The thing I like about comics is: a good story; a sense that when you finished a book you can go back and say: damn this is a good story. Now a day that's a rare thing. Especially now that our beloved characters from the big two are being overshadow by the cataclysmic promise of gimmicky, events. Everything is too centric in continuity, you have to buy the big event to get the gist of the story and once you do, you will only get disappointed because the story is a major let down, like a nerd failing to have sex with a hot girl. I'm tired of big events just give me a good story to entertain my delusional brain. Thankfully Deadlands might be the answer.
Deadlands: Death Was Silent is another one shot, based on the RPG game of the same name. The cool thing about this series is that every story is self-contain. Sure they used different characters because Deadlands has a big universe to pick from and every tale is set to show a different part of this fantasy world, set in the Wild West. These one shots are fun and different delivering the right dose of awesome every step of the way. Ron Marz and Bart Sears did a fantastic job on this one; at times Bart was channeling Eisner and old EC comics in his drawings. Marz delivers an action pack story that leaves you wanting more. The story is simple but interesting. A nice cross between Unforgiven and the Invasion of the Body snatchers. The story is well crafted; the creative team delivers the goods and is great example of master storytellers at work. But that's enough ass kissing. The story works for new readers and anybody who's not familiar with the Deadland's universe.
This book is about a mute bounty hunter that communicates thanks to a magic board that writes what he wants to say. The bounty hunter has one mission and that is to kill everybody in this town. Why? Because they are pod people, plant like creatures that want to replace human beings. The bounty hunter then does his job thanks to the help from his zombie sidekick and the heroes survived to kill another day.
The book also has a side story about Billy the kid but that one is not as interesting as the main story in fact you can skip that short all together.
Is a shame this book is not a monthly because the work is excellent. The backup story is what really stops this book from being a perfect score. Another bad thing about this one-shot is that the editors or the creative team has miss the chance to add some goodies in to the book, like some more back story, bios, pinups, or whatever supplement they could add to enrich the series.
The book is not perfect but it does deliver something that the major companies have been missing for quite a while and that's great visual story telling. Fuck the big two and their gimmicky approach to keep their characters fresh, go buy a book that delivers good, fun, entertainment without the need of events, re-launches or remaking some characters. Want to get something good this week, pick this book up.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Bart Sears
Publisher: Image Comics