Sabertooth Swordsman (2024)

There's not too often that I'll complain about the art in a comic book being too detailed, but that's the case here. This probably would have worked better in color. The panels were crammed with so much details that I was straining my eyes to try and discern them. Black and white comics are a learned skill. Less is more in black and white. Shading and different weight linework is incredibly important. I couldn't tell what was happening in any of these overly elaborate fight scenes. My eyes are still bothering me after reading this.

Mixed feelings on this one. At times it was brilliant. I feel like it did some things that I haven't seen in a comic before... the page layouts were a lot of fun.

The artwork is where I stumbled. There were moments where the black and white pencils was a whole lot of fun to take in, but unfortunately there were also moments where it felt really muddled and I had a difficult time figuring out what was going on.

All in all, I still enjoyed this, I just wish that it was a little easier on the eyes.

There's a lot of potential appeal in a hero whose abilities and mindset are so out of sync as here.

You've got your usual action heroes, with all their skills of battle and badassery, who also know precisely what they're about and just how good they are - while at the same time being quick to realize when they're out of depth. You've got the lowly everymen who run away screaming because that's all they can do and they know it. A completely worthless braggart, someone that thinks themselves as the hottest thing in the world while being good for absolutely nothing, can be annoying as all hell... but you can get a few good laughs out of them if you do them right.

And then there's the Sabertooth Swordsman, who's endowed with vast superhuman strength and combat skills and other abilities, with absolutely no idea how any of it works and never knowing just how much he's capable of. He remains a weedy weakling at heart, and seems as surprised as the rest of us at what he actually can do. He can get hurt, but he always gets back up after it. He often makes a mess of things and doesn't know what to do, but doesn't make any excuses for himself either. He's got a good head on his shoulders, which helps, and never does it feel like some deus ex machina or other stroke of luck came in to hand him the win. I really related to him and got invested in his plight. He's worth a whole star all on his own.

The artwork's pretty messy, as many reviewers have pointed out, but it had its moments and brought across some good ideas and imagery.

The Dark Horse booth always lures me in at SDCC -- all the weirdest sh*t they've put out over the years in one place, even though it's just as easy to buy online. This year it was between Sabertooth Swordsman and Bad Guy Earth, but it's not like Axe Cop is going to disappear into the ether anytime soon, so this won out.

I've been reading a lot of ultra-violent indie books these days, and to a certain extent SS seems to borrow politely from a range of works, with the cartoon fluidity of Mesmo Delivery, the body horror of Prison Pit, the biological fantasy of Orc Stain, and the associative worldbuilding of Multiple Warheads. There's even a little bit of Rat Fink in the character designs. On the plus side, Sabertooth is more of a full meal than several of these other works -- it's rare that books like these have a density of dialogue and a high page count on top of all the gonzo action, but this is a full read.

And while the art is absolutely top-notch, Gentry & Conley still need to work out a better light/dark balance, as the meticulousness of their linework, combined with a lot of greytone, makes it pretty easy to lose the action in each panel, which is a shame. The plot is pretty threadbare, but there's a lot of Weird Mystical Sheeit to be amused by, and the Arabian Nights vibe is unique to this kind of book. I'm definitely curious to see how this creative team develops, whether they continue with this project or move on to some other crazy thing.

Couldn’t resist this one when I saw it advertised. A crazy combination of Dave Cooper and Geoff Darrow car-crashing with Joe Daly to give a vividly realised, absurdly entertaining, eastern action mash-up. It’s published as part of the Dark Horse Originals imprint, so it’s nicely presented in hardback format, but the best part is to be found within the pages with the fantabulous artwork of Aaron Conley.

The book opens with a farmer who has been beaten to a pulp while his wife was kidnapped. He makes his way to Sasquatch Mountain to seek the help of the Cloud God who, after running through several potential options (see opposite for just a handful of the Morphometmen that are tried out), settles on transmogrifying the farmer into the form of the Sabretooth Swordsman so he can seek his revenge.

There’s not a tremendous amount of dialogue, but plenty of beautifully drawn panels, as the Sabretooth Swordsman tackles cyclops, deformed monster goats, mutants, soldiers, bat-apes, an evil hag and the Malevolent Mastodon Mathematician himself - not to mention the hideously altered behemoth that was once the subject of his quest.

It doesn’t let up for page after page, and not only is it richly illustrated with thoughtful monochrome shading throughout, but it maintains a sense of humour whilst avoiding the clichés and pitfalls of a more serious, straight-forward tome. Every heroic action, however successful, seems to end in either disappointment, a lack of appreciation or downright hostility. It’s brash quirkiness makes for a very refreshing and ultimately creatively satisfying read.

As a big fan of Dave Cooper, who does very little other than paint pillowy women nowadays, I found this certainly filled that particular hole very nicely. Gentry and Conley’s enjoyment of the project is writ large in every panel, and at over 100 pages that’s an awful lot of fun and satisfaction to lap up.

I’ve no idea as to whether or not there will be a sequel, but I’m more than happy to pick up anything else this duo may create.

Over the years I forgot how certain elements of graphic novels of the olden days felt reading, the classic dramatic exclamation mark over a character that dramatically leapt in surprise, tons of unbridled camp. I forgot what its like reading a book that doesn't pretend to be what it's not.
Sabertooth Swordsman is the story of a guy who is out to get his girl back from the bad guys. A menacingly "Malevolent Mastodon", an evil feared and revered alike by distinctly drawn goofy henchmen who kidnaps out hero's robust girlfriend.
Right of the bat, this story begins with the protagonist meeting a creepy, and comically lovecraftian looking cloud god who bestows him supernatural powers turning him into an alpha Sabertooth-human hybrid who kicks ass but does spend a considerable portion of the story getting his ass kicked; getting pummeled and chased by a stampede of mutant goats and witches alike.
The art just kills it. It's amazing how much detail is put into the protagonist. I've never seen a sabertooth face have so many expressions on it. Ranging from triumphant, to vexed, to exhausted to flabbergasted, to excited to borderline sh*tting himself in panic. Everything, from the character to architecture design in the story is top notch and highly immersive, despite being black and white. The writing is sharp and snappy, and love the humor.

This one makes it to the top 5 GN I've ever come across. Art is fantastic and rivals the work in Habibi, story is so ultimately bizarre that it accomplished for me a complete escape. Who wouldn't want to read the story of a wimpy guy whose wife is kidnapped by a mastadon mathematician? The guy gets recruited by the cloud god, becomes a sabertooth tiger swordsman, accidentally ingests a grasshopper and gets the ability to super jump, gets taken in by a crazy cat lady, beats up lots of bad guys and gets a box lunch as a prize, has a run in with the ghosts of some goats, interrupts a crazy SM scene with cyclopses, and eventually has the courage to free his wife from her new scorpion body form. What about this book is not awesome? Oh also, for anyone reading it, pay a lot of attention to the lighter print, the door frames, and the clouds, as there's all kinds of hidden messages in the artwork.

Sabertooth Swordsman and the Mayhem of the Malevolent Mastodon Mathematician (phew!) is a fun little comic from the same zeitgeisty formula that produced Adventure Time et al. Its greatest asset is its greatest fault: the ridiculous surreal artwork produces some wonderful designs, but it's really a cluttered mess. Unlike the work of James Stokoe, which is done in a similar 'hyper-bizzy' style, there's no consideration for drawing the reader's eye. The climactic fight scene was incomprehensible. The art is great but there's just too much of it.

I generally enjoyed the storyline and the style of the artwork, but there were many times when the line work became overwhelming and it was hard to tell what was happening (especially in the action scenes).

Sabertooth Swordsman and the Mayhem of the Malevolent Mastodon Mathematician is much like the mouthful of trying to pronounce the title: it’s jam packed with ideas and frenetic energy, but it often ends up being confused and hard to even see what’s happening.

The main issue for me is that, if you’re going to go black and white with a gray tone, you need to at least vary your line width and not overdo how many lines and squiggly details you put on the page. I would often read only the text on the page because it would take me way too long to understand what was happening visually. I sort of rushed through it at the end because I couldn’t figure out whose body part was whose. This doesn’t necessarily mean the art’s bad: it’s just muddled. I did really enjoy the integration of sound effects into the art with some cool lettering, though.

The writing and art also struggle from Orientalism with some fetishized depictions, both visually and orally, of a middle-eastern/India type fantasy world. It doesn’t feel as awkward as Habibi by Craig Thompson, but there are several cringeworthy panels such as the villager designs, the sexualization of the main character’s wife, and the villain’s henchmen looking like evil Arabs. Also, I learned a lot more about the story from the description on the back after I had finished reading it.

As much as I like black and white comics, this book would have really improved if there was some color to separate the different figures. The Orientalism isn’t damning, but the comic would be better suited by not relying on those stereotypes. I think in a few weeks, I probably will have forgotten about reading this book, which is a real shame because you can tell a lot of work went into it.

Altogether this was a decent and unique comic, but not without its flaws.

The biggest thing to mention is of course the artwork. It has a lovely style, but it being in black and white did the incredible detail a huge disservice because it takes while to pick out what you're actually looking at. I've read hundreds of manga, all of which also colorless, and they rarely (if ever) suffer from this. There is sometimes a good use of shade and tone between white/black/gray in Sabertooth Swordsman but it's really infrequent. Usually it's a jumble of grays in squiggly lines way too close in hue to easily differentiate subject from setting, object from action, and that can be a bit disorienting. Frustrating, too, since the character designs are creative and fun to look at.

The story itself is stupid and nonsensical, but that's very much the point and made for an entertaining read nonetheless. Oh, to return to days when damsel-in-distress narratives and Orientalism weren't so taboo! It's great fun to see this sometimes gross, sometimes whimsical cartoonery come to life on the page in this comic, with Adventure Time-esque humor and a playful, psychedelic bite. The world was cool as hell. However, I find it overall just entertaining, and not super clever or laugh-out-loud funny.

Seems to be quite a niche title. It's a shame it didn't garner more success. Nothing about that is a mystery, though -- it's not exactly a masterpiece.

This needed to be in color. That's one of its only flaws but its a big one I was thinking about flipping through every page. It was good. I liked the art, the humor, the action, the panels, etc., but this needed to be in color. The few pages that were in color were obviously the best part. That's how it goes sometimes in comics.

Fantastic adventure story!

Man, that was a weird one.

Crazy punk art in a straightforward story. You'll pore over the pencils forever.

A weird little comic about a man who is turned into a Sabretooth Tiger for some reason by a cloud or whatever then starts to hunt down a Mastodon Mathematician who has kidnapped his wife I think and is also trying to capture other people who’ve been turned into animals maybe. I dunno, it’s not super clear but art is incredibly bizarre and surreal, with so much detail and fluidity, which perfectly suits the strange story and characters within. However, there is a lot of the story that you need to fill in yourself, which is definitely frustrating. But when you’re reading an acidtrip of a graphic novel like this, does it really matter the character motivations and finer plot details? Maybe. But not really.

When I first picked this up it looked interesting and intriguing. However to my middle-aged eyes, after awhile, trying to read this became a chore. The art, while elaborate & intricate, became eye-straining. Trying to figure out what was going on in each panel got tiresome. Maybe if the artist would have used a little shading here and there, the whole affair wouldn’t have been such a middle to me. I know I’m in the minority on this one, but sorry, not my thing.

Quotes you'll find in this comic:

“Why’s everyone always DOOKING on me?”
“Is that you, my little poo factory?”
“Hush, mommy will make you a stinky treat later. Now I must see to our magical muffin here.”
“My SPANKING HANDS!”
“THUNDER THIGH THUMP!”
“Heroic destiny is the worst smell of all…”
“Sacrifices must be made in the name of Mathematics!”
“That tickles SO HARD on top of all the INFINITE PAIN!”
“Tiny kitten, FEEL MY MATH!”


The only reason this doesn't get 5 stars is because the art is TOO intricate at times - it can be hard to parse out what's happening in a given panel. The colored chapters make it easier, I almost wish the whole book was colored.

One part "Adventure Time" and two parts James Stokoe - I'm THRILLED I picked this one up.

Love this very simple story and amazing art. But the big detractor is the incredible amount of detail put into each and every panel. To me it brings to mind some of the beautifully drawn works from Zap. (Recently got the giant collection) Like Zap, there is so much detail that reading each black and white panel is overwhelming. And it becomes a challenge just to sort out what is happening between the background and foreground. I think my eyesight is failing so much of the problem is probably just me.

Imagine a 1970s stoner comic with the art style of Habibi and a story suitable for Adult Swim. It's anarchic, irreverent, demented and funny.

Not my cuppa.

Fun, violent, touching and boundlessly imaginative. What more could you ask from a comic about a fez-wearing feline?

This took forever to read because of the extreme density of the art. However, Aaron Conley is an incredible talent.

The artwork was amazing but the story was weak.

I either really like this or had a stroke. Many times I had to stop and try to register what I was seeing. It's the music of George Clinton set in ink with a tiger-man kicking ass in the middle.

No holds barred weirdness.