comicbooks

Caliber is a five issue mini-series from newcomer Radical Publishing.  The final issue hit the stands this week and I’m reasonably sure it will be collected in a trade paperback before long. 

Caliber tells the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but with a new twist.  This series is not set in old England, and Arthur is not a king.  This Arthur is the son of a soldier in the old West.  An enchanted six-shooter called Caliber stands in for the mystical sword Excaliber.  Merlyn is replaced by a Native American medicine man. 

If you’re a fan of Arthurian legend, there are lots of Easter Eggs.  They live in a town called Telacoma, an anagram for Camelot (with an extra ‘a’ thrown in for good measure).   Lance and Gwen replace Lancelot and Gwenevier.  This is a new take in a completely different setting, but the homages are all in place if you care to look.

While the story is novel and compelling, I’m not convinced that Radical really has a firm grasp on the medium of sequential art.  The painted scenes are gorgeous, but some of the sequences are hard to follow, without dialogue or text.  It also suffers a degree for the lack of distinctiveness in the characters artistically. 

In the end, this was an interesting premise with a mediocre execution.  Not bad, but not among the best books on the market, either.