INTERVIEW: Discover Elsbeth’s revenge in ‘Sword Daughter’
Sword Daughter, the new comic book series from Dark Horse, features the stellar creative team of Brian Wood (writer), Mack Chater (artist), Jose Villarubia (colorist), Nate Piekos (letterer) and Greg Smallwood (covers). Issue #1 of the Viking-inspired revenge tale is now available, with many more blood-spattered issues ready to be unleashed on fans.
The comic book tells the story of Elsbeth and her father, Dag, two survivors of a village massacre at the hands of the Forty Swords. It’s up to Elsbeth and Dag to not only find the killers of their family and friends, but also to exact revenge.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Chater and Wood, who previously combined their efforts on Briggs Land. Click here for Hollywood Soapbox’s story on Chater, and see below for Wood’s responses. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to create Sword Daughter?
A few things sort of came together quickly. Briggs Land was going on a hiatus, and I wanted to come up with something else for Mack Chater and I to do together. I had been looking at Lone Wolf and Cub recently, and I’ve always wanted to write a good parent-child adventure story like that where I can talk about the fears and guilt and panic that all parents feel when the real world put their kids to the test. It wasn’t originally Viking though — I kicked around the idea of this as a western, but in the end, the consensus was on Viking, since I’m comfortable with that genre, and Mack was into it.
Have you always been interested in Viking lore?
Yes and no … when I created Northlanders, the Viking book I did at Vertigo about 10 years ago, it was a real break from what I had been writing up to that point. It felt out of left field, but as I settled into it and did the research, a lot of the underlying themes and elements of that history were familiar to me. An example: A lot of my Viking stories deal with men and women facing hardships in these forbidding landscapes. As a kid I devoured fiction from Jack London and Jim Kjelgaard, for those exact themes. I think that’s a big part of why I was able to settle into the Viking thing so easily, and why I keep coming back to the genre and keep finding new angles on the history.
What’s it like to work with artist Mack Chater?
Awesome. Seriously, that’s always the answer to questions like this. This is the third project I’ve partnered with Mack on (the first being Briggs Land, and the third is unannounced), and it’s because we get along well, personally and in terms of what influences us and what kind of comics we want to make. He’s also a terrific storyteller, and his inks are gorgeous.
How difficult is it to launch a new series? Did Dark Horse take any convincing?
Having dipped my toe into the world of TV writing, video game writing and novels, I can say that it’s easiest to get something off the ground in comics, no matter who you are or what it is. That said, I’ve had plenty of failures and rejections over the years. But I also have more than 20 years experience in comics and have been working with Dark Horse since 2011, so there’s a lot of mutual trust and goodwill built up. And getting Sword Daughter off the ground wasn’t a struggle.
Elsbeth is a great central character. What do you like most about her?
I like her independence, her give-no-f***s attitude. I mean, if you can call it an attitude. She raised herself, and thrived, so she’s earned that confidence. And when Dag comes back and tries to pull dad-rank on her? It’s a pleasure to write that reaction.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Sword Daughter, issue #1, is now available from Dark Horse. The ongoing series is written by Brian Wood and features art by Mack Chater. Click here for more information.
