Swords of the Swashbucklers #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSwords of the Swashbucklers #2 is the second chapter in one of Marvel's Epic Comics imprint's most distinctive experiments: a bimonthly, creator-owned science-fantasy series that placed two women — teenage Earth girl Domino Blackthorne Drake and the alien pirate queen Raader — at the center of an action-driven space opera at a time when female-led genre adventures were a genuine rarity in mainstream American comics. The issue deepens the serialized mythology established in Marvel Graphic Novel #14 (1984) and continued in the Epic series launch, marking the point at which Domino's role shifts from wide-eyed passenger to active participant, with her intervention halting a crew mutiny and establishing her as a genuine co-protagonist rather than a supporting character. The series as a whole occupies a meaningful place in Epic Comics history as an early example of Marvel publishing a fully creator-owned property — the copyright credit reading 'Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice' — under a creator-friendly imprint model that distinguished it from standard work-for-hire output. The property proved durable enough to earn a 2018 sequel series from Dynamite Entertainment and retains its own designated reality within the Marvel multiverse (Earth-21394).
In "And a Child Shall Lead Them!", the fate of the Swords of the Swashbucklers hangs in the balance as Domino quells a mutiny led by Logik. With Admiral J'Rel desperate to shield Pamela and Jim Drake, his daughter Raader—imprisoned and facing execution—breaks free, only to find her allies captured. Written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated with bold precision by Jackson Guice, this 1985 Marvel adventure blends high-seas intrigue and personal stakes, with cover art by Guice that captures the tension in every line.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The property began as Marvel Graphic Novel #14, released November 6, 1984, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Jackson Guice — the same creative team that had previously collaborated on Marvel's Micronauts. Mantlo reportedly pitched the concept as a genre-blending space adventure, and Marc Guggenheim's foreword to Dynamite's 2018 collection notes that Mantlo arrived at the project at a high point in his career, fresh off his long Micronauts run and actively writing ROM and other Marvel titles while also having co-created Rocket Raccoon. The Epic Comics limited series launched in March 1985 with Archie Goodwin and Laurie Sutton as editors and Jim Shooter serving as editor-in-chief, with the bimonthly schedule placing issue #2 on sale May 28, 1985. Jackson Guice handled all art duties through the first four issues before Geof Isherwood and later Colleen Doran took over the art for the back half of the twelve-issue run.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue title: '...And a Child Shall Lead Them!' — released May 28, 1985, cover-dated July 1985.
- Written by Bill Mantlo; pencils and inks by Jackson Guice; colors by Alfred Ramirez; letters by Ken Bruzenak; edited by Archie Goodwin and Laurie Sutton under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
- Published under Marvel's Epic Comics imprint — a creator-owned/creator-friendly line distinct from the standard Marvel work-for-hire line — with copyright belonging to Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice, not Marvel.
- Core plot: Domino Drake stops a mutiny led by the Mantid first mate Logik aboard the pirate ship Starshadow; meanwhile, Admiral J'Rel attempts to conceal and protect Domino's parents Pamela and Jim Drake; Raader is imprisoned aboard a Colonizer vessel and faces execution before being freed, though Pam, Jim, and J'Rel are taken captive.
- Characters appearing: Raader, Logik, Servitor, Spyeye (alien pet), Cap'n Kidd (Domino's tabby cat), Domino Drake, Pamela Drake, Jim Drake, Bonnie Blackthorne, and Admiral J'Rel — all originally introduced in Marvel Graphic Novel #14 (1984); no new major character debuts are confirmed for this specific issue.
- The series is set in a parallel dimension designated Earth-21394 in the Marvel multiverse, populated by inhabitants whose culture mirrors Earth's age of pirates, and controlled by an expansionist alien empire called the Colonizers.
- Issue #2 was later reprinted in its entirety in Dynamite Entertainment's 2018 Swords of the Swashbucklers collection/reprint series, which also served as the launchpad for Marc Guggenheim's sequel limited series, Swashbucklers: The Saga Continues.
- Jackson Guice illustrated all cover and interior art for this issue; he remained on the book through issue #4, after which Geof Isherwood took over interior art duties.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Swords of the Swashbucklers #[nn] (2018)
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