"East of West: The Promise" is a well illustrated, humorless pretentiousness to the max

Nick Dragotta is a talented comic book artist.  His imagery in the first TP of East of West: The Promise comic book series is fascinating indeed.  More than just an illustrator, the man creates quite a visionary world that can even be described as a gloomy, futuristic past.   The Wild West that is the setting for this unusual tale about the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse, is a most peculiar place.  Here one will find various politicians, assassins, and several weird looking characters who may or may not be Bible's own creations.  The juxtaposition of such villains and anti-villains creates quite a sight for the mind that's been starved of iconic imagery of late.

The writing, however, is altogether another matter.  Jonathan Hickman's characters speak in a manner that is rather dull and old-fashioned, and in this particular case it isn't a benefit to the story.  The dialogue, which is not only confusing and full of enigmatic phrases that will leave many scratching their heads, is also surprisingly humorless.   When Death, all high up on his giant black beetle (or whatever it actually is) that he rides all over, says, "I see nothin' but air... and dead men soon not needin' to breathe it", my reaction was simply, "Really?".  Even any attempt at comedy or  an injection of wit falls flat on its face, leaving us with a series of beautiful images that add up to a story that is all exercise, without even being an experience.

East of West has many characters, perhaps a too many, and judging from this first issue, none are very interesting as people or characters on a page.   They have way too much to say and do, and clearly suffer from an overwritten story that is jamming way too much pretentiousness in a 125 page space.   Will I eventually move on to the second TP of this series, in order to find out if Death and the other Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse will eventually put their differences aside and re-join forces, and if Mao Xiaolian and Death will regain their long lost child, and their love?  Based on the effect this first issue had on me, I'd say it's very unlikely.
D+