If I were ever to make a comic (high unlikely), I would like to keep it moderately realistic...
eg. Swordfights wouldn't be a series of wide, clumsy, arcing swings and static blocks, though, such would be used as necessary (after all, such things did happen as well...and the fact that I gave one of my characters a
BFS, haha...)
Just to say...
This is what swordfighting
is:
Fencing Techniques of Sigmund Ringeck and Peter von Danzig
This is what swordfighting
isn't:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=x9a6lvgqv6Y&feature=related
Otherwise known as "tap-fighting."
European swordsmanship and swordsman, including knights, seem to suffer from a huge preconception of clumsy ineffectiveness, epitomized by the image of the slow, clumsy, ponderous knight, barely able to stand let alone fight. Of course, such a thing is preposterous, simply because no sane person would wear such ineffective gear into battle. Longsword fighting itself is looked down upon, seen merely as two men bashing eachother with no sense of technique or skill. Such things fly in the face of rationality.
In fact, lots of old fighting styles seem to suffer from misconceptions. Take for example, the whippy, highly flexible
jian used in chinese martial arts demonstrations.
Real chinese jian were of course, thicker, and more rigid. After all, a whippy, highly flexible sword that can visibly bend just from
moving it around it hardly any good for thrusting through someone's abdomen...
On the other hand, some swords and swordstyles are so touted, the outrageous becomes de facto truth. Take Katana for example. Quite a few people consider them the "ultimate sword," better than
any other sword on the face of the planet. Good Katana are good swords, no doubt.
They were used with skill and were deadly in the right hands. But their current prevalence in entertainment seems to make people think that Katanas are the be-all, end-all of swords. Personally, I think the european cruciform longsword is a more versatile weapon. It could deliver a powerful cut, and it's straight taper would be more suited for thrusts than the curved katana. Also, the crossguard, as opposed to the Katana's tsuba, makes the Longsword more versatile in that you can use it to bind an opponent's weapon, or even use the sword inverted, striking him with the guard and pommel while gripping the blade.
I suppose my ultimate vision of a good fight scene would be done much better in animation. Hahaha, I could only dream of working in that field.
Gah, got all preachy.
