![]() ![]() ![]() This is hardly Mr Ayer’s problem in respect of his duties as artist. This title has no dirt and dust, and monochrome does not portray the western setting well. But Westerns are inevitably brown, tan, and an ombre between the two. Ordinarily, we like black and white art very much. Our only complaint in respect of the art is that the lack of colors and the minimalism does a disservice to the Western genre. But Mr Ayers’ panels are always effective at conveying the story. Monochrome art can become muddled and confusing especially in action scenes. Artist Justin Ayers does a great job of rendering the characters and portraying the action, using only black and white art with crisp thick outlines. Barring this complaint, Weird Western Adventures is still a well-written comic with snappy dialogue. Hopefully, this book has already established both protagonists’ backstories and the next instalments can finally explore the two genres in equal measures. Bialah’s story is firmly sci-fi, while James’ story is decidedly more western. It does not evenly blend the sci-fi and western genres. The second complaint is that while we enjoyed writer Greg Boucher’s writing in Weird Western Adventures, in this first issue the story has not yet found its footing. And James wants the old man to live the rest of his life being paranoid, wary that James might come back to finally finish the job. ![]() James leaves Gaines with the knowledge that he has not forgiven, nor forgotten. Having found Gaines (who is now an elderly man and no longer able to fight), James chooses to spare him – but with a catch. This is James’ story, and it is one that only seems to reference Bialah’s. There is implication that the mysterious woman trying to recruit James is Bialah’s latest identity.īut that detail does not detract from the main narrative. A lot of details are vague, and it is up to the reader to read between the lines. This part of the story exemplifies the first. James’ backstory is tragic – his family was gunned down by a man called “Sargeant Gaines.” The comic does not make it specifically clear why this occurred, although it does provide all the necessary hints to indicate that Gaines and his gang are villains. The latter half of the comic revolves around the second protagonist, James, who is originally named Juan Cortez but has had to change his name. She chooses her next identity carefully: a male army medic. But Bialah is not a fool, and learns from this mistake. ![]() This allows both her and the captor to go their separate ways without anyone getting harmed. Instead of using her superior alien weaponry to kill a would-be executioner, she uses it to threaten and force the man to report her as having been summarily executed. We get a little bit of insight into Bialah’s character at that point. Her first identity is that of a young native American woman – who so happens to come across a group of soldiers led by General Custer. She doesn’t start out successfully, though. While successful in her escape, her ship is damaged and she finds herself stranded in a primitive, yet hostile planet: Earth.įrom hereon, the story picks up speed as Bialah takes on various disguises in order to fit in with the locals. The problem is that she has lost consciousness as a result of her injuries, and without giving instructions to her ship as to where their destination should be. She is aided by her ship’s AI, Stella, and narrowly escapes her attackers. It initially follows an extra-terrestrial named Bialah, who is wounded and trying to escape from unseen assailants. The comic starts slow, with sparse dialogue. It is a fun melange and one that seems to be increasingly explored by independent publishers (most memorably for us, Jack Irons). The words “weird western” in the title alludes to a specific sub-genre, where the elements of sci-fi are mixed in what is otherwise a western comic book. Weird Western Adventures: Bea and James is an independently-published comic book from writer Greg Boucher, with illustration done by Justin Ayers. ![]()
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