The Wicked West Volume 1

The Wicked West #1

by Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes (Illustrator)

The year is 1870, the place is the Texas frontier town of Javer's Tanks. Cotton Coleridge is a man running from his past. And being new in town, he's the one the locals blame when folks start dyin' mysteriously. By the time the truth gets out, half the town has died...and come back. Cotton's quick with a gun, but guns don't work on vampires!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Weird West, Westerns, Vampires

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2004

Reviews

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some clever juxtaposition with switching between a black-and-white vampire movie, and the events that inspired it. The story itself was nothing remarkable but not half bad either: the characters were thin and the art never really worked for me, but it all flowed well and was exciting enough to read.

[Marko Kivimäe · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Weird west” tüüpi koomiks, kus on kokku segatud western ning ulme, antud juhul vampiirid. Lugu ise on selline tavaline, kus väiksesse kolkalinna tulnud kodanik peab silmis pistma sisekonfliktidega, siis ühel hetkel tulevad mängu vampiirid. Mis muudab selle koomiksi sutsu erilisemaks on ülesehitus - siin on kolm lugu, rada paralleelselt. Üks on aastas 1930, kus vanaisa viib lapselapse kinno. Kinolinal hakkab jooksma mustvalge film, mis põhineb vanaisa elul. Ehk siis üks liin on kinos, teine mustvalgena kinolinal ning kolmas värvilisena vanaisa peas.

Lõpus on mitmete kunstnike nägemus samast koomiksist, seda oli päris huvitav vaadata.

Eks ta kokkuvõttes selline “meh” oli. Pool tunnikest sirvimist, väga ei kahetse, viskan enda vaikselt kasvavasse koomiksihunnikusse. Aga ilmselt mingi aja pärast, kui neid “mehhe” piisavalt on kogunenud, siis torkan korraga väikse raha eest müüki. Vaevalt, et teist korda enam viitsin sirvida sest olgugi, et lahedalt joonistatud siis sisu polnud põhimõtteliselt ollagi. Aga taas - mulle sellised koomiksisutsakad vahete-vahel meeldivad.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy horror comics by writers Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell with artist Neil Vokes. The ven diagram of my horror interests overlaps with their work in a big way. It's usually some kind of classic monster with a cool twist: In this case, vampires in the Old West.

They intercut the vampire story with a tale from the 1930s where an old man takes a young boy (his grandson, probably? I forget) to see a movie that appears to be based on the Western affair. So there are three stories unfolding at once: the historical event, the movie version, and the grandpa and grandson's reactions to the movie. Even suspecting how they connect, I didn't correctly guess all the details and it's not really about that anyway. There's a human story at the center of it all and I quite liked the main characters and seeing how they dealt with monsters and storytelling about those monsters.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard wild west meets vampire story. A bit confusing in the execution, but the attempt was well done. The "based on a true story" commentary on movies was a nice touch. What does a person who has been through an event think of seeing that story translated to the big screen? In this case, an elderly man (who has a great rapport with his grandson) watches a movie based on the story of a man coming to a town in the old west and having to rid it of vampires, that was in turn based on a story he wrote based on his own experiences with a man who came to a town and had to rid it of vampires. The story and movie are combined in the telling, which was the confusing part. I'd pick up volume 2 because, just like the elderly man, I want to know what happened to the mysterious stranger.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this comic in the second-hand section of the comicbook store and just bought it because it was cheap and I like westerns. It turned out to be a very cool story, even though it had vampires.
It was the story of an old man taking his grandson to the cinema to see a western. This western had a Giuliano Gemma-type hero, who became the new sheriff and got the beautiful girl, who then turned into a vampire.
But parallel to that Hollywood-story there was the real story how the old man remembered it from his childhood, where the ex-gunslinger Coleridge takes the job of the new teacher and the townspeople blame him for the murders.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun retelling of Dracula with a Western flavor. Cowboys and Nosferatu. If you like vampires, and you like Westerns, then this is the GN for you.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars -- I really enjoyed the creative way in which the story was structured.

[PennsyLady (Bev)]

1870
vampires meet the old west