Black Coffins #1 is a comic created by Marcel Dupree, Joshua Metzger, Carola Borelli, and Agnese Pozza. This is a Western tale about evil men, the supernatural, and revenge. The star of this comic is a woman named Bella Rose Smith who goes through a tragedy when she is attacked and her children are killed. This comic then goes to the past where it shows us her life before this terrible event. We have bandit gangs, soldiers, Pinkertons, and lazy law enforcement. A varied cast. There is a lot of back-and-forth between the past and the present so you will need to pay attention. The juxtaposition of these two time frames adds depth to this story and it eliminates some of the questions one might have about what led up to these events. There is some violence here and there but this isn’t an action packed issue. The dialogue is full of Western jargon and words are spelled perfectly so that they sound as country as they should. A few pages get word heavy but those are mostly for backstories and they are interesting enough that you won’t get bored. This is a great start to a Western tale that offers many different perspectives and motivations.

            The artist did a great job of creating lively locations. We see towns full of buildings and random people. We see the sprawling desert and can feel the dryness. The areas are more than just background for the scenes. These characters are very expressive and look so alive. From the smirks to the sly smiles to disgusted glances, they hardly hold the same look from panel-to-panel. Great expressions normally mean detailed faces and that is the case here. We can see the lack of sleep, dirt, wrinkles; all this can be gathered from a look. Quite a few uncovered heads for a Western, but we see many different hairstyles. Even dreadlocks! Most of the outfits are standard fare for a Western but we do see a purple suit and I personally am a fan of Bella’s outfit. The action scenes are short and swift so getting confused isn’t an option.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like Westerns starring women who get done wrong and are now out on a quest for revenge this is what you’ve been looking for.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Pregnant? What’d you go and do that for?”

 

Digital Link: https://nosleeppress.gumroad.com/l/yfpvde

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/216615175/black-coffins-1/description

Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/black-coffins-1/x/26236710#/

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26

Violent Pages: 5, for 19% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 2

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 3

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”