Advance Review: Love Is A Battlefield In ‘Swan Songs’ #2

Love is a many-layered phenomenon. While it often encompasses positive feelings that song writers and poets have been opining on for centuries, it also can contain some of our darkest sentiments. Anger. Jealousy. Despair.

All of those – good feelings and bad – are on display in the “marriage” issue of Swan Songs, a series about endings. The end of a marriage is doubtlessly a time of extreme feelings. There are alternating notions of guilt, relief, fury and finality. And we see that on display as John and Eileen finalize their divorce at the issue’s outset.

Their annulment, though, is short lived. As part of their divorce agreement, the pair asked to be locked in mortal combat with each other for all eternity. As if marriage wasn’t bad enough!

Writer W. Maxwell Prince alternates between bloody scenes from the couple’s perpetual battle with their courtship and the early years of their marriage. He shows their awkward first meeting – including their inability to agree on certain details – their sex-fueled dating life and even the point when they started to grow distant.

Prince, as seen here and through his Ice Cream Man series, has become one of comics’ preeminent commentators on modern life. He brings a poetic lyricism to his writing, which is based on keen observations of everything around him. He’s gained renown for his anthology series, where he doesn’t need to go deep for an extended period of time. It would be fascinating to see what he did with a limited or ongoing series featuring the same characters each month.

Each issue of this series features a different artist, and Caspar Wijngaard gets to show off his wonderfully diverse skills in this chapter. Wijngaard treats the flashbacks fairly simply, focusing mainly on the two lovers, with a his-and-hers color palette featuring blues and pinks.

But it’s the eternal combat scenes where he really allows himself to shine. A medieval jousting scene has some intricate artwork outside of the panels, mimicking detailed embellishment paintings by monks of the era. A fight featuring John and Eileen as samurai looks like it was created with a Japanese brush. And a battle featuring characters straight out of The Eternals or The New Gods looks like it was ripped out of 1970s comic. One character knowingly refers to battle as “hyper-futuristic Kirby-esque Luminal Engagement.” But Wijngaard’s artwork is so spot-on, the explanation, while funny, is unnecessary.

After only two issue, Prince has another creative hit on his hands. More endings, please!

Swan Songs #2 will be available for purchase tomorrow.