Oliver Davis reviews East of West #7…
“Death begins his great hunt, lines are drawn among the chosen, and the Ranger picks up the scent of his prey.”
ARE YOU AN AGENT OF THE END TIMES?
East of West has an interesting structure – not in narrative, but in physical format. Most issues begin with a prologue of sorts, then cut to an entirely blank page but for a single quote above the series’ emblem (which looks like an upside-down Triforce from Zelda)
It’s like quotation after the opening credits on each episode of The Wire. It foreshadows what’s to come, captures the tone of the story and places an emphasis on the moment when the words are actually spoken.
In East of West, its effectiveness wavers. In the weaker issues, they come across as pretentious. But when the story is good enough, they help focus the narrative, helpfully narrowing the often-too-large scope of the book.
Thankfully, issue seven contains the latter. Perhaps the story’s strength helps forgive East of West’s more annoying elements. The opening quotations become poignant rather than poncy, and the book’s other flaws – an over-reliance on ominous sounding definite-article-based threats (The Message, The Old Man, The Lady, Etc, Etc, Etc) and complex-in-a-confusing-way narrative – don’t seem as frustrating as normal.
This issue’s central story is in flashback, detailing the Keeper of the Message’s (yup, yet another capital letter name) background as he blends with The Beast (another), his bubbling flesh recalling the most monstrous forms in Akira’s climactic scenes.
It means that Nick Dragotta (art) and Frank Martin (colours) create their past-evoking tapestry effect again for much of the book. The visuals are stunning and fit the comic’s Western genre more than the story’s style when in the present.
The issue almost feels like a standalone narrative, independent, although still connected to, the main tale. That it is unshackled from Jonathan Hickman’s dense backstory might actually work to its advantage.
East of West can sometimes come across too pretentious and impenetrable, but this issue is really rather absorbing. A great read.
Oliver Davis is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors. You can follow him on Twitter @OliDavis.
Originally published November 8, 2013. Updated November 28, 2022.
