A review by iffer
East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise by Jonathan Hickman
4.0
Wow, so East of West sucked me right on in. I was skeptical at first, because I was thinking, "another horror western?" but I was surprised by this one. It's not just a horror western, but a very violent, gritty, pessimistic apocalyptic mash-up of sci-fi with futuristic technology, fantasy with nature magic, and alternate history with mythological and horror flavors.
The art is great, and the mystery of the setting and plot pulls the reader along, even if this is a first volume.
The depictions of the seven nations making up the US in the setting use exaggerated stereotypes of different "cultures," which could be considered somewhat offensive, but it works, for the most part, especially since everything is already so dark an pessimistic, and makes the world intriguing. The depiction that I liked the least, disappointingly, is of Death as a gun-slinging angsty-in-love cowboy, especially since he's the main character. I'll probably get the next volume from the library to see where the series goes, and if I start to like Death's incarnation any better.
The art is great, and the mystery of the setting and plot pulls the reader along, even if this is a first volume.
The depictions of the seven nations making up the US in the setting use exaggerated stereotypes of different "cultures," which could be considered somewhat offensive, but it works, for the most part, especially since everything is already so dark an pessimistic, and makes the world intriguing. The depiction that I liked the least, disappointingly, is of Death as a gun-slinging angsty-in-love cowboy, especially since he's the main character. I'll probably get the next volume from the library to see where the series goes, and if I start to like Death's incarnation any better.