Customer Reviews

Dead West

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book was absolutely genius in so many ways...my favorite being: Rob G...as usual, he has pulled off the stunning artwork that brings this book together. Pen and ink is a terribly difficult medium to work with, and he makes it look like a walk in the park- It has effortless grace (yes, even in the zombies) and lends a herd-of-zebras chaos to the whole scheme.
Hands down, one of my favorite Graphic novels of the era.

It's always a treat when something from a small publisher just jumps out and grabs you and doesn't let go. Dead West from Gigantic Graphic Novels is just such a book. A blending of spaghetti western and zombie films...Clint Eastwood meets George Romero.
Produced by Rick Spears & Rob Goodridge, Dead West takes these two unique film genres and blends them together for one horrific ride.

The story opens as a group of Native American Indians warmly welcomes the white man into their small village, only to have the white men lay claim to the lands. The men return as raiders, killing all of the Indians except for the young son of the tribe's chief who escapes. Move forward a number of years to the town of Lazarus on the very land stolen from the Native Americans. That lone survivor of the raid, now a man, performs a ghoulish ritual atop the Lazarus cemetery, taking his own life and letting his blood spill over the graves. Soon the dead claw their way out of the ground, and shuffle forth towards the town, led by the same Indian Shaman, now returned to life himself, to avenge his tribe.

The residents of Lazarus now find themselves under attack by the undead zombies, and returning to life when they die themselves to attack their former friends and neighbors. The survivors take refuge where they can and try to fight off the living dead as a mysterious man, looking remarkably like Clint Eastwood from one of his spaghetti westerns, comes to town in search of a man with a price on his head, and finds himself caught up in this hellish struggle with the dead.

I am always a sucker for a good zombie story and Dead West certainly was that. The black & white art, while not remarkable, was very reminiscent of the kind of art in the old Warren horror magazines like Creepy or Eerie back in the day. In fact the art somewhat reminded me of Pat Boyette's work on those same magazines from the 60's and 70's. I also like the fact that dialog was kept to a minimum as Spears and Goodridge let the visuals tell the story. There's nothing worse than a story that gets too "talky", especially a horror story. They have a very good handle on the zombie concept and a good flair for the dramatic as well. A very well done story and I look forward to seeing more from this pair.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This simply-drawn graphic novel achieves everything it sets out to do. It tells a frightening and exciting story with a classic western anti-hero combined with the classic elements of the zombie-horror story. It is a perfect combination which leads you to wonder "Why have we never seen this before?"

I have read a lot of graphic novels, am a big fan of Spaghetti Westerns, and Zombie flicks. I'm also a huge fan of the RPG "Deadlands." This books has certain similarities to the world of "Deadlands" but is no where near as detailed and creative. Even the bulls head logo bears a striking similarity to Deadlands. The story is simple, the characters stereotypical, and the plot underwhelming.

I feel like the tone is also trying to strike that of the popular "Preacher" comics. But the humor and bravado are no where near as textured. It just falls flat.

The graphics themselves are ok, a little messy at times, but nothing spectacular.

I will say however, that the quality of he book itself is top of the line. Nice matte paper and good binding.

I feel like this is the start of something really good, but it's just not there yet, and probably not worth more than 10 bucks, tops. It's a quick 1 hour read.

really coo.l VERY WELL DONE, in terms of art and story. very creative and original idea. a tribe of indians-killed by whites, then years later return as zombies to get revenge against a small western town. the tribe is brought back by a ritual preformed by the son of the chief the only surviving indian, who is now grown, and features a clint eastwood type guy (man with no name) who is a bounty hunter, and some really cool artwork . it is in b/w, but is amazing! I have a million zombie comics and this ones definitely one to check out!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Spoilers below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Dead West is a comic that blends together two great genres: Zombie Horror and Westerns. The results are surprisingly great. The plot is is typical of Westerns. An Indian tribe is whipped out by a group of settlers who claim their land, with one of the survivors vowing revenge. From here, the story takes a different twist. The revenge comes in the form of a ritual to bring back the dead, who then seek retribution on the settlers who have built up a town on the stolen land.

The graphics are quite good, and the black and white color serves the story quite well. The dialog is minimal, in keeping with elements of the Western genre. This further serves to keep the action and suspense as the focus.

Overall, a really great comic, and truly a classic. Highly recommended if you enjoy Westerns and Zombie films, comics, and books.

We have a pretty straight forward tale of supernatural intervention here. A Native American, the last survivor of his village, which was annihilated by a group of white men who have come to take the land, comes to the town of Lazarus to extract some revenge. He kills himself while doing magic in the local graveyard, bringing all the dead, including himself, back to life.
We are introduced to a mysterious stranger who has come to town chasing down a bandito. Instead, he ends up facing off against a town full of zombies and just a few remaining living souls, including the bandito he was looking for.
A pretty simple story that took me twenty minutes or so to complete. The drawing is raw (which is not to say bad) and the entire story is extremely straight forward. I have started to look at enough zombie graphic novels to peg this one as just another one that does not stand out for any reasons. It felt as if the author chose to use a template of the old west and a template of a zombie invasion, lay them on top of each other, and poof! There's your story. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't at all fascinating in anyway...there was nothing that made it at all compelling.