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Today we have a special
series-in-review of one of the most acclaimed ongoing series to come
out of DC comics recent reboot – one that in my opinion has not
gotten the exposure it deserves, not by a long shot.
I refer of course to the sheer
awesomeness that is All-Star
Western. Penned by the suitably all-star team of Justin
Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti who have been the
minds behind the long-running series starring Jonah Hex that came to
a stop only recently in light of the reboot of the whole DC line,
both being highly respected and much-loved among fans for their
consistently good story-telling. Joining them on art duties we have
the exceedingly talented Moritat whom some of you will
remember from the somewhat short-lived series The Spirit which
was part of DC's “First Wave” line-up that tried to bring old
classics like it and Doc Savage to new life.
In the past, Hex has always been a
loner as a character and except for now and again, has largely stuck
to more simply told tales and few team-ups as such. He's had series
at DC and Vertigo both, travelled to a dystopic future, fought all
manner of magical evils and monsters, been a down and gritty
gun-slinger, a brutal bounty hunter but always a tough-as-nails man
of his word – someone you don't want to get on the bad side of if
it can be helped.
This time around though, Gray and
Palmiotti have taken things in a new direction. At first when the
series was launched, it was unclear how much like the older series
this would be, but it established itself as essentially a basic
western-themed Jonah Hex adventure with no fantastical elements to
overshadow the mystery, action and adventure.
All-Star Western is undoubtedly one of
my top-5 titles out of the new wave of DC books and the first arc
never let me down from start to finish. The crux of the story is as
follows:
Even when Gotham City was just a one-horse town, crime was rampant – and things only get worse when bounty hunter Jonah Hex comes to town. Can Amadeus Arkham, a pioneer in criminal psychology, enlist Hex's special brand of justice to help the Gotham Police Department track down a vicious serial killer?What happens when a psychologist and a sociopath have to work together to track down Gotham City's first serial killer? They'll soon find that crime in the big city runs deeper than its foundations, and it's all mapped out in the mysterious Crime Bible – that is, if they don't kill each other first.
I elected to take the lazy way out and
just put these blurbs instead of trying to explain it because: (1) as
mentioned, I'm lazy (2) it's just simpler and (3) for those who've
never read a single issue, this way it sounds cool, seems intriguing
and gives away no spoilers.
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Anyway, the adventures of Hex in his
first team-up of the series has been a total blast (at times
literally!) because the character of Amadeus Arkham (name sound
familiar?) makes for a very interesting contrast to the tough and
blunt Jonah Hex. The difference in method, attitude, goals and
outlook gives them a bit of a buddy-cop vibe while never dropping
into clichés that normally come up in such a teaming – at no point
do the writers take the easy way out and the result is tighly
rendered characters that are developed well through the story, as is
their dynamic and attitude to each other. Plus, their huge difference
bring with them the ability to make their investigation of the
bizarre mysteries surrounding Gotham City that much more interesting,
moreso since this time around Gray and Palmiotti have chosen to make
tweak the persona of Hex (not that he needed much!) in that he is now
more akin to a force of nature then before as violence and damage
seem to follow him everywhere he goes – though in part I attribute
this to his discomfort in a closed of city instead of the open road
and plains, something else nicely handled in the story itself – and
to keep him from being just a violent hard-case, they have maintained
a certain shrewd intelligence and sharpness in him that surprise both
the reader and his partner at first, until you get better acquainted
with this highly dangerous man.
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Now with the first story arc having
sprawled over five full issues, we get a sneak-peek at the sixth
issue as Hex leaves Gotham and we glimpse another guest star at his
next destination – Nighthawk and the lovely Cinnamon.
Clearly the writers are taking the title literally and that makes
this series much like the older series many of us have grown up
reading like Brave and the Bold which often had certain heroes like
Batman as a regular cast member, with other heroes co-starring at
random in different adventures. The difference here though, is that
instead of done-in-one adventuring, we get a solid continuing story
over several issues (as with the just concluded first arc) and a more
cohesive under-lying story – that of Jonah Hex – as he travels
the mayhem filled frontier that was the wild west.
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All this is more than adequately
accompanied by the art of Moritat, who seems to have taken the great
work on his last title and upped the ante to a whole other level.
Great layouts, excellent character rendering and design and an
overall feeling of harsh grittiness throughout these first issues has
really set an excellent benchmark for this kind of art in my view.
From the very first images on the page (such as this magnificent
image of Gotham from early on) he has shown a skill level far
exceeding his previous work and he seems to really be enjoying
working on this series which comes out when reading it and makes the
entire experience one of the most enjoyable I've had in quite a bit –
a real “one-two combo” knockout is the term I would use to
describe the creative team on this series.
It's an ambitious move on the part of
the writers as well as the publishers, putting out this title. A move
that keeps alive my confusion over the entire DC reboot which has
been equal parts amazing (i.e., stuff like Action Comics,
Swamp Thing, Animal Man and I, Vampire) and
utterly horrible comics (that would be crud like Static Shock,
Hawk & Dove and Mister Terrific – all of which I
really hoped would be done well!).
It's so confounding to readers like you
and me because at certain times it feels like DC is putting out great
books like this one and seems to have really thought out what they
are producing and the fans and taken care with putting it together.
At other times, when you read the more garbage titles, you get the
impression that it was put together in a hurry with little planning
before-hand and no cohesive plan overall and creative teams that are
either ill-suited or untalented creators (*cough!*FRIKKIN
LEIFELD!*cough!*) or just plain terrible planning in the face of
a last minute decision to reboot everything. It's something I don't
understand and maybe someday someone will make it clear, but until
then I'll keep reading the titles I enjoy and hope they stay around
long enough to be appreciated.
BUT! Back to the matter at hand before
I deviate too much into my ranting and rambling. This title was a
bold move on DC's part for a great many reasons, but it was also a
move that has I think challenged people's perception that the Big-2
were only super-hero fixated and could not put out much outside that
realm – something that several new titles in the New52 are putting
to the test, even a couple that have super-hero roots but have
started carving their own unique space.
So far the sales and response to the
series has been good, but I sincerely hope that DC changes its
standards for what constitutes “good sales” because the kind of
numbers that stupid and mindlessly entertaining comic-fare generate
(such as anything by Jeph Loeb in the last few years!) are not always
easy to get with more intelligent and more serious comics that cater
to a reader who is NOT mentally a 15-year old boy who wants basically
simple action and hot women – much like movies actually, where the
Transformers of the world are multi-million dollar projects while
acclaimed and genuine work like Driver or Tree of Life will never get
the backing or response that they deserve – partly because they are
not perceived as money-makers and partly because we seem to be
suffering from a global epidemic of ADD sometimes.
That said, the success and response to
some of the title's I've listed here as good and the success of some
of the titles in my recent rundown of the best independent comics
this past year are showing that there is an intelligence and maturity
present in the audience if it is given a chance and not drowned in
cheap gimmicks and “safe” story-telling that often ruins an
otherwise decent tale.
If you want to a rip-roaring good time
that will leave a memorable bit of intense joy in you and love a good
action filled adventure – especially in the old-west and frontier –
then you should under no circumstances miss out on this fantastic
book.
Plus, the more people show love for
this book, talk about it, write to DC and show the fan-love, the
better the chance DC and the rest might start to realise that quality
books are what are worth pursuing, even if (like the #1 issue of this
series which was 40 pages long) they are slightly more expensive.
Readers will buy them, they will appreciate them and both they and
the creators will genuinely be more happy.
Thanks for staying with me this long
dear reader – I will see you again soon with the new releases
reviewed on Monday.
Until then, I bid you a great weekend
and a hearty Cheers!
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