East of West

oooh i'm definitely intrigued now

has potential to be great

Had to go buy the second volume immediately. Story is unfolding at a nice pace. The illustrations are BEAUTIFUL.

I got really confused and felt like I wasn't picking up on parts of the plot that I should have been. Probably my own fault. I actually looked a few things up online, no spoilers, and it helped me figure out what was going on and appreciate it more. Illustrations are still beautiful and the story is so unique and fun.

will pick up the next volume soon!

So weird, on so many levels. But so interesting. Great art too. So far has focused mainly on story, and not excessive battle scenes, which is nice.

In East of West, Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta find a way to mix a few science fiction themes with a major typical fantasy plot - the beast of the apocalypse - in a very interesting way. This first volume is a presentation of the characters, their general background and drive and where they stand in this weirdly time displaced, wonderfully confused, alternate history Earth. The reader follows Death who is against his three apocalyptic siblings (here incarnated as children) and his quest for a human woman he seems to love. "I love you to death" gets a whole new meaning and scope in East of West, as a few characters get to murder entire armies or determine the results of a promotion by killing off the unwanted "candidates". This is exactly what I enjoy in introductory volumes: a story that piques my curiosity without revealing itself too much, characters I really want to get to know, and a world intriguing enough (both technologically and politically) that I can hardly wait to see it further explored. I got to read this first volume from NetGalley, but I liked it so much that I bought the paperback and will order the next ones This is Hickman at his usual best and Dragotta making me a fan, while their characters live between apocalypse and armageddon. Originally published on my blog in PT and EN.

3.5 ~ Second time read. There was a lot of character background and world building in this volume. While some of it, like Conquest’s connect to the message and her reliance on “The Chosen”, make sense plot wise, other things, like the plea for help from The Kingdom because of the turmoil in The Republic, seemed like a reach to be relatable and to turn the conversation around and point a finger elsewhere. The Beast, for we have no other name for him yet, has turned the plot around unexpectedly. When I first read this, I suspected a lot of it went over my head. (view spoiler)[ The Beast pretending to be a mindless robot but instead, being fully sentient and using his knowledge to learn about the events happening outside his prison, shows a lot about his parents and the biology that helps him from turning into an empty monster. Something that other creatures would succumb to because of similar isolation. (hide spoiler)] The psychology mixed with the lore makes this series utterly unique to its genre.

Second Read-through... East of West is a creative reimagining of the coming of the apocalypse. I think that the separation of Death from his brother and sisters is really unique. The feelings that he has also makes the horsemen more complicated because it creates a fine line between them as sentient beings and tolls of a godly prophecy. I think that Hickman could have introduced the conflict ant characters a little slower, perhaps over two volumes. The amount of characters and territories was a little overwhelming for a first volume and graphic novel. Other than that, the story is very captivating. The twists in the first volume creat a good direction for the story to go towards. The concept of the beast of the apocalypse was new to me. (I don’t know if it’s standard to horseman lore.) (view spoiler)[ The fact that it is, possibly, Death’s own son, adds depth to the conflict. Xiaolian’s reluctance to go back to Death is really hard hitting and is going to make a good romance plot line. Perhaps enemies to lovers or second chance romance. (hide spoiler)]

** spoiler alert ** This one hurt. The beginning was particularity insightful. The leaders’ meeting added a lot of background to what regions get along and why. But there was also some confusion, probably intentionally, regarding the monsters that inhabit Ezra and Bel Solomon. Ezra’s was briefly explained by the President and the Horsemen, but it doesn’t elaborate on how his transformation makes him more useful to The Chosen and their message. On the other end of this story, we are seeing Death’s son, now name Babylon, escaping his prison and the Horsemen. Babylon wears vision guards like the prophet from the Endless Nation. These vision guards skew his sight from seeing the world authentically. He ends the volume in what looks like a hell-scape when in reality it is a sunflower field. I wonder if someone from the Endless Nation is controlling his vision and learning through Balloon (The Artificial Intelligence system that he is connected to). The Endless Nation seems to be the only region with the technology that Babylon is imprisoned by, so it would make sense for them to manipulate Babylon’s learning to get an outcome that would benefit their nation and their allies (The PRA - His Mother, etc.)

This is my first Johnathon Hickman book and I can see why people love the way he builds his worlds. It is perhaps what drives his storytelling. Despite this, the book is complicated especially stand alone. I’ve always been conflicted with how comics should be read whether in issues, volumes, omnibuses, etc.. Though not all comics struggle with this, this book in particular seems like one that reads better with everything at once. I say this because like the Dune movie, the story has clearly only begun.

There is something I didn't like about this book. I can't quite put my finger on what but it may have to do with the fact that you aren't really given a lot of backstory. I'm hoping the next volume does, but I'm still not 100% sure if I'm going to continue. The basic premise is pretty great--3 of the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse are ready to go but Death is holding them up. The dystopian world is amazing--think civil war era + lots of cowboys but in the future. I love the art and the dialogue.