East of West Appreciation

[JaggedFel]

Hmm today was a good issue.

Looks like we have
Union vs PRA
Texas Republic vs The Endless Nation

Impossible to tell which way the Confederacy goes since they are maximizing their position. Kingdom should side with the Union I suppose considering the loan situation.

Someone is not dead and considering who he trained makes me wonder if someone else noticed.

[John Keyt]

I agree Jagged Fel was a good issue . Looks like things are really starting to heat up . Might just be a war yet .

[sungila]

More footnotes:

Xiaolian - Chinese, meaning little lotus
Cheveyo - Hopi, meaning spirit warrior


@Harpier Thank you for your ongoing annotations. Each is extremely useful. This last breakdown of the nations and the 'world' map as it currently stands is awesome. Much obliged.


Has anybody read any of Hickman's 'Avengers' and enjoyed it?
His character 'Manifold' - Eden Fesi is awfully intriguing; Gateway has always been one of my favorite supporting X-Men characters - but I've gotten nothing but warnings to stay clear of Hickman's Avengers

Just looking at things from a distance...it seems Hickman may have a tendency to cram too many characters and too many settings into his huge ideas...huge ideas don't matter much if there's nobody there to make you care about them.

[victorxd1999]

More footnotes:

Xiaolian - Chinese, meaning little lotus
Cheveyo - Hopi, meaning spirit warrior


@Harpier Thank you for your ongoing annotations. Each is extremely useful. This last breakdown of the nations and the 'world' map as it currently stands is awesome. Much obliged.


Has anybody read any of Hickman's 'Avengers' and enjoyed it?
His character 'Manifold' - Eden Fesi is awfully intriguing; Gateway has always been one of my favorite supporting X-Men characters - but I've gotten nothing but warnings to stay clear of Hickman's Avengers

Just looking at things from a distance...it seems Hickman may have a tendency to cram too many characters and too many settings into his huge ideas...huge ideas don't matter much if there's nobody there to make you care about them.

It's pretty good but the Post - Infinity stuff isn't that good. Pre and during Infinity was fun but it's indeed unpersonal and just too bih, it can be very fatiguing. But in hindsight it's definitely not bad but not as good as FF and his Image work

[harpier]

It's pretty good but the Post - Infinity stuff isn't that good. Pre and during Infinity was fun but it's indeed unpersonal and just too bih, it can be very fatiguing. But in hindsight it's definitely not bad but not as good as FF and his Image work

I pretty much second this. I more or less gave up on Hickman's Avengers. Even though it was never bad, it never really caught me, and I was generally unimpressed by the whole Infinity limited series even though it wasn't bad either. As an East of West fan looking for more Hickman, I'd definitely suggest starting with Manhattan Projects if you haven't already. If you're looking for some of his Marvel work, start with FF even though it's a few years removed. (Incidentally, Matt Fraction and Michael Allred's subsequent—and also now completed—run on FF is of a completely different character but also very good.) His sometimes complementary run on Fantastic Four was also quite good and typically better than his current work at Marvel.

[tstanfi2]

I pretty much second this. I more or less gave up on Hickman's Avengers. Even though it was never bad, it never really caught me, and I was generally unimpressed by the whole Infinity limited series even though it wasn't bad either. As an East of West fan looking for more Hickman, I'd definitely suggest starting with Manhattan Projects if you haven't already. If you're looking for some of his Marvel work, start with FF even though it's a few years removed. (Incidentally, Matt Fraction and Michael Allred's subsequent—and also now completed—run on FF is of a completely different character but also very good.) His sometimes complementary run on Fantastic Four was also quite good and typically better than his current work at Marvel.

Thanks for all the insightful posts Harpier especially about the map breakdown and the 6 nations that really had me stump so your insight was appreciated. I agree with the Manhattan Projects it's no East of West as far as the sheer epic nature of the world he has built, but it is very entertaining nonetheless. It is probably the most fun book out right now (obviously that's just a personal opinion). What are your thoughts on Hickman's "Secret" I picked up issue 1 at my local comic shop today and really enjoyed I think i might pick up the others, is it worth a read?

[harpier]

Thanks for all the insightful posts Harpier especially about the map breakdown and the 6 nations that really had me stump so your insight was appreciated. I agree with the Manhattan Projects it's no East of West as far as the sheer epic nature of the world he has built, but it is very entertaining nonetheless. It is probably the most fun book out right now (obviously that's just a personal opinion). What are your thoughts on Hickman's "Secret" I picked up issue 1 at my local comic shop today and really enjoyed I think i might pick up the others, is it worth a read?

I actually haven't been reading Secret. Like you, I also tried the first issue and generally enjoyed it, but I wasn't so impressed by it to add it to my pull list. Since a few of my friends have been following it and have had more or less the same reaction (i.e., entertainment without much excitement), I haven't been overly motivated to pick it up. I'll probably wait out the second trade and revisit it then. (To be fair, according to my LCS, it does have some very fervent followers, so if your initial response to #1 was more enthusiastic than mine, you probably want to give it a go, at least for a few more issues.) As far as espionage thrillers go, I've been far more satisfied by Brubaker and Epting's Velvet and Ales Kot's Zero, both out of Image.

[Maxpower00044]

Amazing issue. Bring on the war to end all wars! Hopefully we get some more of Death and his story in the future, but I loved this.

[Rory426]

This series is SO GOOD! I just read issues 11 and 12 today, and I'm super excited for what's to come. They were both good political intrigue-style issues, but I suspect there's more badassery just around the corner!

[sungila]

Visuals keep popping into my mind's sky reading EoW...landscapes from memory and from iconic art.
David Behrens' work in particular...who visually rendered the ongoing American Indian genocide by layering the Ingenious against the Industrial West...here's his 'Five Cent Peace'
DavidBehrens-FiveCentPeace.jpg

I read the American Indian Apocalypse into EoW and it resonates so strongly.
It's there in the old westerns, once you cue in, you can feel the ghosts moving through the frames - haunting the reels. It's the real undead...you feel it when you drive I-10 through New Mexico into Arizona...its all around you - deafening silence - standing shadows...dancing nothingness.

EoW brings that presence to life for me, in a way no film and few books have been able to convey.

[NecroDragon]

I fucking love this series. Checked it out on recommendation from people on here way back with issue 4. It's plowed its way to my top three ongoing series since then. I really, REALLY love everything about it.

[hawkeyefan]

More footnotes:

Xiaolian - Chinese, meaning little lotus
Cheveyo - Hopi, meaning spirit warrior


@Harpier Thank you for your ongoing annotations. Each is extremely useful. This last breakdown of the nations and the 'world' map as it currently stands is awesome. Much obliged.


Has anybody read any of Hickman's 'Avengers' and enjoyed it?
His character 'Manifold' - Eden Fesi is awfully intriguing; Gateway has always been one of my favorite supporting X-Men characters - but I've gotten nothing but warnings to stay clear of Hickman's Avengers

Just looking at things from a distance...it seems Hickman may have a tendency to cram too many characters and too many settings into his huge ideas...huge ideas don't matter much if there's nobody there to make you care about them.

This is by far my favorite monthly. I think only Saga competes. Love the world building that is done bit by bit. Connections and histories are revealed a little at a time. Great stuff. And Dragotta's art is ridiculous. I especially live the designs for Wolf and Crow, and what he does when they use their abilities. Fantastic stuff.

I'm a big Hickman fan....so I've been on board with this one since day one. I've read almost all his other work too. Since you asked, his Avengers run is very good. There are two series, both Avengers and New Avengers. They are connected and compliment each other, but can mostly be enjoyed individually. Avengers is less personal and more action oriented. However, New Avengers is all character as a bunch of the characters try to deal with an unwinnable situation. All in all, it's solid work.

His Fantastic Four and FF are both excellent as well, as others have said. Secret Warriors is a great espionage/action series that he did.

I think his best Marvel work though is the still unfinished SHIELD. Truly innovative and imaginative, and totally unlike most Marvel titles. Any series where you get to see the Colossus of Rhodes used as a suit of power armor to fight off a Kree Sentry in the Bronze Age is doing something right.

Outside of Marvel, I can't recommend Nightly News, Pax Romana, and The Red Wing enough. All great minis that you can get in trade, and all are interesting in their own way. Nightly News could be one of the best debuts in years.

[Jack00]

Well it's official, this is my favorite comic in my pull list ahead of SAGA, Conan, Manhattan Projects, Invincible, Black Science, Deadly Class, Southern Bastards.

It's just that fucking awesome.

[BogSurfer]

Everybody else as stoked as I am on the October Solicitaion for East of West?

EAST OF WEST: THE WORLD (ONE-SHOT)
story: JONATHAN HICKMAN
art / cover: NICK DRAGOTTA
OCTOBER 29 / 40 PAGES / FC / T+ / $3.99
"THE WORLD"
A STAND ALONE, all-encompassing look at the wider world of EAST OF WEST. Part atlas, part encyclopedia, part timeline, and part apocrypha, EAST OF WEST: THE WORLD is the must-have one-shot companion to the spellbinding series.
NOTE: EAST OF WEST: THE WORLD will contain pivotal plot and character info that will not be in the regular series...so don't miss out!
The Apocalypse is illuminated in EAST OF WEST: THE WORLD.


Should make a fantastic companion piece for such a rich and textured world/cast of characters. Probably the book I'm most looking forward to for October.

[Jack00]

Just read #15, that's it man, best fuckin book since scalped.