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Next Town Over, Volume 1: Maybe Next Time
Mysterious and mechanically-inclined, Vane Black will pursue wanted rogue John Henry Hunter to the ends of the frontier ... with explosive and unfortunate results for anyone in their path. Next Town Over Volume 1 chronicles their curious rivalry through four unfortuanate locations and four collected issues' worth of mayhem: Lookback, Sun Prairie, Whiskey Bend and Baron's Crossing. Liberally spiced with steam, sorcery and secrets, Next Town Over slowly unravels the twisted yarn of its central players' shared history. This full color collection includes a slew of extras, including character and location guides, guest pinups, fan art and more.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
12 people want to read
About the author
Erin Mehlos
8 books2 followers"I’m Erin Mehlos, Eisner-nominated (24 Hour Comics 2005) cartoonist and creator of on-again, off-again webcomic Hell’s Corners, a baby boy, and more. I write, pencil (traditionally), and color (digitally) Next Town Over."
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 25, 2016
Next Town Over is a western where one of the main characters is some sort of fire magic user and the other seems to be straight out of a steampunk setting. The latter is chasing the former from town to town, leaving constant destruction in their wake.
I quite liked the art style. It's no Blacksad, but what is? It is different from what you get from most comics, especially online comics, which this is.
What is interesting about this book are the two main characters. Everything else is typical western, but when one of your characters stars igniting things with a flick of his wrist, you have my attention. Add in a woman who seems to be able to blacksmith a horse back to life (!?) and I start forgiving things I wouldn't otherwise in the interest of seeing how these two forces of nature interact. And forgive you need to.
The story here is pretty weak. The woman chases the outlaw from town to town, pretty much catching up with and shooting him each issue, the town somehow gets the brunt of the whole thing, and he escapes. Over time, we learn that they know each other, and the woman isn't simply after the bounty on his head. Their interactions are interesting in that they constantly reveal things about themselves that do not fit in the western they find themselves surrounded by. Put them in Marvel's superhero filled NYC and it would be dull. But in the wild west where magic equals witchcraft? It works pretty well.
Overall, I am interested in the characters, but would like the plot to move along. But you can read it for free online, so you might as well check it out.
I quite liked the art style. It's no Blacksad, but what is? It is different from what you get from most comics, especially online comics, which this is.
What is interesting about this book are the two main characters. Everything else is typical western, but when one of your characters stars igniting things with a flick of his wrist, you have my attention. Add in a woman who seems to be able to blacksmith a horse back to life (!?) and I start forgiving things I wouldn't otherwise in the interest of seeing how these two forces of nature interact. And forgive you need to.
The story here is pretty weak. The woman chases the outlaw from town to town, pretty much catching up with and shooting him each issue, the town somehow gets the brunt of the whole thing, and he escapes. Over time, we learn that they know each other, and the woman isn't simply after the bounty on his head. Their interactions are interesting in that they constantly reveal things about themselves that do not fit in the western they find themselves surrounded by. Put them in Marvel's superhero filled NYC and it would be dull. But in the wild west where magic equals witchcraft? It works pretty well.
Overall, I am interested in the characters, but would like the plot to move along. But you can read it for free online, so you might as well check it out.
September 15, 2017
Laconic, mechanically-inclined Vane Black pursues wanted sorcerer-rogue John Henry Hunter across a fantasy Wild West analogue - with unfortunate results for anyone and anything in their path. Smartly and stylishly integrated flashbacks underscore the action, unravelling the pair's shared and tangled history, and the source of their present rivalry and unnatural abilities.
This is a fantastic book! It's beautifully illustrated and sweeps you up in a wonderful tale of intrigue. I highly recommend checking it out. It combines a unique blend of steampunk, western, and magic/alchemy. Give it a try and you won't regret it!
The art is beautifully drawn and coloured and the book is printed on high quality glossy paper. It looks and feels absolutely gorgeous. I look forward to volume 2.
This is a fantastic book! It's beautifully illustrated and sweeps you up in a wonderful tale of intrigue. I highly recommend checking it out. It combines a unique blend of steampunk, western, and magic/alchemy. Give it a try and you won't regret it!
The art is beautifully drawn and coloured and the book is printed on high quality glossy paper. It looks and feels absolutely gorgeous. I look forward to volume 2.
April 11, 2020
I'm reviewing the online version. The art is gorgeous. The gun battles can be really cool. The horses look so awesome.
However, plot wise, two characters alone can't hold up the story. There are reasons writers put in internal dialogue, sidekicks and narration.
Sure, the writer may have paid homage to westerns by imitating their format. However, many westerns emphasise action over plot.
Get the issue anyway if you enjoy the action.
However, plot wise, two characters alone can't hold up the story. There are reasons writers put in internal dialogue, sidekicks and narration.
Sure, the writer may have paid homage to westerns by imitating their format. However, many westerns emphasise action over plot.
Get the issue anyway if you enjoy the action.
September 24, 2013
I've been reading this webcomic, but decided to purchase Vol. 1 to see if I could learn anything more about this terrific story. In short, the story is about an outlaw by the name of John Henry Hunter who possesses the supernatural ability of controlling fire. In fact, he himself may be a being of fire taking corporeal form. He is being chased, for reason so far unknown, by a woman by the name of Vane. She will pretty much stop at nothing to kill this guy much to the despair of anyone who gets in her way. (Or his for that matter.)
First off, the book is nicely soft-bound with 168 pages which includes the first few chapters, plus a ton of extras. These include fan art as well as additional guest stories, background on the characters and sketch art. (Also, the short story SNAKE.)
The artwork is tremendous and I think Erin Mehlos could give a class on sequential art. I love the way she sets up the page. It's interesting and adds to the story. She uses page space in ways others do not.
The only weak link is the story itself. Each chapter tends to be repetitive in that Vane closes in on Hunter, she almost kills him and he escapes. We start to see snippets of their past together giving us a sense of a possible romantic involvement, but that is not clear. It would have been nice if she took a chapter to pause for a moment so that we could learn more about Vane or John through the eyes of someone else and not just have another killing spree.
However, I do look forward to seeing more of her work and will definitely read it.
First off, the book is nicely soft-bound with 168 pages which includes the first few chapters, plus a ton of extras. These include fan art as well as additional guest stories, background on the characters and sketch art. (Also, the short story SNAKE.)
The artwork is tremendous and I think Erin Mehlos could give a class on sequential art. I love the way she sets up the page. It's interesting and adds to the story. She uses page space in ways others do not.
The only weak link is the story itself. Each chapter tends to be repetitive in that Vane closes in on Hunter, she almost kills him and he escapes. We start to see snippets of their past together giving us a sense of a possible romantic involvement, but that is not clear. It would have been nice if she took a chapter to pause for a moment so that we could learn more about Vane or John through the eyes of someone else and not just have another killing spree.
However, I do look forward to seeing more of her work and will definitely read it.
September 30, 2013
Note: I am reviewing the collected comics and not the print edition.
Next Town Over is a sorcery and steampunk infused Western featuring the pale, obsessed bounty hunter Vane chasing the flamboyant wanted outlaw Hunter. It's set up as a serial following their conflict from town to town with small glimpses of their connected past here and there. It's interesting, beautiful and imaginative, but does have some story issues.
I really wish there was more to the overarching story and/or any reason to actually like Vane at this point. Following an ineffectual bounty hunter who doesn't care about collateral damage chasing a charming scoundrel who kills at a whim isn't really engrossing stuff in the long run. There needs to be more character development to anchor the leads with the readers and some side stuff to show Vane's competence. The encounters are exciting and seem tense, but by definition the series setup of Vane constantly crossing paths with Hunter in each town means she's also constantly failing. The world is interesting, I've enjoyed the action but the story itself is far from compelling at this point.
The art is incredible. From coloring to character designs to panel layout. It's likely enough by itself to keep me reading to see if more of the comic's potential starts to get realized in the story.
Next Town Over is decent overall with phenomenal art and a story that will hopefully get deeper at some point.
Next Town Over is a sorcery and steampunk infused Western featuring the pale, obsessed bounty hunter Vane chasing the flamboyant wanted outlaw Hunter. It's set up as a serial following their conflict from town to town with small glimpses of their connected past here and there. It's interesting, beautiful and imaginative, but does have some story issues.
I really wish there was more to the overarching story and/or any reason to actually like Vane at this point. Following an ineffectual bounty hunter who doesn't care about collateral damage chasing a charming scoundrel who kills at a whim isn't really engrossing stuff in the long run. There needs to be more character development to anchor the leads with the readers and some side stuff to show Vane's competence. The encounters are exciting and seem tense, but by definition the series setup of Vane constantly crossing paths with Hunter in each town means she's also constantly failing. The world is interesting, I've enjoyed the action but the story itself is far from compelling at this point.
The art is incredible. From coloring to character designs to panel layout. It's likely enough by itself to keep me reading to see if more of the comic's potential starts to get realized in the story.
Next Town Over is decent overall with phenomenal art and a story that will hopefully get deeper at some point.
October 7, 2014
PDF - Next Town Over is a fantasy western, telling of a mechanically-inclined bounty hunter named Vane Black in pursuit of a sorcerous rogue named John Henry Hunter. And, as much as I love a good western, Next Town Over is sadly not very good. The art is okay - too Photoshoppy and a bit stiff, but not without some charm or storytelling chops. The story, alas, isn't there. The book's overall theme is of hunter and hunted, so locked into their violent pursuit of one another that they bring only carnage to each town they pass through. But with no real revelations about Black and Hunter's shared past through four chapters and no plausible reason to connect emotionally to either character, plus underwhelming supporting players fleshing out the towns that are pummeled in the main characters' wake, the series quickly becomes repetitive and and the collateral damage meaningless.
September 19, 2013
Mehlos art is gorgeous and the story at hand is fun, but I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was just put there to be knocked over by the protagonist and the antagonist's reckless and wanton destruction. I get that was part of the joke, but after the first couple of towns, it started to feel a little repetitive.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews