Written by Rob Williams
Art by Dom Reardon, Mike Dowling, Antonio Fuso and Peter Doherty.
Published in the US by 2000AD
Release date – 25th February 2015
His name is Ichabod and he was a killer. But his death was only the beginning of his story! From writer Rob Williams (The Royals: Masters of War) and artist Dom Reardon (The Ten Seconders), comes a tale of vengeance and redemption that will shake the very gates of the afterlife itself. Ichabod Azrael was the deadliest, meanest outlaw the Old West ever spat out, but his murder at the hands of hired guns takes him on a journey through the underworld as he desperately tries to return to the land of the living, and his true love Zoe, haunted by the dead he left in his wake!
The narration hits like a hammer and the dialogue is good enough to have been lifted directly from an episode of Deadwood. Although the art team changes there remains a consistent style throughout. Issue 1 contains the art of Dom Reardon (Caballistics) and colours by Peter Doherty (Shaolin Cowboy), with a cover from Simon Davis (Sláine the Barbarian) with a variant by Lee Garbett (Loki: Agent of Asgard).
The other artists on the series are Mike Dowling (Death Sentence) and Fuso (The Girl Who Played With Fire), with letters by Annie Parkhouse.
Solidly in a Charlie Adlard/Sean Phillips camp, all the artists on this series evoke a strong sense of mood and setting. It has a rough Wild West edge that reminds me of a fantastical version of Brian Azarello and Marcelo Fruisin’s Loveless that came out of Vertigo Comics in 2006. Much of the art sits in the similar shadows of a blazing sun, often minimalistic but bleak and emotive joined. Bullets are symbolic throughout the book, killing and banishing as they blast through the air.
In an interesting stylistic choice you soon notice that some pages are fully coloured, some make use of a single colour here and there and many are in black and white. It would spoil a surprise by saying why this is done but you’ll have it figured out by the end of the issue.
Antony Esmond is a comic reviewer and writer – his hips don’t lie.
Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, Comic Previews, downthetubes Comics News, US Comics