East of West Volume 1: The Promise

Visionary mythical alt-historical apocalyptic sc-fi western set in 2080, and Death of the Four Horsemen stalks US fractured into seven states since the end of the Civil War, seeking revenge with two shape-shifting Indian witches while the remaining Three Horsemen are reborn for the End Of The World only to find it delayed by their missing sibling. Utterly twisted tale by Hickman and amazing art by Dragotta, there's nothing else out there quite like this.

"You come face to face with love, and before the sun sets, you've become someone you didn't used to be."

If you like some violence and epic world building with your graphic novels, this is a must read.

Yeah, I'm hooked. Loved the world building! Apocalypse cometh and the turning of the tide arrives with the Four Housemen. The story begins with the rebirth of Conquest, Famine, and War... But Death is nowhere to be found. While they were being reborn, he stayed alive for his own purposes. Now, both groups are making moves in a game that will either avert the coming End Times, or hasten them.

There were a few places I might have liked a bit more explanation (about the different nations for example) but on the whole, I ate East of West like it show more was candy. There is just something about a good prophecy that draws me in every time. And the artwork was lovely. I say that even about the death and gore parts. Good art is good art, and this art came with a crack-tastic story.

Seriously, I got shivers when reading the splash page that read "She lasted longer than you will."

I want to read the next one NOW, damnit. I believe that the story has come out in single form, but I'm going to wait for Vol 2. Or try to, at least. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts.

ARC courtesy of Diamond Book Distributors, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

The joys of subjectivity are a wonderful thing and hoo boy are they alive and well in the reviews here. It seems like it's remarkably more popular marmite that folx love to pieces or hate with a passion. Almost always in these situations hyperbole wins the day...anyways, if it's not your cup of tea I totally get it and I have made attempts to find articles and videos critiquing the comic around its portrayal of alternative history, 'race', and culture, particularly from a Native American and Chinese perspective, but so far haven't been able to find anything. If anyone has any thoughts or recommendations on that I would greatly appreciate them. I'm a saltine sister and with my limited rasing comprehension for those issues, I didn't see show more anything wildly glaring. But I'm always open to learning and my brain was melting from the ADHD med shortages while reading it and writing this.

With all that said, I loved it. Not, I would give your first born to endure Saga continues and stays as good as it is -- I just consumed 10 volumes in a few days and my autistic hyperfixation is still wild. But I think it's great. More of a first time I read The Gunslinger kind of love (not the most recent re-read when I became viscerally aware of just how much misogyny there was). It was this hyperfocus that actually led me to East of West as something to read it you like Saga. Thankfully, I picked up an Image Comics Humble Bundle years ago that I totally forgot about, so I'm strapped and ready to go!

I knew absolutely nothing going in, beyond it being from Image and a vague Weird West vibe. I won't go into to too much detail on the setting as you can find better explanations and deep dives all over the place. Essentially, we're in an alternative future where the American Civil war had additional participants and a magical? Celestial? MacGuffin from the sky kicked everyone's arse, so they called it a seven-way tie and the USA is now that White Stripes song that you can't get out of your head. There's a doomsday prophecy tied to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Horsepeople as they may have different bodies and pronouns on different cycles) [I hate how writing pronouns automatically sounds wildly right wing. I'm a Sidhe/ Her/ Fey/ They, etc. for the record], that involved the leaders of the nations, but Death had a wife and now has a grudge against their siblings and their underlings. And that's about as succinct as I can do.

It's weird neo West with both cool and horrifying sci-fi elements that has the bones of a Western with lots of other interesting stuff like vaguely biblical prophecies and political intrigue sprinkled in. Imagine if the world of the Gunslinger never moved on and everyone was larping the Old West in the future. Oh, and Death's horse is a weird metal one with a big bulb/ laser for a head that kind looks like a spider when it sits down.

The story is classic Death on an epic revenge quest with political, biblical Doomsday conspiracy, and the other cow pokes of the end times coming for Death. It's fun, well-written, very aware and playing into and with tropes (or just a janky, tropey mess if you don't like it), and all around ridiculous (complimentary).

This really is a case of suck it and see, your mileage may vary, and you absolutely should not take the word of lovers (like myself) or haters because this comic really seems to polarise people.

Personally, I think it's great. I can't wait to get into more and it provides a very different tone and aesthetic to Monstress, which I'm also reading at the moment and is also brilliant (don't trust me though). I am loose as a goose with ko ADHD meds and reading an issue or so of East of West this morning did send me into a Four Horseman and Revelation wiki hole that ended with me listening to a recording of the Book of Revelation, so maybe take that as a warning and everything I say under advisement. show less

I get a bit sick of invulnerable men in white suits in comics. (I'm looking at you Planetary). This fantasy looks like a bit of a mashup of Post-apocalyptic cowboy science-fiction. There's a future history of America with seven stereotypical nations representing racial groups. There's some monstrous riders of the apocalypse running around. And there's Death, the aforementioned white-suited guy, who has gone AWOL from his apocayptic brethren and is looking for some revenge for...something.

I re-read this series in 2021, up to Volume 9. It made a lot more sense. I understood some of the connections between characters which I'd missed before. The story is well-plotted out from the very first issue. There are flashbacks and flash-forwards. show more But like a multi-season TV-show it is not very forgiving to the reader who jumps in late, or who reads this series infrequently. show less

I made the mistake of reading vol. 2 first. Now that I have read vol. 1 I have a much more positive view of this title. The art is good and it has that future-western feel. I like that it riffs on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. If they were real, I am sure that some people would revere them and try to help out. However, I think that the opposite would also occur and a church dedicated to preventing the apocalypse would be pretty popular. In this world, it seems like you are either in on the end-of-the-world plan, or cannon fodder.

This was the third venture into my BBC. (Bossy Book Challenge). Of the three this was my least favorite. I am not saying I didn't enjoy this, but I ask, is this a story one is supposed to "enjoy" or one to make us "think"? I feel its the latter. I thought about this in the middle of my yoga class, the visuals are not conducive to calming yoga practice. But I could not help thinking about it. I enjoyed alternative history aspect a lot. I enjoyed the Old West meets Technology. It was a perfect blend. It is a violent book. The images of gore and senseless violence made me feel uncomfortable. I hope anyone would be uncomfortable. In that aspect we begin to touch upon reality. I thought the artwork was excellent. I don't want to give the show more story away, but the 4 Horseman bit is....not where I thought we were going to go. I am not saying its a bad thing. Trust me, I like a good Apocalypse.I am left intrigued. I may search out the second, just to see what happens in the story. For me this is about the story, not about becoming attached to any characters. I am not sure if there are any characters to be attached to for that matter. This might be a book to read when we have 22 hours of daylight and not 3.5. show less

I enjoyed book very much. It doesn't give itself away quickly. As you read it it starts revealing itself which is where the fun is. The ending is satisfying and smart. If you want to stop here you can but if you want to read the next volumes you can. It doesn't feel like you'll be punished for reading more than what you want to read.