So I Read East of West: Volume 2

A 250 word (or less) review of the second East of West collection
by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta, and Frank Martins, Image Comics

This review will have *SPOILERS*. For a clean review go here.

East of West is everything I love about genre fiction and comics. The comic is about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the seven fractured nations of America on the edge of the Endtimes. The horsemen and The Chosen, a cabal of powerful world leaders, work together bring about the Apocalypse, except Death fell in love, and had a son, and was betrayed. Now Death rides against the agents of the Endtimes in a quest to free his stolen son. East of West Vol. 2 continues everything that I enjoyed from the first volume, but shifts the lens of the story to The Chosen, fleshing out these characters and building the world, while providing time for Death's story to progress. The thing about East of West Vol. 2, beyond just being really well made, is that it's confounding. For a story constructed out of so many familiar pieces of culture, I am constantly unable to predict exactly where the story is going, and pleasantly surprised at the form the narrative takes. Reading East of West is an act of discovery in a really compelling, badass, beautiful Sci-fi-Western world. It's really great reading a comic that is at once cohesive and natural feeling while still being unexpected and fresh. East of West manages to pull off that most miraculous aspects of fiction and creates an actual, breathing world to visit. It is fantastic comics and you should be reading it.

Word count: 240

Post by Michael Bround

Previously:
East of West Volume One

So I Read East of West: Volume One

Or a 250 word (or less) review of the first East of West collected edition
By Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta, and Frank Martins; Image Comics

East of West is the new Sci-fi infused Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse comic. But in a world with decades of repetitive Apocalypse X-men stories, complete with superpowered Horsemen, does the world really need another Four Horseman comic? Apparently yes. Hickman, Dragotta, and Martins create a Sci-fi, Cyberpunky, Western world where a meteor strike during the American Civil War (and concurrent Indian-American Wars) caused a premature armistice between the various sides. As a result the United States is split between seven nations: The Union, The Confederacy, The Endless Nation of the American Indians, the People's Republic (a California settled by exiled Maoists), The Dead Lands of the meteorite crater, the Kingdom of New Orleans, and, of course, the Republic of Texas. It is in this fractured America that a cabal of influential leaders from among the Seven Nations have heard The Message, a prophecy of The Endtimes, and are actively trying to kick off the Apocalypse. Unfortunately, they have betrayed Death, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and he is aiming to have his vengeance on them all. That is, unless the other Horsemen can stop him. It's really, really, really good comics. And it’s all execution. Imagine how good a creator owned comic by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta should be. Now throw that idea out because, I promise you, East of West is BETTER. It’s bigger, more fun, smarter, funnier, more badass, and just all around greater than it has any right to be. I recommend it.

Word Count: 250