Western Vengeance #1 is a comic written by James Reed with art by Fritz Casas and colors by AHG. A father and son get into a gunfight in a saloon. This is a Western comic full of action in that classic style starring people out for revenge. The main men here both have defining traits; the father likes to drink and is very direct whereas the son Zane likes to plan things out and take his time. The father is clearly Caucasian and Zane is black with an afro, so it is unclear if they are actually related. This story begins in on the saloon floor with bullets flying everywhere and the father disparaging the son for his evidently poor plan. After shooting down a chandelier these two decide to take a more defensive position behind the card table. The violence here is brutal and bloody with many gruesome moments. This is fast-paced with the tone of a Western gunfight scene. The violent intensity is high almost the whole way through with little in the way of drama. The dialogue is conversational with that Southern/country talking style familiar to the genre. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is an thrilling debut issue that shows us the capabilities of the two main characters while providing the reader with just enough plot to keep them locked in.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed modern style that might remind you of some comics from the 90’s. The color palette ranges from brown to red with purposeful lighting and what looks like heavy, stylistic saturation. While we do see a glimpse of the dusty plains outside of the saloon the majority of this story takes place inside. This saloon has a large bar, a second floor, a piano, and many tables. The backgrounds usually show the immediate surroundings like the walls and floor with the occasional gradient color. The expression level here is a bit below average as stone-faces are the common look. Anger and rage are pretty much the only emotions we’ll see. The faces have an average to good amount of detail with just about every different expression coming across clearly. Violence here is delivered primarily with firearms and actual. There are gruesome and brutal attacks that lead to blood. This comic is one long action scene with a high panel count and a smooth flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like Western stories that star a father-son duo involved in a heavy gunfight for reasons of revenge then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, gruesomeness, blood.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“You’re a better man than me son.”

 

Physical Link: https://wiseacre.us/buy-comics/ols/products/western-vengeance-p

Digital Link: https://wiseacre.us/buy-comics/ols/products/western-vengeance

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akoma/western-vengeance-22-pages-of-grit-guns-and-justice/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 23

Violent Pages: 16, for 70% 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 – 4

“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.”