Matthew's Reviews > East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise

This might be the most “That-was-not-what-I-was-expecting-at-all” experience I have ever had with a graphic novel. I have seen it listed on Hoopla before and always wanted to give it a try. Fate brought it my way sooner than expected when my Father-In-Law handed me the first three volumes and said, “These were weird, want to read them?” . . . . Well, of course I do!



The premise is a futuristic America where we never quite got past the Wild West. I guess you could call it a Cowboy-Punk story (does that work as a genre???) And, on top of that, the world is in the middle of the biblical apocalypse. But, the apocalypse cannot go quite according to plan when not all the horsemen are on board.



So, yes, it was weird, a bit hard to follow, and it took a half to two thirds for me to really get into what was a going on. But, I was quite fascinated by the story and I look forward to seeing where it goes. The minds behind this are twisted and creative – I cannot imagine how they came up with this craziness!



Art wise, I am enjoying it so far. Sometimes the faces felt a little bit off to me, but overall, it is pleasing to the eye. I thought it was cool how in any of the flashbacks the art was the same, but had a washed out quality. Another thing that this book incorporated in the art that I have seen in several other graphic novels is very precise artistic panels combined with more impressionistic panels to give just a general feeling for the atmosphere, landscape, etc. It all works together very nicely.



If weird, futuristic sci-fi with a western feel sounds like your thing, try it out. Just remember that I warned you that it is really weird!