Swords Of The Swashbucklers #9 Pg. 18

Swords Of The Swashbucklers #9 Pg. 18
Pencils by Colleen Doran
Inks by Ricardo Villamonte
Written by Bill Mantlo
Lettered by Gaspar Saladino

Apparently a few days ago (Thursday, Sept 19, 2024) was International Talk Like A Pirate Day, whatever that is! I felt like this was a good page to post for that day, but then got busy and never got around to it. Better late than never.

As a long-time contributor/supporter to Colleen Doran's Patreon community, occasionally she will send me a care package of merch, books, prints, and sometimes even original art from projects she has done. This page came from one of those packages.

I've always enjoyed pirate stories in fiction, mainly in the form of novels and/or tv shows & movies. Huge fan of the TV series "Black Sails", which is loosely based on and acts as a prequel to the novel "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson (also one of my favorites).

"Swords of the Swashbucklers" was a 12 issue maxi-series originally released in the mid 80s (1985/1986) on the Epic Comics imprint for Marvel. Written by Bill Mantlo, with covers and art by Jackson Guice, Geof Isherwood, and Colleen Doran (she did issues 9 and 11). This followed it's original premiere in Marvel Graphic Novel #14 (1984, Mantlo and Guice).

And thanks to Dynamite/Nicky B the entire 12 issue run was collected and reprinted in 2017/2018, without which I would not have been able to track down the published/colored example. They also published a sequel series called "Swashbucklers: The Saga Continues".

Swords of the Swashbucklers is set in an alternate dimension to Earth within the Marvel Comics Multiverse (Earth-21394) in which the inhabitants resemble Earth's pirates of old.

This page has a lot of cool pirate elements on 1 page - buried treasure being pulled up from the depths and brought on board the ship, a look at the jewels and gold coins within, plenty of "talkin' like a pirate" in the dialogue, and some gun play and dagger play before the page wraps up!

Certainly not something I likely would have sought out to collect on my own, but a nice surprise in a previous package from Colleen which I always appreciate getting.

Yarrrr Matey!!??