Lead City #4 is a comic written by Eric Borden with art by Kyle Brummond. This fight for survival and riches comes to an end as the night falls. This battle royale that has seen half its contestants fall in a myriad of ways now reaches the apex as everyone is looking over their shoulder or attempting to sneak up on another. I can’t speak too much on the characters because I don’t want to spoil who is left but I can tell you that their personalities come out in these last few moments of the battle. The plot is all about posturing and positioning as the players in this sick game attempt to gain some kind of advantage and win. The action is physical, distanced, and at some points unnecessary to the point of being sadistic; regular rules and moral tend to get thrown out in a game like this. The pacing jumps form slow to quick as some of these fighters like to talk instead of getting down to business. This is full of intense moments as the tide in a battle can turn quickly and the desperation is palpable. The dialogue harkens back to old TV and radio Westerns with some language people don’t use anymore so you might have a few words to look up. No wordy pages here. This issue brings this high-stakes story with twists and turns to a satisfying end.

            This comic is drawn in a cartoonish style which gives the art more personality but not too much to make this whole thing seem goofy. The colors used here are from the dusty and dirty palette with splashes of grit. This story takes place primarily in a town made for this kind of conflict. We’ll hit up a saloon, a general store, and even the sheriff’s office. This is a very expressive issue as emotions are running wild due to desperation, fear, and the struggle to stay alive. I think this slightly cartoony look makes it much easier to tell what the characters are feeling. And the faces are rich with detail so we won’t be confused as to what they’re thinking. There are weapons aplenty though most are of the firearm or bladed variety. The action scenes consist of quite a few panels so everything is broken down well. They don’t shy away from blood at all and have no qualms about the gore.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like Westerns with high violence in a battle royale environment with formerly large diverse casts this is for you.

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

R. Blood, gore, and death all over the place.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I imagine whoever finds you will be off their feet for a minute.”

 

Purchase Link: https://www.red5comics.com/ko-titles/lead-city-4

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

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 11, for 46% 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 – 3

“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 – 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.”