Sir Charles Ward, "The Dragon Butcher," has arrived on the shores of a distant island. He and the knights he commands are expecting pagan savages. What they get is something g altogether different in Knights Vs. Samurai #2. Writer David Dastmalchian and artist Federico Mele launch the series into a major moment of conflict as East meets West on the field of battle. It’s largely an action based issue. Though there is a little bit of intrigue around the edges of the action, of the pulse of the second issue, features a great deal of dramatic, overwhelming and aggressive impact.

At first, they’re just standing there. One arm, he faces the other. If I was defending the island or wearing armor. But it’s not like any armor they’ve ever seen before. They were expecting savages. They come face-to-face with very sophisticated warriors carrying swords.Sir Charles Ward is asked for his orders. He’s not at all certain what to make of the situation. The defenders are exactly attacking either. They were expecting bandits. They weren’t expecting an invasion force of gleaming warriors. Tensions are high. And then a priest unveils an allusion. Powerful radiance. That’s when things explode. Chaos erupts.

Dastmalchian allows the conflict between the two opposing forces to play out with a series of crucial moments. The fundamental issue here is that the opposing forces don’t understand each other. And there is some tragedy in that. But it’s not adequately brought to the page. Were, in the case that both sides in the conflict could speak language that either side would understand, the outcome would have been unlikely to have been too terribly different. However, the author makes the journey fun.

Mele does a solid job of delivering the action to the page. The contrast between the opposing forces feels pretty well defined visually. There’s a rhythm to the script, though, that could have been amplified quite a bit by the art. The contrast between the opposing forces in the tension, which is broken by the actions of a single priest. This would have been really interesting to see develop into more of a dramatic moment. And while the tension isn’t adequately brought to the page, the action certainly is. I had the action been framed with just a bit more of a sense of drama, it would have hit the page with a bit more force.

There’s a little question about any given reader, would be able to choose a side here. The creative team does a pretty good job of illustrating, strengths and weaknesses on both sides in an issue that feels largely consumed by the chaos on the battlefield. Part of the enjoyment of it is just knowing the full story the way none of the characters on the page could. Readers can see the conflict developing be on the mists of ancient time in an area where the air filter had ever been fully exposed to the other. It’s enjoyable to see a conflict like this with the benefit of hundreds of years of history.

Grade: B