Comic Reviews by Walt

Volume One

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colors: Frank Martin
Letters: Rus Wooton
Published by: Image
Cover Price: $9.99
Collects: East of West #s 1-5

I’m not a fan of Hickman…I’ve been more turned-off by his work than I’ve been impressed. I didn’t enjoy his Shield (I never even managed to finish the first issue); couldn’t get into his Fantastic Four, was actively turned off by his Avengers. So by rights I should have left this volume on the shelf. But, it’s a healthy-sized 5-issue volume…and only $9.99 cover price. Which is the “sweet spot” for me…especially as that’s a bargain whether the single issues were $2.99 or $3.99 originally…and just as I’ll check out pretty much anything at $1/under, I have little problem trying the first volume of a series for $10 or so.

I noticed the chapter-heading pages pretty quickly, which I’d also noticed in Infinity #1, so that was a stylistic thing for me immediately. Not quite the sort of thing I enjoy with Quantum and Woody, but this being its own thing, I found it a little more fitting than I did IN Infinity. Otherwise, visually, this had a different feel than I’m used to and I could almost see this being all silhouettes for the characters. The color palette is definitely not what I’m used to, but for this particular story–not being something I already knew, or involving super-heroes–it works very well and I like it. I also like the quasi-“Western” sense I got from it.

Story-wise, I’ve long since read Gaiman‘s Sandman, which to me has the definitive take on the personification of Death. However, here Death is brought in as one of the Four Horsemen rather than “just” the embodiment of an abstract, so it’s a bit different, and works. Reading this, I wasn’t looking to analyze or dig deep; and it being Hickman I expected to have a sense of high-brow pretentiousness to things; and for this to be totally over my head. What I got was a followable story where Death had fallen in love, married, lost a child and his wife, discovers both to be alive yet and seeks them out. His wife’s less than thrilled at his return, and she has quite a bit of status as a woman who has conquered Death. Meanwhile, the other Horsemen are seeking to reunite with Death in order to usher in the end of the world. I mentioned above getting a sense of a quasi-“Western” from the visuals; the story seems a mix of things, and actually put me somewhat in mind of Stephen King‘s The Gunslinger, which is a credit to East of West.

Given my being able to read this as a larger chunk–5 issues’ worth of story–I rather enjoyed the volume. I couldn’t quite identify the end/beginning of issues because of the chapter breaks’ pages, and I am relatively certain I would have hated this as single issues; but as something I knew nothing about and so had no real expectations for going in, I enjoyed it. (I think this is the first I’ve actually enjoyed Hickman’s work in general.) $14.95–the “regular price” for a volume this size, these days–will be a much more significant investment and “risk” for me for the next volume…but having read the first volume now, my picking up vol. 2 in a few months won’t be out-of-the question as it would have been before.

This is no Sandman or Gunslinger…but for the price, a pretty good volume. I probably wouldn’t specifically seek it out, but for the $9.99, it having been right there and my having the money to spend at the time, it was worthwhile and I’m definitely glad I picked it up. If you’re a fan of Hickman in general, you’ll probably enjoy this; and if you’re a fan of Sandman, the Gunslinger books, or a mix of Western/dystopian future/etc. this might tickle your fancy. And whether you typically enjoy this type of fare or not…I’d say that cover price makes for a solid bargain for just checking it out (Especially compared to most volumes…particularly as this is less than half the price of a 5-issue Marvel premiere edition.

Filed under: East of West, Image | Tagged: East of West, Frank Martin, Hickman, Image, Image Comics, jonathan hickman, Nick Dragotta, Rus Wooton |