Colton Myers is a pretty troubled man, worn down by the horrors of the American Civil War, not to mention a horrendous childhood event, both of which are portrayed here in flashbacks, as is more of his life. From the off it’s pretty clear this is a serious story.
So we have ol’ Colton, and from the book’s title it’s obvious things aren’t going to be all sweetness and light. We learn more about him as he ends up with his dead brother’s family, but of course nastiness isn’t far behind and Colton must pick up his six guns and go to war again.
The Final Bloody War Of Colton Myers is certainly not for children, as there’s zero humour and a whole lot of despair and violence, interspersed with a little sex and rape to make sure no one gets too complacent. It’s not all like this, although there are precious few moments of relief, as even the downtimes are fraught with emotion. David C Hayes and Christopher Smith do a decent job with the script, which has a supernatural element but for the most part is a standard western setting. The time jumps would have benefited from a setting caption (date, location) as they just get thrown at you with no warning, but it’s a solid piece of work that kept me reading through the 80 pages.
The art is supplied by Lynsey Hutchinson, and I’ll admit that at first I had trouble adjusting to her blocky style. After a while, though, my mind settled in and I enjoyed the pairing of her traditional art with the script, with the dusky, pastel colouring doing some fine heavy lifting.
Overall, I really enjoyed, if that’s the right word, this book. It’s very dark and has some unsettling scenes, featuring men and women who literally don’t give a damn about inflicting misery on anyone takes their fancy. Definitely more Unforgiven than Butch Cassidy, this is a Western for grown ups. Currently it’s £6.35 on Amazon (£2.36 on Kindle), and that’s a fantastic price point for an 80 page full colour book that will grip and appall you in equal measure.
ComicScene 