By Way of Trade: All Star Western

While hanging out in my LCS Comics2Games and spying the giant wall of New 52 Titles, I spied All Star Western #1 and I knew I wanted it. Nonetheless my hands were already full of too many New 52 titles and I was reluctant to break the bank any further. I passed. Here I am now staring down at a copy of All Star Western: Guns & Gotham knowing I couldn’t pass it up a second time. I read on. This is the sound of me kicking myself.

All Star Western: Guns & Gotham

All Star Western follows the exploits of the famous bounty hunter Jonah Hex as he arrives in Gotham, hired to hunt down the culprit responsible for a slew of grizzly murders. Teamed up with Dr. Amadeus Arkham (Yes THEE Amadeus Arkham founder of Arkham Asylum) they go on a manhunt to find the Gotham Butcher.

My brain has recently been conditioned to enjoy the shit out this title. I’ve fallen in love with the Oni Press‘ western occult title of The Sixth Gun, I’m an avid fan of the AMC show Hell on Wheels and I’ve just finished reading Michael Shaara’s Civil War novel on the Battle of Gettysburg entitled Killer Angels. My mind is ripe for the brutal amoral code of frontier justice that Jonah Hex is waiting to bring to the burgeoning & bustling Gotham of the 1880’s.

Gotham itself is a fascinating character in this book. Moritat puts us right into the middle of a bustling city as it embraces the industrial revolution. At every corner of this book we are given glimpses into Gotham’s future. We meet the Waynes, Wayne Manor, the bat cave, mayor Cobblepot and even a secretive elite group of social-lites that have a penchant for owls and controlling the inter-workings of a great society.

In addition to the main story with Hex and Arkham, we get back-up features introducing us to other characters that actually cross-paths with our main characters later in the series. The back-up features are hit and miss on quality. Back-up features aside, All Star Western is a great read. Shortly after reading Guns & Gotham I ran to my LCS and picked up #0–13 and added All Star Western to my pull-list. The title is fun and gives us a history on one of DC’s oldest settings, Gotham City.

Until Next Time… It’s refreshing to see DC pour in time and effort for non-superhero genre comics like All Star Western, G.I. Combat and Amethyst. Right now I’m in a major western mood. I’m consuming all kinds Civil War novels, documentaries and movies. I’ve been watching my westerns, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood and Yul Brynner. I’m fascinated by the time period. It’s amazing to me to know and understand how our ancestors behaved and why, and how out of all that, I sit here and write to you about comics on my macbook, when some 200 years ago, our ancestors were probably gambling, drinking, and/or killing one another in a whore house.