Comic Review | East Of West

Title: East of west
Writer: Jonathan Hickman 
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Language: English
Publisher: Image Comics
Format: CBR/Book
Type: Comic book, Series
Genre: Action, Adventure, Mythological, Syfi, Biblical, Old West 

 

 


After a few suggestions from Zach I thought I’d give this comic book a try and see what all the hype was that had my bro all excited, however immediately after I started to read I became confused. I had the digital copies on my tab and was not sure if I had the right ones because it all seemed strange to me. I had not read a comic book in quite a while and was not sure if they had changed the structure since last I read one. It started with a few slides of what seemed like these tall stone pillars followed by another with strangely coloured children coming out of what seemed to be a sort of circle with 4 triangles around it.

Now I feel I must mention the upsides down triangles kind of reminded me of a upside down triforce, (maybe that is why Zach likes this so much I thought). I believe they are to represent the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, who by the way are who the story is based on. I should say loosely based as this is not the story you will find in a bible, but rather a bad arse twist on the biblical version.

Now as the story goes one of the horsemen will leave the 4 and there will be 3. The one to leave was Death. He left because he had “fallen” in love with a mortal woman who had caught his eye after she denied him what is rightfully his, death. This relationship otherwise unnatural was not accepted by the other 3 horsemen and so they put an end to it. They tried to kill Death, and believed themselves to have succeeded, but how does one kill Death himself? The children in the first book that emerge from the triangles are the horsemen, but only 3. When the horsemen die they reincarnate as children, but with all their powers and abilities intact. Somehow death found a way to cheat this process and so he is the only adult among the 4.

The Chosen

He now one, travels with two companions. One is a woman that he calls Crow and the other a big Native American looking man he calls wolf. Death and his companions all have unique colour pallets when compared to the other characters in the comic book, excluding the other 3 horse men of course who are also depicted in their own unique colours. Death’s team are completely bleached of colour, with Death and Wolf appearing completely white and Crow being completely black with white hair and white details for her clothing and paint around her eyes.

As the story goes Death and his companions are on a quest, one to find and seek revenge on those that tried to kill him. Other than his kin there were also a few mortals involved in the act that are referred to as the chosen. They follow a prophecy called “The Message”, and will do anything once “The Message” mentions it. Their main mission is to bring about the end of all days. They work under the other 3 horsemen and each is a person who holds some kind of power in the world.

East of west has a very gritty art style that I like very much. With each horseman having a different colour palette than the other characters in the comics I find it gives them an other worldly air, and it fits them perfectly. In the biblical version of the story they each ride a horse that is the colour that they are in the comic book, but this time around they ride black mechanical horses with huge open energy cannons for heads. If I had to give this comic a graphical description, it would be an old west meets futuristic setting.

The Biblical Depiction of the Four Horsemen
The Biblical Depiction of the Four Horsemen

The comic has 12 issues as of this post and each is filled of great art and a plot that hooked me after I completed the first issue. I’m happy to have started reading this comic book and a bit sad to have caught up to the current issue as this is a monthly release sort of comic, so for now I wait for the next issue while highly recommending it to all the comic book loving members of our family.

Download East of West Comic Books: Link

Qudduws Campbell

That messy hair bloke: Romantic, Food lover, Gamer, Sports Fan, Manga Reader, Tech Head, Podcaster... Pretty much do a bit of everything.