As a great man once said, there ain’t no grave can hold my body down. Pretty sure that song was about accepting death and meeting God or something, though, and not coming back from the dead to exact your revenge upon the men that killed you and your lived ones. Ah, you know, same difference.
From the creative team of Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, Andrew Miller and Hannah Christenson comes “Death Be Damned” #1, a fantasy revenge western. Read on below for our full, spoiler free review of the issue.
Written by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker & Andrew Miller
Illustrated by Hannah Christenson
Seven outlaws have killed Miranda Coler and her family, but her death turned out to be a little less permanent than they expected. Blessed with the inability to fully die until she exacts revenge on her family’s killers, but cursed to lose a part of her memories every time she’s “killed,” Miranda will need the help of Joseph Murray, an undertaker dabbling in necromancy hoping to bring back his wife, if she’s ever to find peace. Ben Acker and Ben Blacker (Deadpool Vs. Gambit, The Thrilling Adventure Hour) team up with Hannah Christenson (Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Dragons, Harrow County) for a supernatural tale of revenge in the Old West, perfect for fans of Pretty Deadly and The Sixth Gun.
Death is a fickle thing in comics books. Sure, death is a fickle thing in all fiction what with characters not being real so their absence after tends not to leave much of a hole in the world unless they were a character that the reader was particularly fond of. “Death Be Damned” #1 is an examination of death, of what might be beyond the veil of our mortal lives and of what people will go through just to get revenge. Most of that comes part and parcel with the comic’s western setting and tone, but the creators, Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, Andrew Miller and Hannah Christenson, dig a little deeper by adding their own mythology into the mix and how it weaves through the lives and deaths of the characters.
“Death Be Damned” #1 is a comic whose most important quality is its unique selling point. We’ve all seen more than enough westerns that to pick up and commit to a western comic (as in, a comic of the western genre), it has to feel unique and it has to feel fresh. “Death Be Damned” mostly succeeds with this thanks to its unique take on the mythology of death, but at the end of the day it is still a revenge western. It’s a revenge western about a widow chasing down the men who killed her and her family and who seemingly cannot remain dead, sure, but there’s still that feeling that lingers that we’ve seen this before in one form or another.
That’s not to say “Death Be Damned” #1 is a bad comic or that I’m not recommending it. It is, in fact, a very enjoyable comic and introduced me to a fantastic artist. Hannah Christenson is the reason this issue shines. From the very first page, her moody, atmospheric artwork combined with the warm, rustic colours of Juan Useche create a sense of unease and mystery. Perhaps the best choice this comic made was allowing the first five or so pages to play out largely without dialogue, allowing Christenson and Useche to show the widow’s resurrection and the beginning of her quest through environmental storytelling. It’s stark and brutal and sets the scene and tone of the comic elegantly and immediately connects the reader to her grief with barely any dialogue. If any part of this comic shows Hannah Christenson as an artist to watch, it’s those opening pages.
Sadly, the rest of the issue doesn’t hold to the same stark, silent storytelling as more characters are introduced and the writing delves into the mythology behind the widow’s resurrection. The emphasis of the storytelling changes in one page from Christenson’s enivormental artwork to the dialogue, leaving Christenson little to explore other than series of close-ups on each character. It’s a shame, really, because Christenson proves right off the bat that she can handle the brunt of the storytelling only for the issue to shift gears and for the writing to take emphasis.
Continued belowThis would probably be less of an issue if the writing had a bit more punch to it. Naturally, the cause of the widow’s resurrection remains a mystery, but Acker, Blacker and Miller introduce an undertaker seeking, funnily enough, the same kind of death powers the widow has. Because this is a four issue series, neither the answers to the widow’s deathlessness nor her quest for revenge can fully be realised in just this first issue, but the introduction of the undertaker shifts the focus away from the widow and onto the undertaker’s quest to bring his wife back from the dead.
I’m sure this will tie into the widow’s quest in subsequent issues, but I felt like it undermined the emotional drive of the issue to change gears so quickly. It seemed like, as the issue went on, the widow’s quest for revenge would allow the reader to draw in closer to her and understand who she was and what her life was like before such a tragedy befell her family. Instead, her quest becomes something of a sidestory as the issue focuses on an undertaker and by introducing his quest for life after death, turns the rituals of the Zuni tribe into a Phoenix Down. It’s disappointing to say the least.
This was an issue brimming with potential that squandered it after the introduction. Hannah Christenson’s artwork in those first pages is gorgeous and a clear example of how solid environmental storytelling can convey so much and with so much emotion in a relatively small space. However, the writing that comes after is unwieldy, unfocused and undermines the emotion built in those first pages. There is hope that this can be rectified in the later issues, but this first issue was sadly underwhelming.
Final Verdict: 6.6 – I maintain that this issue is worth checking out for Hannah Christenson’s artwork alone, however.
