Saloon Chapter 2 is a comic written by Aaron Williamson with art by Cloves Rodriguez and Jose Ramirez. A bounty hunter on the trail of Jayson Bengal visits the Saloon for answers. This is a Western comic with the violence, crime, and drama you’d expect from this genre along with some investigative elements. The main man here is Ward, he is a rough and gruff bounty hunter who is on the trail of the notorious Jayson Bengal. The leading lady here is a prostitute named Julie who was with Jayson Bengal before he left town. This story begins four days after the previous issue and we see Ward visiting the titular saloon in search of answers about Jayson Bengal. The owner gives him a quick rundown of what transpired before directing him to Julie, as she was the person who spent the most time with him. This takes place in the Wild West and features bloody, lightly gruesome violence. The pacing here is steady with a Western crime thriller feel. All the intense moments here are of a violent kind. The dialogue is very country/Western with old slang, insults, and good back-and-forth. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is an intriguing and thrilling sequel issue that changes the focus to different characters with a more detective-like tone and classic Western hallmarks.
The art here is a roughish modern style that is a bit reminiscent of some older comics. The color palette is very Western which means a variety of browns and rare splashes of colors. For scenery there are dirt roads, dry stretches of land and distant rocky mountains. There are only two locations here: the titular saloon and a moving train. The saloon of course has a bar and rooms upstairs, some of which are occupied by ladies of the night. Backgrounds here usually show the actual surroundings which really adds to the ambiance and helps make it feel like a Western. The expression level here is low as these characters don’t really show how they feel and they let their words do the heavy lifting. We’ll see some angry and shocked looks but not much else. The faces have an above-average amount of detail and they show the various expressions clearly. Firearms from revolvers to shotguns are the main weapons here with some explosives also making an appearance. The violence is lightly bloody with a bit of gruesomeness and somewhat censored gore. The main action scene is lengthy with a changing perspective, a mix of large and small panels, and a film-like flow.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like Western stories that star a bounty hunter on the trail of a wanted criminal with bloody violence then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
PG-13. Violence, blood, gruesomeness, light gore.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“This man is a fugitive of the law, ma’am.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/saloon2/saloon-2/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
*
*
*
*
*
Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 21
Violent Pages: 8, for 38% 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 – 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.”
