East of West #6 – Review

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Nick Dragotta (Artist), Frank Martin (Colorist)

The Story: Solomon becomes the target of the council, as he himself decides to seek the help of someone else to deal with them.

The Review: It’s a great time to be a Hickman fan. His event and his general Marvel work is going strongly without seeming to be losing steam for the time being and this goes the same for most of his indie work. With Manhattan Projects still going on and Secret supposedly continuing soon, his star is continually on the rise, yet it seems it never is enough as Hickman continues his ongoing projects.

One of his latest is East of West, an ongoing story featuring an alternate take on American history with a splintered U.S.A in three factions. Continuing the ambitious style of storytelling Hickman is known for, there are a lot of elements put in place with each issue as the world-building is never completely done with. However, does this issue continue to use this new setting in inventive ways or did the concept run a bit fry after explaining its premise in the first five issues?

It is my delight to affirm that the world-building still continues and find ways to continue being utterly fascinating. Putting Death and the other horsemen away for this issue, Hickman instead focus on the politics and some of the history of this different America he has created to great success. Focusing instead on Solomon and Chamberlain, Hickman starts yet another subplot as the treachery and the motivations between some of its characters become apparent and mysterious at the same time.

East of West #5 – Review

Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Nick Dragotta (Artist), Frank Martin (Colorist)

The Story: Death and Xiaolian have a lot to discuss about; now that a multitude of people have died in trying to make sure they did not meet.

The Review: Mixing genres, for writers and the like, can be a pretty challenging notion. Making sure that none of the elements clashes against each other, negating what makes them work is something that sounds difficult, as a lot of writers tend to stick to a single genre or to experiment with others without completely leaving behind what they know. For readers, it creates worlds and concepts that can make them invest their time toward the book. For creators, though, it must be an accomplishment to see that nothing stumbles against each other as the world they built continues to work.

This very notion is what makes East of West a particularly unique and satisfying book. Combining the tropes and other such elements of western, politics, science-fiction, romance, post-apocalyptic in its narrative in a successful manner, Hickman made a world that we may think we can completely understand, yet continues to go in directions and adding new stuff to surprise us. Characters, ideas and action become then something meaningful as we never know what to anticipate from this strange version of America that is presented to us.

In this issue, following the bloodbath of the previous one, we finally get the meeting between Death and his loved one, Xiaolian, the new ruler of the house of Mao. Right from the very beginning of their conversation, Hickman goes toward a route that is unexpected, as the baggage that both characters carry within themselves gives the dialogue a whole new flavour– combining traditional lover’s quarrel, like an old couple that have marital problems, with the prophecy of the message as it written for us to read. Mixing the prophetic, the metaphysic and the down-to-Earth situation between those two lovers create a scene that create a slow build toward a very potent revelation, one that propels this book toward a new direction that is full of potential for the book itself. The poesy that a warrior and Death ceased to be such things in order to love make for a touching irony, yet the scene they do share after such an act is filled with revelations and some neat moments.