A review by bdesmond
East of West Volume 10 by Jonathan Hickman
5.0
--read as single issues #43-#45--
This volume will contain only three issues, though issue #45 is a double-length installment, so it should not differ much in size from the four-issue books they've been collecting of late. It is, obviously, hard to review this final volume without spoiling a great deal of the story, but needless to say things that were heating up in volume nine are now at full boil, as our remaining players in this bizarre and prophesied game begin to butt heads. The pace is violently fast, fitting of the end of this story, and the end came quicker than I'd have liked. But one can hope for only one thing at the end of a story like this, as there is only one appropriate response. That most powerful of underlying universal forces. That thing which though it may seem absent on a battlefield of massive engagement, or in the apocalyptic battles of Death himself, is nevertheless there, if you open your eyes (or take off your helmet) and look: Love.
It is always a bittersweet feeling to come to the end of a story you've spent a lot of time with.. I have been reading East of West for five years now, and it has become something I can rely on for a good story whenever it lands at the shop (even when it landed very late). The entire creative team deserves accolades, but especially Jonathan Hickman's writing of this bizarre and violent world, Nick Dragotta's drawing of it, and Frank Martin's coloring of it (which I have on occasion noted as being particularly brilliant). They created a fun book these past five years; a strange and complicated alternate America. I believe the series is currently in one stage or another of adaptation. If it ever sees the light of day it will be an exciting and worthwhile endeavor. But for now, it's goodbye.
This is the world. It is not the one we wanted, but it is the one we deserved.
This volume will contain only three issues, though issue #45 is a double-length installment, so it should not differ much in size from the four-issue books they've been collecting of late. It is, obviously, hard to review this final volume without spoiling a great deal of the story, but needless to say things that were heating up in volume nine are now at full boil, as our remaining players in this bizarre and prophesied game begin to butt heads. The pace is violently fast, fitting of the end of this story, and the end came quicker than I'd have liked. But one can hope for only one thing at the end of a story like this, as there is only one appropriate response. That most powerful of underlying universal forces. That thing which though it may seem absent on a battlefield of massive engagement, or in the apocalyptic battles of Death himself, is nevertheless there, if you open your eyes (or take off your helmet) and look: Love.
It is always a bittersweet feeling to come to the end of a story you've spent a lot of time with.. I have been reading East of West for five years now, and it has become something I can rely on for a good story whenever it lands at the shop (even when it landed very late). The entire creative team deserves accolades, but especially Jonathan Hickman's writing of this bizarre and violent world, Nick Dragotta's drawing of it, and Frank Martin's coloring of it (which I have on occasion noted as being particularly brilliant). They created a fun book these past five years; a strange and complicated alternate America. I believe the series is currently in one stage or another of adaptation. If it ever sees the light of day it will be an exciting and worthwhile endeavor. But for now, it's goodbye.
This is the world. It is not the one we wanted, but it is the one we deserved.