Swag six is another black & white, magazine size comic book from Cameron Arthur. It runs a full 42 pages of comics, plus a contents page and a notes page; all under one wraparound cover.
All of the comics in this issue employ a four-tier page layout; most of these pages are then divided into the standard, classic eight-panel grid, but with divergences and variations when called for by the unfolding drama.  Panel composition is a clear priority here, followed by panel-to-panel transitions; the beat.  Taken together these make for a highly æsthetic reading experience of the kind that is very hard to come by in contemporary comics. In other words Cameron Arthur is keeping alive a classic adventure comics tradition that goes way back, to Roy Crane, Noel Sickles and Alex Toth in particular, and then bringing to it perspectives informed by the world we live in today.  

A spirit of fatalism pervades this issue.  In the world as shown here, resignation and acquiescence appear to be the way of all flesh; initiatives are not rewarded.  The issue starts and ends with enigmatic one-pagers. In between we have an epic 36-page old-school tale of a motley crew of seaborne treasure hunters whose troubles begin as soon as they spot land.  There’s plenty of discussion – there are stories within stories – but not much in the way of decisive action.  This is followed by a four-page tale of a world in which the characters seem to have no say in their own destinies; all feels preordained, and meaning is hard to come by.

Each of the stories here is multi-layered, and each rewards multiple readings.

GONE!