Written by David Gallaher; Art and cover by Steve Ellis Zuda Comics
High Moon is the first winner in the Zuda Comics online monthly competition and follows bounty hunter Mtthew Macgregor to the god forsaken town of Blest, Texas. What he finds and what finds him takes the reader on a path through vain glory, true heroism and a troublesome if rugged indivudalism that leaves the series as firmly rooted in Lovecraftian spin as in the inflence of Leone and Ford.
As a casual reader and collector of comics I almost always find my interest in them to be piecemeal. Rarely do all the elements in any one story or title coalesce to demand equal attention. But a single strong element is often all I need to maintain interest. What one book lacks in narrative may be suggested by its art, and vice versa. Sometimes the very core idea of a book however handled is worth reading simply because of the places I find myself leaping off to as a result.
High Moon for instance drew me in instantly via Steve Ellis unrelentingly strong visuals. This is the weird western landscape I've always pictured in my mind; an odd conglomeration of the real and the unreal that makes comparisons with Stephen Kings The Dark Tower series seem facile. Yes they are both weird westerns, but where Kings prose settles to evoke geography for the sake of narrative Ellis' illustrations virtually snarl with lawlessness painting a west on fire one moment and cold as the grave the next where blazing guns, outlaws, werewolves and vampires not only seem at home but alive again as if Ellis discovered some long forgotten savage sorcery and put it into his pen. The result is rough hewn, almost woodcut, and it blows away the pretenders of Twilight and Vampire Diaries and others who would turn the creatures of the night into limp wristed whiners and lap dogs.
yeah the art is nice, woodcut-like exactly..not sure about the story yet. you can read at least a good chunk, if not the whole thing, over at www.zudacomics.com/high_moon
the writing don't keep up with the art. all posturing and gimmicks, no character development or any story to get caught up in. uneven like a lot of comics, as you said, david. but this one is more un than even,
Myself, I find the characters to be like Die Hard. High Moon is like an action movie at full speed. I did enjoy it quite a bit on Zuda. The print copy looks very nice. The art and the story are the way many print comics should be. Many of the comics on zuda are equally good as well.
we thank Sean Rickets of Zuda Comics for his eloquent words.
I am not from Zuda comics. I do have a profile on the site and follow them on Twitter, where they linked to this review. But, despite English not being my first language, I did use complete sentences, which is perhaps why you are confused?
no sean, i'm kidding. not confused. i don't agree with your high opinion of the writing on this particular comic, i don't find much substance to it at all.
unlike the art, which i agree deserves praises. english aint my first language either, but i still believe a sentence is only complete in the perception of the conceiver. we are at liberty to be flexible with the rules of language, are we not?
no sean, i'm kidding. not confused. i don't agree with your high opinion of the writing on this particular comic, i don't find much substance to it at all.
unlike the art, which i agree deserves praises. english aint my first language either, but i still believe a sentence is only complete in the perception of the conceiver. we are at liberty to be flexible with the rules of language, are we not?
oops