Oliver Davis reviews East of West #13…
“‘BUSILLIS’ Our first good look inside the Lair. The Son of Death and Xiaolain makes his move. The beast roams free in EAST OF WEST #13.”
Last month’s issue was a frustrating read. Not only was it too wordy and static, and lacked the book’s most interesting characters, it also left the exciting conclusion of #11 hanging. There, a sniper had just shot Wolf’s powerful father – an exciting cliff hanger. But it sometimes feels as though East of West is ‘anti-momentum.’ The following installment, issue 12, took place entirely in one room, sat around a table.
Issue 13 opens where 11 closed, on Wolf’s father’s head exploding from a far-traveled bullet, gloriously detailed on a full page spread. The gunman is revealed to be miles away through several zooming panels: past that tree, over those hills, across that lake and hidden in that bush. The pacing is wonderful and effectively communicates how impressive the shooter is. “THERE’S PROBABLY BEEN ONLY THREE OR FOUR PEOPLE I’VE KNOWN WHO COULD HIT A MARK LIKE THAT…” he proudly reflects to his pet robot dog/rifle Red, his cockiness seemingly well-founded. The sudden bullet to his right shoulder suggests he should revise his estimation. Death just clocked him from the same distance, wild eyed and pointing a single handgun.
Death and the sniper’s conflict makes up the bulk of this issue. They meet each other halfway to fight their disagreements out, while Crow and Wolf are left to seal the portal to another dimension (a bewildering and seemingly inconsequential subplot). Their verbal and physical exchanges are thrilling. Death speaks in one line threats, while the sniper dances around his points for a paragraph or two until he eventually makes them (a trait at which Jonathan Hickman is particularly adept at writing). The contrast is effective, and the fostered tension makes for a genuinely enthralling read.
Oddly though, for a character who has been treated and written so well, Death takes a considerable misstep in this issue: he explains himself. The sniper accuses him of being in league with The Chosen, so Death whines: “THEY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME…MADE ME THINK MY WIFE WAS DEAD, AND THEY STOLE MY SON!” This is the personification of the afterlife, yet here he’s moaning to a man he’s just met and owes nothing to. Emotional outbursts like this should be kept for those much closer to him, and even then they would need to be bled from a stone. Death is positioned as The Man With No Name in this pseudo sci-fi Western. The only emotion he should be letting show is rage.
Issue 13 is much better than last month’s. The action is more visceral and the dialogue reads incredibly well. Most importantly, the use of the definitive article is limited to the very last line. “THE ENDLESS NATION IS HEADED TO WAR,” Death observes as a vast armada of flying metal cubes spectacularly passes above them in the concluding full-page spread. The ominous storm is gathering, and it looks pretty damn cool.
Oliver Davis is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors. You can follow him on Twitter (@OliDavis).
Originally published July 2, 2014. Updated November 28, 2022.
