REVIEW: The Few and Cursed #1 (of 6)

A western town, where life hits hard and death hits harder.  A town of the hunted and the haunted.  Mountain View has seen its share of riders, but it’s never been visited by a Curse Chaser before.  This first issue funded by Kickstarter, published by Timberwolf Entertainment,  sees yet another red-headed warrior breeze into town and offer her services.  If, at this point, you think this is Red Sonja book, then you would be wrong.

For many, this book may seem like a checklist of sorts:- red-head, check; belligerent townsfolk, check; a monologue, check; giant snake monsters and the promise of monster crows?  Whilst I will give the cynics these points, Felipe Cagno and Fabiano Neves have taken their little shopping list and produced the type of first issue you wish you could read every month.

Writer Felipe Cagno is telling the story of how a Curse Chaser breezed into town and does what she does best.  I am not going to explain any more, the book is self-explanatory, I will say that she is not chasing swear words. (Just as well, considering the amount a cursing she herself does).  Cagno, hits every beat of an old western tale, everything that fans of the oft used genre love.  In fact, to me, the western genre is like diet coke in that its an ok drink by itself, but its much better when you mix it with something.  Diet’s coke versatility as a mixer mirrors the western working as well in a horror/western or even sci-fi/western hybrid.  The story is engaging, the dialogue fun and the action pieces work well.

Fabiano Neves provides the pencils for the book, displaying more than a nod to something you would expect to see in a high quality Dynamite book.  As such, it’s no big surprise to discover the Neves has spent time at Dynamite as the heroine of this book does have a certain Sonya-ness about her.  But as with the writing, the quality of the work far outweighs any perceived notions of familiarity.  The line work serves to accentuate the main cast from the backgrounds, whilst also installing the feel that they are still part of the environment, rather than the comic book version of a green screen.  There is ruggedness to the lines that harkens to the wild west vibe prevalent throughout this book, with only one slight perspective issue that detracts the eye.  Dinei Riberio and Ivan Nunes provide the finishing touch with a color scheme that shows the nuances of the various elements that exist in this in this hybrid book.

Familiarity doesn’t always have to breed contempt, especially when the finished article looks and reads as well as this book.  With a slew of female led books falling by the wayside, for whatever reasons, its good to see that not everyone has given up on the, seemingly cursed, idea of strong female characters.

Writing – 4.5 Stars
Art – 4.5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

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Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network

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