Many years ago, inexpensive pulp books made heroes available to everyone in magazine form. Then, along came comic books and television, and the pulp fiction magazines went away.
Short Fiction in recent years has focused on one-shot heroes. While many talented writers pen short stories, it’s hard to get to know or appreciate characters who, after one story, are never heard from again.
Great heroes such as Zorro and Sherlock Holmes were born as short story characters. Today, future Zorros and Holmeses languish for lack of a forum.
Thus, the purpose for Laser and Sword Magazine. We believe the time is ripe for a new generation of heroes, particularly with what has beset the media that supplanted the pulps. Hollywood has run out of ideas, and is constantly trying to remaking older more successful works. Many Comic Books have turned away from the heroic in order to appease a post-modern age.
At Laser and Sword Magazine, we believe in heroes. We believe in high quality work and are dedicated to telling the great stories that demand to be told.
Our Beliefs
We hold to a Christian worldview. That doesn’t mean inside every story is a sermon, but that does mean you can expect a certain standard in the stories you read.
This does not mean that a story will not ruffle someone’s theological feathers or that all the characters are Saints. But rather, we believe in a right and wrong and absolute truth, and absolute good and evil. That will be reflected in the stories we tell.
The Serials
Rise of the Judge: Snyder, a juvenile delinquent living in Boise during the 78th Year of the Empire, loathes Earth’s dictator while hailing the regime’s American governor as a hero. Getting caught meting out vigilante justice on the Boise Greenbelt gets him inducted into the Imperial Army under threat of a noose. Can a double agent get Snyder back on the right track? Will Snyder survive to discover his destiny?
Order of the Sword: the Sword, Sword Comics owner Jesse Miller seeks to defeat terrorism by uniting the world’s greatest superheros. Will he learn bad guys masquerade as good guys before the traitor in their midst sends the heroes to their doom?
Tales of the Dim Knight*: Mild Mannered Janitor Dave Johnson discovers a symbiotic alien and this superfan’s dreams of being a superhero come true with hilarious results. One question haunts: can there be such a thing as a good Symbiot, even if he is a silver cylinder rather than black tar?
*Our current web serials are adapted from the first issue of Laser & Sword, and the first episode of Tales of the Dim Knight did not begin until issue 2. You can purchase prints all four of 2008’s issues from our magazine rack, or download the E-issues for $1.25 each.