East of West #1

You might call me crazy, but Dragotta was one of my least favorite artists on Hickman's FF run, so I was just a tad hesitant going into East of West. But if you, like me, have doubts about Dragotta's artwork, it's ridiculously improved over what was on FF. I don't know what made the difference, but I'm absolutely in love with the visuals on this book, and good god does this series need the visuals to be gorgeous. I mean, Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Western? Yeah, you need the scenery to look stunning, and it is mind blowing.

Once again, we've got a Hickman Image series with a completely foggy future direction, and that's one of the best qualities of it. I'm not even entirely sure who the true main protagonist is, similar to Manhattan Projects. The biggest differences between the two at the core is that while I don't know where East of West is going, it does clearly have a focused and driven sense of direction, I just can't see it yet. And East of West is clearly a much more action focused book, while Manhattan Projects is all kinds of something else. But both are heavy science-fiction alternative history stories with a mysterious sense of direction and copious amounts of genius and a high level of pure entertainment.

The series starts off with a good establishment of the world, while still leaving much of the details for future exploration, and then dives us right into the action. The whole bit with the two different time periods is a little bit confusing at first, but once you see the significance it opens up a huge mystery to unravel. In fact this whole issue is just layered on top of itself with well weaved mysteries that intertwine and form the core fabric of this series.

In Conclusion: 5/5

This is off to a great start. It's got great artwork that perfectly fits the tone, a massive scale, and a plethora of intrigue. Hickman really is a sci-fi masterpiece crafter.