The Gunfighter's Life is best described as a supernatural western created by one Tracy Constantine. The story basically revolves around a sheriff who quickly gets involved in a plot to unleash heck on earth through portals where the undead can travel back to our realm. Things move at a fast pace after that, and who knows where things will end up in the future?
Tracy Constantine's art style is very neat and consistent, with neat character designs that would work well if animated, and the coloring job is detailed and very professional. However, I didn't like the action scenes. They came across very stilted and non-dynamic in the way they played out. If you pick up any superhero or action comic, the fight or gunplay scenes are fluid and explosive, a lot of times almost bursting from the page. Better laid out action scenes will make this comic shine. Also, the panels with backgrounds look so good that the ones without are glaringly empty. Many of the panels lack backgrounds, and when the characters are in the woods or against a mountain backdrop it feels like the artist got lazy. I'm not saying that the artist is lazy, but it can seem that way to the casual reader.
I've always enjoyed westerns, especially any starring Clint Eastwood(John Wayne who?). The Gunfighter's Life does a fine job of portraying the wild west, art and storywise. And the supernatural leanings are played out well, although they are established out of what seems like nowhere. I would have liked to see more of who this Sheriff character is. The comic starts with no real setup, and that's what it needed. Maybe a prologue to better set up this world and it's characters? The Sheriff and Deputy doing their jobs BEFORE all of the zombies and chupacabras? Something to think about.
All in all I did enjoy this comic, but found a few things that could possibly be tweaked in order for readers to get the most of their experience. It's a good setup, and there are nuggets of gold here, but a little more mining by the creator could have Tracy Constantine striking it rich. I liked that little analogy.
I give this comic...
2 comments:
Thanks for the review! I think you were dead on with the improvements I need to make. Page 52 should be a lot better then the rest!
I'm not an art person, so I may be approaching this comic with different eyes.
As far as back-story, I kind of thought that the mystery was the point. Tracy seems to be introducing the quiet, reluctant hero. I would bet that that as the storyline arcs upward, Sheriff's nature, motives, etc. will become more defined. Any good author doesn't give it all away in the first page. If he wrote a prologue at some point, I would see it being written after this story as a sort of prequel that collectors would really dig.
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