The Hunters #1 is a comic written by Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Chad Hardin and colors by Alex Sinclair. An ex-bounty hunter and his sharpshooter wife are headed to San Francisco when they find themselves involved in a dangerous situation. This is a Western story with plenty of gunfighting that stars a couple with a strong urge to assist. The main man is Allister Hunter, a former bounty hunter who is attempting to start a new life and leave those days behind him. With him is his wife Katie, a former circus sharpshooter with strong sense of justice. There are quite a few other interesting and sinister characters they’ll meet. The story begins with these lovers riding into town and becoming abreast of what might be going on. Old acquaintances, a controlling religion and hopeful settlers are just some of what you’ll find in this tale.  There is a bit of that Western grit here. There are themes of justice and revenge which are very common in this genre. The action here is bloody and gruesome with plenty of gunfire. The pacing is slower than average as these kind of stories like to build the tension and drama. The tone is casual at first before a sequence of intense moments brings an air of seriousness. The dialogue has old sayings and words that fit the time period and there are quite a few word-heavy pages, but most of it is conversational. This is a comic that blends a good story with exciting violence and two strong leads.

            The art here is reminiscent of older style comics but cleaner and sharper. There aren’t many bright standout colors and a lot of this story takes place at night so there are many dark tones. This takes place primarily in towns but we do get glimpses of mountainous plains sometimes covered in snow and wooded areas. The various locations are classic Western spots like a bar with a hotel, a barn, and cabins. These places linger in the background of the smaller panels so the scenes have some extra weight. The expression level here is average with a lot of these characters being people who don’t show too much emotion. Most of the looks are from the anger and shock families. The faces are very detailed to the point where some of them look pieced together. The different styles of the hair both on the head and face are varied and help differentiate. The violence here is mostly done with firearms and gets gory, bloody, and gruesome. The actions have great flow and are spread out.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like Westerns starring a gun toting couple that deal with bounty hunters and religion and desperate settlers than this is for you.

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

R. Violence, blood, gore, nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I get it. Good thing for you we don’t feel the same.”

 

Physical Link: https://www.paperfilms.com/store-2/the-hunters-one-shot-bill-sienkiewicz-cover-unsigned/

Digital Link: https://www.paperfilms.com/store-2/the-hunters-one-shot-digital-download/

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creatorownedheroes/the-hunters-2/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32

Violent Pages: 13, for 41% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 2, for 6% 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 – 4

“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.”