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El Diablo
#1 The Vertigo line has, over the years, put new engines into the basic ideas of horror and fantasy comics, given a shot in the arm to thrillers, and spruced up suspense comics via such titles as 100 Bullets. Even science fiction comics, a much-maligned genre, has seen some action. It's no wonder, then, that the good folks of Vertigo have decided it's time to revisit Westerns. None of this gunslinging, yee-hawing action stuff, either -- this iteration of El Diablo has more in common with Preacher than with, say, Silverado ... or even Unforgiven. The four-part tale is presented from the point of view of one Moses Stone, Sherrif of Bollas Raton. Moses is a low-key married man, but he still carries an old reputation -- that of "Holy Moses" Stone, bounty hunter with a biblical streak. He mentions that a single event changed him seven years before, but never says what. His ambition is to keep the peace in town the best way possible, even if that means letting the local judge railroad Apaches to the gallows, or making it plain he won't hassle an outlaw gang if they don't cause trouble in town. This is all well and good. Except for a small problem: the outlaws have been followed by someone they can neither shake nor identify, someone who moves like a shadow. Someone who arrives like an elemental force, with blazing revolvers. There's no word of explanation, but Azzarello fits together hints and clues -- not only to the name of that elemental force, but also to Stone's link to it. It turns out finally that Stone was handed a pointer midway through the issue, but it takes a blatant statement to make him decide to take on the chase. Exactly how Stone and El Diablo fit together with each other is something that Azzarello is keeping well buried in the story -- by having Mose Stone tell the tale, the secret stays hidden until the right time. I'm finding the story intriguing so far, and want to know more. Azzarello writes just tautly enough, overall, that I don't have the sense of anything being left out, and I certainly don't have any sense of padding. On the writing side, in fact, my biggest quibble is with the dialogue, some of which seems strained -- there's a little much of that ol' cornpone stuff going on here. Danijel Zezelj's artwork is from that Vertigo school of thick lines and black shadows, though he does an excellent job of providing character and expression with subtle touches. The problem that crops up here, however, is that this is exactly the kind of artwork that looks best in black and white -- something that Kevin Somers' coloring does not overcome in the slightest (in fact, the limited palette used by Somers indicates this even more strongly.) If ever an omnibus edition is released, the Vertigo powers-that-be might want to take a look at producing it in black and white. ©2000 by Steven E. McDonald |
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