Book Review – Diablo: Sword of Justice

Diablo: Sword of Justice is a comic that is set in the Diablo universe. It was written by Aaron Williams, and the Lead Artist was Joseph LaCroix. It started out as a limited edition series of five comics that were released sometime in 2012.

If you missed out on those, don’t worry. They have recently been put together into a nice, glossy, paperback that includes each of the five comics, one right after the other. The story moves along quickly, with plenty of action, and a touch of the darkness and creepiness that fans of the Diablo games (and books) will enjoy.

At the beginning of the comic, there is a brief review of the events of The Sin War. It gives you just enough information about it so that you will understand what is going on in the comic. I like that they put in a little bit of background information for people who were not familiar with that portion of “Diablo history”.

The story focuses on a young hero named Jacob. He’s probably in his late teens or very early twenties (at most). Readers quickly discover that Jacob has been through some incredibly tragic events in his young life. Without giving away any “spoilers”, I will say that he finds himself compelled to travel to a place where a large, very bright, sword is waiting for him. It guides him towards his destiny. One glance at the cover of the book gives you a big clue about the history of that sword.

Jacob teams up with a wizard named Shanar who has her own connection to the sword. She is smart, adept at using many potent spells, and manages to save Jacob several times. That makes up for the portion of the comic where the “bad guys” were calling her “witch” in an derogatory manner.

Again, without giving away any “spoilers”, I will say that the comic includes several interesting battles, and there is also a plague, of sorts, that must be quelled. The artwork is excellent, and the story line moves fast. It is a quick read that fans of the Diablo “universe” will enjoy. At the time I wrote this book review, both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have the book available for preorder. It will be released on July 16, 2013.