Up Down

Find This Book At:
Amazon (Original Editions)
Amazon (Softcover 2011)
Amazon (Hardcover 2011)
Ebay (Search by Title)
View our database entry
Includes Issues: Original Graphic Novel
Issue Dates: December 2006
Creators:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This review contains very light spoilers. Skip To The Verdict? »

By now, you’ve probably seen the trailer for the upcoming Cowboys & Aliens film starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. The trailer seemed to take both genres – gritty western and science fiction suspense – pretty seriously, something I didn’t expect.

It looks like it has the potential for an excellent (if more than slightly deadpan) action thriller. This review isn’t for that film – it isn’t out yet.

When I found out that the film is based on a comic, I had to seek it out.

Amazingly enough, the 112 page original graphic novel is selling for between 40-60 dollars each on Amazon and Ebay.

Probably because of the film related interest – but that’s still a pretty big inflation from the original 4.99 cover price.

Even though there were 7 variants in the original print run, it must have gotten hard to find since its original release in 2006.

Luckily for me, I was able to borrow a copy to write this review. Luckily for you, there are hardcover and softcover releases coming up to coincide with the film at much more reasonable prices.

Of course, that still leaves the question of whether this comic is any good.

The story here is pretty much what you’d expect. There are cowboys. There are aliens. There are also cowgirls and Native Americans, but that kind of goes without saying.

The book itself is separated into two parts – the “Prologue” is a few pages of flavor written by Andrew Foley with art and colors by Dennis Calero. The main graphic novel is written by Foley along with Fred Van Lente.

The pencils are by Luciano Lima and Magic Eye Studios, with Jeremy Wilson, Silvio Spotti, and Luciano Kars inking. Andrew Elder handles the colors, with Scott O. Brown and Zachary Pennington on letters and design.

Overseeing this whole gang is Scott Michell Rosenberg of Platinum Studios, who is credit here as creating the Cowboys and Aliens concept.

It’s a big team for an independent title, which seems surprising until you notice the location of the studio: Los Angeles, California.

Following this clue, peeking at Rosenberg’s bio in the back (almost a full page, much bigger than any of the other bios, including both writers combined) lends more context: Platinum studios “controls the world’s largest independent library of comic book characters and adapts them for film, television and all other media.”

Not sure who independent means in this context, so I can’t evaluate the “largest” claim, but the purpose of the book is clear: We’re selling movie pitches, people. And it looks like it’s working.

I honestly don’t know much about Rosenberg’s previous company, Malibu Comics, except that they put out a lot of titles during the speculation boom (including the Ultraverse) and not much is seen of them today.

Back to the actual content of the book.

The prologue story, all five pages of which are available online here, chronicles America’s history of bloody westward expansion (at the expense of the Native Americans) alongside images of parallel conflicts taking place between a conqueror race of aliens seeking to colonize planets.

It’s a comparison that’s been made before in science fiction, but it’s the next step where the fun comes in – so maybe these two manifest destinies actually meet and they fight, yes?

Turn the page and we’re in the Old West, 1873. The scene is huge cliche, with grumpy mercenary gunslingers defending a wagon circle from angry Native attackers.

Perhaps the only surprise is that one of those gunslingers is a girl, but remember that this is a movie pitch – we need a romantic interest.

I’m not knowledgeable enough to tell you precisely how offensive these “Apache” are, but it seems that some effort was made to keep it classic without being overly stereotypical.

Even with effort – they’re smart, even tempered, quick to pick up new technology and come to well reasoned solutions – I’m sure actual Apache culture is much more nuanced than what’s presented here. So maybe medium-low offensive?

I suppose we’ll allow it because this is intended to be a send up of the Western genre and not any kind of accurate depiction.

And it’s very quick to break from the standard as a sonic boom pierces the sky and perspective shifts to the tribe’s warriors, then quickly again to the alien invaders who have just crash landed and slaughtered the “savages” – a term they use for any human, of course.

The aliens are a mix of conquered races and are relatively bureaucratic as far as invading armies go. The bad guys are written as recognizable jerkwads, not the “strange creatures we couldn’t hope to understand” kind of ET (which kind of looks more like what the trailer for the movie suggests, and I hope they go for – I always found the Alien style offworlders to be much more terrifying than ugly foot soldiers with fancy guns.)

In the comic it works. I particularly liked a scene where the invading commander seemed to be holding a clipboard (or maybe an ipad style device.)

The whole shebang is a pretty silly action oriented affair. The dialogue isn’t anything special, but it’s not jarring either.

The art, similarly, is serviceable. It gets the job done and the story told, sometimes looking a little more awkward than you’d expect from such a large team. Or perhaps it’s because this is such a large team and they’re doing a job more than crafting their own individual masterpieces.

Some of the backgrounds are well crafted, with textured detail work, and  overall composition that fits the action well, but not a page goes by without some annoying anatomy or facial structure.

This may be an unfair comparison (to the internet) but I was reminded of some of the better crafted but less unique webcomics out there. None of the over the top quirky insanity that makes Dr. McNinja so great, but perhaps similar artistic ability put through a bigger budget.

Overall, the book is good. Fun.

I should use words with generally positive connotations without too much enthusiasm.

The good guys do their thing, the humans come together. People fall in love across cultural boundaries, there are the expected betrayals.

There isn’t much in store in terms of surprises.

Once you get past the amusing premise, everything plays out just how you’d expect from a summer blockbuster, with all the good and bad that entails – stupid moments designed to cater to certain audiences as well as attempts at doing something different just to do something different.

Not enough risks are taken for this graphic novel to ever really fail. It knows its a comic and it plays for laughs.

As for the movie, it seems like it’s taking the general concept in a direction more suited to a high production feature – same amount of action but less  farce, more sheen. I’m all for a couple hours full of hard jawed, slow talking cowboys confronting the unknown in corridors filled with flickering lights.

I hope the aforementioned deadpan trailer is true to the rest of the film.

Verdict:
3 out of 5. Good concept with satisfactory execution.

Not amazing and certainly not worth 50 bucks on ebay. Maybe worth pre-ordering the reasonably priced hardcover if you’re a fan of this kind of content. Probably perfectly priced at the original 4.99.

Update:

Interesting link over at Bleeding Cool.

Apparently my hunch based on the content and packaging (“Creator” Bio especially) was correct: this was entirely an attempt to get a movie made right from the start.

The only real surprise here is that the comic is kind of enjoyable.

Essential Continuity:
This title stands alone.

Read first:
No prior reading required.

Read next:
I’m honestly not sure where’s best to go after reading this. When I think Westerns and Comics, I think Jonah Hex.

But when I think weird western influenced work, I think Preacher. Anyone have any other recommendations?

Of course once the movie is out, the next step would be to see the film!

« Back to the top?

Want to stay up to date? Click here to subscribe to updates by RSS!
You can also sign up to get updates by Email!
« | »

13 Comments Post New »

  1. -b. wrote on at November 20, 2010 6:24 am:

    Hmm. I mean, I love westerns in all forms really, but Cowboys vs. Aliens? Not sure about that. I’m sure it’s a decent piece of work, and based on your review I may eventually read it. But when I read the title, it just reminds me of Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons, which had to be the worst idea ever. I didn’t read any of the issues, but the title alone was enough to keep me from even trying it. http://www.amazon.com/Zombies-vs-Robots-Amazons/dp/1600101631

    I do appreciate you taking the time to review such a book as this. I just can’t take it seriously, you know?

    Then again, most of my reading is about various men and women in tights sometimes fighting aliens, so I’m contradicting myself here. :)

    I definitely would pay $4.99 for this novelty of a book, but $50? No can do.

    [Reply]

    Ian replied on November 20th, 2010 at 6:26 am:

    haha don’t get me started on how sick I am of zombies.

    I think I felt exactly how you feel (and this book is closer to your thoughts. it’s ok, but it’s just not great. Kind of a punchline and then they filled it out with a standard action movie plot.)

    But the trailer actually looks like it has some potential. I mean, why shouldn’t aliens have come down to earth while we were in the 1800s? It makes as much sense as any other alien invasion movie, haha

    [Reply]

  2. Patti Hallock wrote on at November 20, 2010 2:56 pm:

    Have you seen Cowboy Bebop?

    [Reply]

    Ian replied on November 20th, 2010 at 3:02 pm:

    Yes, I did! Long time ago, though I still listen to the amazing soundtrack from time to time.

    One of the few anime shows I really remember fondly.

    [Reply]

    Mari replied on November 20th, 2010 at 4:32 pm:

    I LOVE cowboy bebop because of the fond memories haha.

    I remember one line when one of the cats got killed in some spaceship fight: “Omg they killed kenny”
    “you bastards!”

    And that late night marathon at Umass.

    Thanks for the review Ian – I’ll prob pass on this comic and just go straight to the theaters – Yay for Harrison Ford!!

    [Reply]

    Ian replied on November 20th, 2010 at 5:00 pm:

    Was that cowboy bebop or outlaw star? God, I don’t even remember.

    [Reply]

  3. Ian wrote on at November 21, 2010 10:19 am:

    Interesting link over at Bleeding Cool:

    http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/11/20/the-great-cowboys-aliens-scam-has-unexpected-result/

    Apparently my hunch based on the content and packaging (Creator bio) was correct: this was entirely an attempt to get a movie made right from the start.

    The only real surprise here is that the comic is kind of enjoyable.

    [Reply]

  4. Marc wrote on at December 3, 2010 1:21 pm:

    I’ve always wondered about this book, and my curiosity only grew when the trailer came out (which looks surprisingly good, in my opinion). That’s hilarious about the comic’s origins, though. Now I’m really tempted to come up with a plot summary for a fake comic book and see if I can get someone to make it into a movie!

    Oh, and I love Cowboy Bebop…what I’ve seen of it, anyway. I’ve started it two different times, but on both occasions I ended up getting really busy and ended up forgetting what was going on before I had time to finish. Maybe one day…

    [Reply]

    Ian replied on December 3rd, 2010 at 1:23 pm:

    hey, it could happen.

    The movie looks really fun. I saw an interview recently that had them confirming my take on it – they originally had Robert Downey Jr. cast in Craig’s roll, but realized that the movie would be a lot more enjoyable if they played it straight and let any comedy come from the natural clashing of the genres and cast. So casting Craig was a really good move there.

    [Reply]

  5. Videocamera kopen wrote on at October 7, 2011 1:25 pm:

    I’ve been surfing on-line greater than 3 hours these days, but I never found any interesting article like yours. It is beautiful worth enough for me. In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content as you probably did, the net can be a lot more helpful than ever before.

    [Reply]

  6. dotti's weight loss zone restaurants wrote on at January 19, 2014 11:52 pm:

    Hi colleagues, its fantastic paragraph on
    the topic of cultureand completely defined, keep it up all the time.

    [Reply]

Trackbacks and Related Posts

Content from other blogs and on this site that links back to this post.
  1. Cowboys and Aliens Official Trailer [HD] | The Pixel Issue
    Pingback on at December 11, 2010 11:51 am:

    […] Cowboys and Aliens is due for release on 29 July 2011 and is based on the 2006 comic whihc you can read about at http://www.tradereadingorder.com […]

  2. Trapper Blog
    Trackback on at June 21, 2017 10:39 pm:

    Trapper Keeper Fun In The Sun Snapper Trapper Composition Book 09002 Trapper Keeper

    […] better crafted but less unique webcomics out there. None of the over the top qu […]

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

Registered users may edit their comments past the 5 minute limit. [Register] [Login] [Logout]
HTML is allowed, but posts containing more than two links or sketchy code will be held for moderation.

« | »