The new volume of “Shaolin Cowboy” by Geof Darrow and Dave Stewart is both a treatise to graphic story telling and a silly, ear-to-ear grin inducing funny book. Eat your heart out “Walking Dead.”
Written and Illustrated by Geof Darrow
The Shaolin Cowboy returns, but nowhere in sight is there a dead Robin, any infinity gauntlets, or a single conquering Ultron—just flat-out action, intrigue, and plenty of roadkill. Geof Darrow’s slow-talkin’, kung-fu-gripping hero proves once again, in this brand-new new series, that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a chainsaw!
• From writer/artist Geof Darrow (Hard Boiled, The Matrix)!
• More action than the rest of your pull list combined!
• All-new story! Start reading here!
• Covers by Darrow and Walter Simonson!
“…Everything fans of the original books had grown to love.”—Comics Alliance
“…The intricacies of carnage is one of Darrow’s specialties…” —io9
there has never been a man like the shaolin cowboy!
DARROW!
I have a confession to make; I’ve never read the first volume of “Shaolin Cowboy.” The 7 issue miniseries, released over the span of 3 years, predates my entry into the comic world by just a hair. The series, published sporadically by the somewhat obscure, Wachowski siblings backed, Burlyman Entertainment was never collected. As such, it’s likely this new series will be many readers first time experiencing the Cowboy’s superior kung-fu grip. Thankfully, “Shaolin Cowboy” #1 is as easily accessible as it is fun and beautiful.
Aware of incoming neophytes, Darrow preempts the feature presentation with a dense “The Story So Far” section. Even with no context for the series whatsoever, these two pages will tell you everything you need to know about “Shaolin Cowboy.” The cast of characters, the tone, the irreverent yet intelligent sense of humor, all of it is boiled down in the most over-the-top piece of prose you’ll ever read. There’s really enough here in these pages to keep anyone occupied, but there’s still a whole comic to be read!
“Shaolin Cowboy” #1 isn’t an easy issue to review or sell, because on paper it doesn’t sound like much. Yes, it features fantastic artwork from Darrow, whose highly detailed Moebius-esque work ranks among the best of the business, but Darrow in no way tries to adhere to industry expectations. It isn’t a drama, but it has depth. It isn’t a comedy, but it’s pretty humorous. It’s not survival horror, but it has a crap ton of zombies. In fact, it’s hard to even peg it in a genre. It’s all of those things, rolled up in a tongue-in-cheek zen-martial arts wrapper. The entire issue essentially boils down to the hero running from zombies, then absolutely decimating said zombies with his dual chainsaw bo-staff (yeah, you read that right). In fact, the first half of the issue is essentially silent. Still, there’s a synergy at work in “Shaolin Cowboy” that results in a final product that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
Darrow truly gets at the heart of graphic storytelling. “Shaolin Cowboy” is “why” comics exist, not “because” comics exist. In less esoteric terms, many times creators use the comic medium to tell stories that could actually be told through any medium. “Cowboy”, however, is made for comics. There are so many abstract ways to try to describe the heart and the energy that Darrow is conveying, but why try, when the art is there doing it for you? The barren desert landscape. The waves of triumph, fear, and finally resilient determination that flow over the Cowboy’s face over the course of the story. The freaking bloody zombies and spinning chainsaws. This is one of those beautiful, rare moments in comics were the art really does say more than the words.
So, why tell you why this comic is great, when I can show you?
To sum things up: If love great art, irreverent humor, or fun in general, buy this comic. If you don’t like any of those things, then I hear there’s a new issue of Catwoman coming out soon. Just wait for that.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy.
