Graphic Novel review: East of West Vol. 1

East of West Vol. 1

Jonathan Hickman (Writer),

Nick Dragotta (Artist),

Frank Martin (Colourist),

Rus Wooton (Letterer)

 

Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Nominee for Best Continuing Series,

 Best Writer (for Jonathan Hickman), 

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team (for Nick Dragotta)

Best Coloring (for Frank Martin) (2014) 

 

I am not going to go into depth because graphic novels are something I enjoy but not feel like I can add very little to the discussion here. Odd as I review two Blade Runner comics this month as well. Last year I read most of SAGA by Brian K Vaughn and the thing that attracted me to that title is the fact that many said BKV wrote it with the intention of making a book that would be impossible for it to exist in any other form. I think if that is a genre East of West is firmly in said genre. So I want to thank Jacob Hall of the /Film Daily podcast who mentioned this in a water cooler episode because that is how I found it.

What I find most interesting and exciting about this title is the cross-genre aspect of the book. Yeah, it is a sci-fi dystopia, but it has elements of political alternate history, Cowboy yee-hah Western and supernatural horror. With villains like death and the fourth horsemen, you know this is a dark piece of work. The creator Jonathan Hickman plays with weird and wild ideas that TV and movies would struggle with. Like evil little kids. That reminds me to note although the show has been mostly forgotten the best evil kid on TV was Millie Bobby Brown pre-Stranger Things in Intruders. I digress.

East of West is bananas and since it was nominated for every award in comic I feel pretty late to the part eight years after it came out.  Well shit, I have some reading to do.

So this alternate history presents a future where the old western leaves a lingering cultural stamp. Not only did Native Americans getting involved in the civil war extend it, but it shaped America in a very different way. That is not all a super Mao-ist china under the rule of Mao 5.0 is a major player. Three of the fourth Horsemen of the apocalypse rebirthed as kids and Death being goth Chinese style (white is the color of death there that black is here).

The story so far is confusing but never boring and that is most important I think. I am interested enough to keep reading. May only review on Goodreads and not the blog moving forward, we will have to see.