Lead City #1 is a comic written by Eric Borden with art by Kyle Brummond. With all his plans going awry one man decides to risk it all for a second chance. This is a Western tale about folks traveling out west and things don’t go the way they thought they would; setbacks out of their control turn the whole situation on its head. This story stars the Cooper family which consists of three people: Colman, the father with a military past and bad luck, his wife, and his son Isaiah. There are some other people we’ll meet that are real characters. The plot follows them as they leave Missouri and head out west. Like quite a few trail stories both real and fictional, things aren’t too peachy. This comic is practically devoid of any action; as this issue is talk heavy with introductions and setups. There is an intense atmosphere as we feel the weight of Colman’s decisions for his family’s survival. If you’ve ever seen a western show, movie, or heard one on the radio you can imagine how these characters sound. Some of the words are spelled just right to evoke that country sound. The dialogue is pretty clear with a few big words thrown in for pizzazz. There are a couple pages that teeter on the edge of wordy but it does a good job overall. This comic sets a great foundation for a story about people fighting for what they need, or in some cases, want. At the end of the story proper there are a few pages diving head first into the backstories of some of the more significant characters.

            This is a stylized slightly cartoony looking comic with great detail in the environments and a low selection of colors. The color choice fits the time and the story as we have people traveling in a gloomy time. This is western tale that takes place in the countryside and in a town so we see a saloon, a general store, and we even visit the doc. This comic isn’t the most expressive but that’s due to the large number of characters we see that are hardened and rough with no time for smiles. This doesn’t take away from the extremely well drawn faces with variation all the way down to the ear shape, facial marks, bad hair, and teeth. Almost every genre of Wild West outfit is here; form the military man to the smooth talker to the cowboy.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like Westerns and stories with low odds of success and a strong cast of characters with backstory this is for you.

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

PG. Mostly talking.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Anyone but me comes near you pull that hammer back and let it fly.”

 

Purchase Link: https://www.red5comics.com/ko-titles/lead-city-1

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ericborden/lead-city-1/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 1, for 4% 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 – 2

“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 – 1

“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.”