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Blade Forger
No matter who you are or where you're from, with enough aspiration, courage, and training you could become a Blade Forger, win the tournament and be the new Emperor.
The discovery of CORUM, a never seen before energy source, led to a bloody world war for its control.
After years of destruction, the Lords of the Lands agreed to negotiate a ceasefire for lasting peace. The BLADE FORGERS TREATY was born from that meeting. This treaty established that the mining of Corum would be centralized through one government, led by a neutral Emperor. The Emperor would have to be a BLADE FORGER, a mystical swordsman, and claim the title in a tournament called The Tournament of the Five Rings.
Every five years Blade Forgers from every corner of the Empire would fight for the possibility of becoming the new Emperor. A young Blade Forger named Owada challenges the Emperor in the name of the forsaken people. This is the story of what happens next.
The discovery of CORUM, a never seen before energy source, led to a bloody world war for its control.
After years of destruction, the Lords of the Lands agreed to negotiate a ceasefire for lasting peace. The BLADE FORGERS TREATY was born from that meeting. This treaty established that the mining of Corum would be centralized through one government, led by a neutral Emperor. The Emperor would have to be a BLADE FORGER, a mystical swordsman, and claim the title in a tournament called The Tournament of the Five Rings.
Every five years Blade Forgers from every corner of the Empire would fight for the possibility of becoming the new Emperor. A young Blade Forger named Owada challenges the Emperor in the name of the forsaken people. This is the story of what happens next.
- GenresComics
Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2025
5 people want to read
About the author
Inaki Miranda
250 books13 followersSpanish artist Inaki Miranda resides in Madrid, Spain, where he earned a fine arts degree in painting at Complutense University. After testing the waters of animation and videogames, he made himself a place in the comics industry illustrating titles such as Tribes: The Dog Years (Soulcraft Comics/IDW), Fables, Fairest, Coffin Hill and Catwoman for DC Entertainment.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 5, 2026
7.5/10
June 30, 2025
My thanks to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for an advance copy of this graphic novel that takes place in a dystopian future, of fighting, power struggles, heroes following their destiny and destiny going in different directions.
When I was young I loved going with my parents to all the tag sales and flea markets they could travel to. I found great books and even better great comics. Stuff one couldn't find at the pharmacy or the newsstand, this being the days before comic book stores were easy to get to. So much treasures, and well so much porn. This is where I found comics from Europe. Different in almost every way from the stuff I was reading. Few superheroes, lots of fantasy, crazy science fiction, and well lots of porn. This opened my mind in a lot of ways to what comics could do and what stories to tell. I love when I find stories that remind me of those days, big sprawling stories that go to different places, ask more of the reader than usual. And like this comic deliver big. Blade Forger is written by Roy Miranda with writing and art by his brother Inaki Miranda and colors by Eva de la Cruz, and tells of a future where elections are decided by sword battle, battles that defy magic and technology, and can lead to great things for the masses, or to heartbreak and dictatorship.
Corum is the most powerful power source ever discovered, one that has caused war, death destruction and destitution for most of the planet in digging and fighting over it. To keep the peace the leaders have decided on a unique way of deciding governmental authority. A sword battle, every 5 years, the winner becoming Emperor, and with the title comes absolute rule, and power over Corum. These battles involve magic and powers not held by normal people, but by Blade Forgers. One has risen through the ranks, beholden not to powerful families, but to the people. Owada. The target of assassinations, a threat to the ruling core. And one destined to win. Though what happens after that is subject to change, and could destroy everything.
A big sprawling story, that changes tracks more than a few times. One that is violent as one expects, but also much sadder. The world is interesting, the Corum makes for great powers and sword battling, and the plot, and the plotting of various characters really make for an story that really keeps moving. The telling of the tale is a tad disjointed, but the more one reads the more one understands. I enjoyed the mix of technology, the planes in the sky in what looks like a dystopian hellscape, the battles, the excitement of pople being around Owada. The art is really good, clean lines, good backgrounds, characters that appear bigger than life, and in a few cases evil from the get-go. I can imagine that it is hard to write with a sibling, but the writing works well with the art, and vice versa. A very good looking book.
I enjoy European comics and really dug this one. I don't think I know the creators, and will have to change that. The art is really good, with a lot of panels that keep a person from flipping away, just to see everything tucked away in it. A story I want to know more about, and that I am excited to read more.
When I was young I loved going with my parents to all the tag sales and flea markets they could travel to. I found great books and even better great comics. Stuff one couldn't find at the pharmacy or the newsstand, this being the days before comic book stores were easy to get to. So much treasures, and well so much porn. This is where I found comics from Europe. Different in almost every way from the stuff I was reading. Few superheroes, lots of fantasy, crazy science fiction, and well lots of porn. This opened my mind in a lot of ways to what comics could do and what stories to tell. I love when I find stories that remind me of those days, big sprawling stories that go to different places, ask more of the reader than usual. And like this comic deliver big. Blade Forger is written by Roy Miranda with writing and art by his brother Inaki Miranda and colors by Eva de la Cruz, and tells of a future where elections are decided by sword battle, battles that defy magic and technology, and can lead to great things for the masses, or to heartbreak and dictatorship.
Corum is the most powerful power source ever discovered, one that has caused war, death destruction and destitution for most of the planet in digging and fighting over it. To keep the peace the leaders have decided on a unique way of deciding governmental authority. A sword battle, every 5 years, the winner becoming Emperor, and with the title comes absolute rule, and power over Corum. These battles involve magic and powers not held by normal people, but by Blade Forgers. One has risen through the ranks, beholden not to powerful families, but to the people. Owada. The target of assassinations, a threat to the ruling core. And one destined to win. Though what happens after that is subject to change, and could destroy everything.
A big sprawling story, that changes tracks more than a few times. One that is violent as one expects, but also much sadder. The world is interesting, the Corum makes for great powers and sword battling, and the plot, and the plotting of various characters really make for an story that really keeps moving. The telling of the tale is a tad disjointed, but the more one reads the more one understands. I enjoyed the mix of technology, the planes in the sky in what looks like a dystopian hellscape, the battles, the excitement of pople being around Owada. The art is really good, clean lines, good backgrounds, characters that appear bigger than life, and in a few cases evil from the get-go. I can imagine that it is hard to write with a sibling, but the writing works well with the art, and vice versa. A very good looking book.
I enjoy European comics and really dug this one. I don't think I know the creators, and will have to change that. The art is really good, with a lot of panels that keep a person from flipping away, just to see everything tucked away in it. A story I want to know more about, and that I am excited to read more.
August 24, 2025
Claiming to be just the prologue of something much bigger, it remains to be seen quite how many issues of that bigness we get. The scale of this is definitely here, though – a world where Spice – sorry, Corum, a kind of energy source, is finely controlled by an Emperor, who has to face a chain of combatants every five years to maintain power, or die trying. Things kick off here when the warriors try too hard, and one of them proves to be a bit of a socialist, kicking against the imperial nature of it all.
It's a bit daft to have the basic definitions of understanding this world at the end, as it would have helped much earlier – the nature of the weird battle personae the warriors adopt or summon still not fully defined enough for the story. This looks suitably epic, and has that well-rounded world feel, even without much effort put into it. So what lets it down is the unknowns we suffer about the finer points of all this, the fact it's basically a combat book, and the fact these world-changing, to-the-death gladiatorial bouts are given commentary from the most inane American sports commentator characters who might as well be seen Bud Light in one hand and the other down their pants, they're that inappropriate. With all this death, they're the ones that kill this – a generous three stars.
It's a bit daft to have the basic definitions of understanding this world at the end, as it would have helped much earlier – the nature of the weird battle personae the warriors adopt or summon still not fully defined enough for the story. This looks suitably epic, and has that well-rounded world feel, even without much effort put into it. So what lets it down is the unknowns we suffer about the finer points of all this, the fact it's basically a combat book, and the fact these world-changing, to-the-death gladiatorial bouts are given commentary from the most inane American sports commentator characters who might as well be seen Bud Light in one hand and the other down their pants, they're that inappropriate. With all this death, they're the ones that kill this – a generous three stars.
July 31, 2025
A future where the Emperor is determined every 5 years through a tournament of Blade Forgers, a fight to the death for the 16 entrants involved. The storytelling is pretty disjointed in this. It's also told through multiple generations of this family so there's not a main character, per se. I really liked We Live from the Miranda Brothers. This wasn't to that level though.
April 10, 2026
More, please.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews