The Knave of Swords...
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This is the third volume in the Nikolai Dante series (not the second, as mistakenly listed by Amazon). It's also, happily enough, the best one so far by a rather large lunar mile. This is helped by the change in production values - produced after DC split with Rebellion, this is printed with a much nicer matte finish cover, more attention paid to overall design and on a lovely shiny paper stock.
But it's mainly the quality of the stories that shines so much. Having spent two books previously building up their world and the characters in it, Morrison and company now really start to put them to the test, and push the relationships to breaking point. The love/hate/more hate relationship that's been building between Nikolai and Jena comes to an emotional head here (come on, since they first met you knew they'd get it on).
The artwork is exemplary, particularly Simon Fraser's work (probably the best he's ever done) and we also see John Burns start working on the series for the first time - he would of course go on to become the strip's premier artist after Fraser left. The simmering conflict between the two ruling houses of Russia breaks out at last into open warfare, ready for the series pinnacle of Tsar Wars, in volume 4...
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