East of West vol. 2

Now that Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta have built this weird and wild Western world, we get to see them dig into it and show the hidden depths that it has to offer.  There’s mythology in the tale of the Ranger and his companions who killed all the judges and now comes out of retirement for one last mythical job.  We see horror in the backstory of Ezra, chief resident of Armistice, who so dearly wants to be an agent of the End Times to please his mother, but is stuck with the cost of being such when it finally happens.  Plans are also made by one John Freeman and his father that will see their fortunes rise along with the unmaking of the Union.  All this, along with the price Death pays for information, his own son’s schemes against his captors, chaos amongst the cattle of Union citizenry, and an epic supernatural battle against Cheveyo of the Endless Nation, can be found in this volume.

So if you’re like me and were thrilled by what the first volume had to offer, then you’re going to like this even more.  Hickman builds expertly on what came before and creates great drama in showing us the many, many plans being hatched and schemed by the various factions at play here as well as the fact that even Death is not invulnerable.  Dragotta meets the writer every step of the way with designs that perfectly capture the scientific and fantastic parts of this world, while colorist Frank Martin adds depth to the artist’s already impressive work.  There is the occasional reliance on cliche, most unfortunately seen towards the end in what follows the last exchange between Death and Cheveyo, so this isn’t a perfect series yet.  Even so, “East of West” is arguably a stronger series than “The Manhattan Projects” was at the same point with even greater potential to grow as well.  Now that’s a message worth following.