shifts between eras, the questions about how things got this way and what caused certain changes continue to pile up.
Roy Miranda, Eva De La Cruz and Dave Sharpe bring a fantastical aesthetic to the battles that almost contain a touch of Masters of the Universe. Bold colors pop off the page and the characters themselves are larger than life, giving these confrontations and the overall tone an epic feel, and yet those are balanced with some truly gorgeous and intimate moments that might just be the most powerful ones in the entire issue.
Blade Forger #1 features a bit of a steeper curve, building the world, the characters, and the overall timeline rather quickly. That said, it’s more than worth the investment, and it would appear that Inaki and Roy Miranda have once again crafted a world that will capture your imagination in every way.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Published by: Mad Cave Studios
Written y: Inaki Miranda and Roy Miranda
Art by: Inaki Miranda
Colors by: Eva De La Cruz
Letters by: Dave Sharpe
What did you think of Blade Forger #1? Let us know in the comments and you can talk all things comics with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
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