East of West #4
“Last Deals of Dead Men” review
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Colourist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Rus Wooton
A review by Jake Morris.
I am going to say; right off the bat here, that East of West is one of my absolute favourite comics right now. The previous three issues have been some of the most fluid single issues I have read in quite a while and that continues this month with #4.
When you are asked the question of “what is your dream artist and writer combination?”, I will be honest, I never would have said Hickman and Dragotta… until now. Jonathan Hickman’s dialogue is so finely tuned to the art of Nick Dragotta that for almost every panel and splash page, I find myself being taken aback by it all. It is just an absolute pleasure to read and to look at. Frank Martin should not go unnoticed either, as his colours really pop and give Dragotta’s art that extra amount of character. His blending of the various characteristics for each character really defines the vision that both Hickman and Dragotta are going for.
So, story wise, East of West really hits its stride this issue. Like all good battles, we were given the build up in the previous issue but in #4, we get the full blown war between Death and New Shanghai. It’s fast paced, it’s vicious and it has so many layers. We go from Mao giving his troops the good ol’ motivational speech to Death storming through the gates/walls and causing absolute chaos. In retrospect he deals out exactly what his namesake suggests but it does not come across as this brutal massacre, instead you find yourself gawping at the ferocious nature of the fighting mixed with those gorgeous visuals from Dragotta and Martin. You have to wonder if Hickman added a specific panel of dialogue from Mao inbetween all of the fighting to comment on how Death and his three friends are simply animals and butchers, because although you are rooting for him, he is not at all an innocent man. He is Death afterall…
It could be easy to forget that during all of this, Death is in actuality, on a personal quest. He has come to free the woman he loves. This aspect really does add a dimension to the story that you might not have expected to find in a futuristic western story created by Jonathan Hickman. However there is a sense of beauty to this woman and also hints as to why someone like Death would fall for her. She has a brutality that only a man with an equally as brutish nature could fall for. Displaying some parts swift and graceful, other parts confident and violent; you will find the more graphic scenes coming from her than you will from Death. This is rounded off perfectly however by the end of the issue when Mister Chamberlain explains to the other three horseman that she should be feared, as she is not just a warrior. The interesting aspect of it all is that the three other horseman are somewhat bewildered as to why Death has left them, and in hindsight, he left his friends not just three people who he was meant to bring about the apocalypse with. It is an interesting take because as Chamberlain says at the end; “You should fear her as much as you fear him. For this is the woman who conquered Death.”
In the end East of West #4 is supremely strong issue. It ends on such a strong note that you would not be wrong for thinking it could have been the end of an arc, but the fact that it isn’t makes you wonder just how Hickman will end the first six issues. The panel work is incredibly diverse and the dialogue fast and snappy. The characters are being built up slowly but in a calculated manner and as already mentioned, the artwork is something all comic books fans should check out. I also feel like the quality of the book deserves a mention, the paper quality is very good and for an indie book, you really are getting a real bang for your buck.
So if you are looking for a diverse, original idea that absolutely nails the mix between sci-fi and western then look no further than East of West. It is truly shaping up to be an epic case of storytelling.
5/5
Jake is a contributing writer for Drunk On Comics. You can follow him on Twitter at @JakeUtd