Coyote Volume 4 (Coyote)

by Steve Englehart, Chaz Truog, Steve Ditko

published	January 18th 2007 by Image Comics
binding	Paperback
isbn	1582407029 (isbn13: 9781582407029)
ebook
pages	128
description	Women have always been a delight for Coyote (even if they tried to kill him), but he's never met anyone like Slash, who can kill with a look. Still, l...more [close] Women have always been a delight for Coyote (even if they tried to kill him), but he's never met anyone like Slash, who can kill with a look. Still, look who's drawing her origin: Todd McFarlane, in his first-ever published work. Todd's also on board for the start of a new Scorpio Rose series, right beside Steve Ditko with the whirlwind finale of The Djinn and Chaz Troug! [close]
date added	05-05-07 edit book

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | more...

discuss this book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.

other reviews (showing 1-2 of 2)

Seth rated it:

09/03/07

bookshelves: graphic-novel, superheroes

The strangeness continues. And by Coyote, Volume 4, it is perhaps now just a bit too much of a good'n'freaky thing. There's a quick trip to Venus, where we meet the Shadow Cabinet's otherworldly overlords, and we see the rewards they offer their new members (somewhat lobotomized slaves). There's the introduction of Slash, who wants to assassinate Sly Santangelo--he's really Coyote--because he killed an old hitman pal of hers; her origin is a spectacularly weird mix of ghastly left-eye removal...more The strangeness continues. And by Coyote, Volume 4, it is perhaps now just a bit too much of a good'n'freaky thing. There's a quick trip to Venus, where we meet the Shadow Cabinet's otherworldly overlords, and we see the rewards they offer their new members (somewhat lobotomized slaves). There's the introduction of Slash, who wants to assassinate Sly Santangelo--he's really Coyote--because he killed an old hitman pal of hers; her origin is a spectacularly weird mix of ghastly left-eye removal, mental ascension, cloning, immortality, and betrayal. And she does something really strange to Sly, instead of killing him--somehow she separates Coyote's wild essence from the Sly persona, and so the two halves of our hero have two radically different adventures. An amnesiac Sly, and Slash, end up in Mexico, chased by Shadow Cabinet members who have been sent to kill them. Cornered, the duo's odd way of turning the tables on their pursuers ends in tragedy. And then there's what happens to Tally, Coyote's old lover, once she fully embraces the "Coyote Woman" that Coyote has helped awaken in her. For some reason, she teams up with a shadow, evil version of the god Coyotl, and during the lightning-flashes of a desert storm, she attacks Coyote. It looks like a fight to the death, unless our titular Trickster has one last trick.

At this point, it's fair to say the rollercoaster may be running a little too fast. Author Steve Englehart has thrown so many elements on board, that the focus is lost. It's particularly hard to discern certain character motivations here; what exactly has happened to Tally, and earlier, why would Sly Santangelo really shoot a certain someone in the back? The plot twists and psychedelic ornamentation of the Coyote's exploits in Volume 4 make the back-up features starring The Djinn (in a story that started back in Vol. 3), and Scorpio Rose (she returns, after we last saw her in Vol. 1, for a sword and sorcery prequel set in 1617) seem rational by comparison.

On second thought, the inclusion of the Djinn and Scorpio Rose tales just makes everything seem crazier, if only because there's so much going on, involving so many characters with so many wild origins. But it's still a delicious crazy, if not quite as delicious as previous volumes. It should be noted that you get--in the origin of Slash, and in the Scorpio Rose romp (or at least the first part of it; it ends on a cliffhanger til Coyote, Volume 5)--the first published art of comics (and action-figure) legend Todd McFarlane, reprinted. His stuff looks great here, not as pretentious as I find some of the later, more bombastic work (sorry, McFarlane groupies--I like his art, I don't love his art).

So, in the penultimate volume of the Coyote graphic novels you get what amounts to an out of control tornado, albeit a tornado with some really cool things sticking out of it as it spins unpredictably: Venusians, a big evil bird with a broken wing, gods and monsters, Las Vegas and Venus, Mexico and Philadelphia, subterranean Ankara, 17th century Germany with its mysteries Rosicrucians, lasers and fangs, traitors and teases (there are so many untrustworthy souls by this time), and Coyote himself, who needs less bloodshed and slaughter in his love life. Oh well--there're always those randy women back on Venus. ...less

Like this review? yes

add a comment