Lead City #3 is a comic written by Eric Borden with art by Kyle Brummond. In this Wild West battle royale the competition is getting heated as violence is increasing and lives are in jeopardy. The first issue gave us an intro, the second issue gave us a glimpse, but this third installment is full of terror and the unknown. I won’t tell you who the characters are here due to some not being present by way of death; but the ones we see are full of personality and backstories you’ll wish were more explored. The plot is standard for the genre with people being snuck up on, corners being unsafe, and unexpected appearances. The action here is more than just gunshots and the occasional stabbing; we go full Tarantino here. Up until this point this could’ve been an episode of the Rifleman or The Big Valley, but not anymore. The intensity is high as these people are fighting for the far-off goal of making money; but are really fighting for their lives. The dialogue is straight out of a Western with words that are so olden you might not understand. Things also get poetic and existential out of nowhere. No wordy pages here. This issue ramps everything up and will have you on the edge of your seat and thirsty for the next one.

            This comic is colored using a blend of the Western and gloom palettes with an overall brownness. The style is a bit cartoony with enough realism for the violence to stick in your mind. The location of this comic is an abandoned town only used for violence like this. This is a very well-expressed comic with emotions on sleeves as these characters have their backs against the wall. The faces are drawn with the little details focused on so they seem more alive which makes the fear more palpable. Three of the male characters have a similar face so I had to go back to issue one’s character introductions to be 100% sure of who I was looking at. The bodies show injuries in a way that won’t leave your thoughts anytime soon. The equipment is mostly firearms and knives with a couple of other tools making an appearance. The action scenes flow well and you shouldn’t get lost for the most part. But it gets very gruesome here. Body parts come off when they shouldn’t, wounds are opened up, and insides end up outside. This can get rough to look at.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like Westerns with a large cast and a propensity for gore with a battle royale plot and strong personalities this is for you.

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

R. Gore galore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Came here to pay it all off. Ended up paying it all in.”

 

Purchase Link: https://www.red5comics.com/ko-titles/lead-city-3

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ericborden/lead-city-3-and-4/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 16, for 66% 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 – 4

“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 – 5

“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 – 2

“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.”