I have a soft spot for the Mignola-verse, and this one flew under my radar until I picked it up from the library. Really fun read and more interesting than I thought it would be. I kind of want to say that Frankenstein here is a sort-of-Hellboy, and he sort of is. But then, also isn't.

I don't know if there's an earlier book or not. If not, I enjoyed how this one sort of jumps back and forth in time giving context, but not all the context. If there is an earlier book, then I guess it probably makes more sense - BUT, it was still pretty easy to follow without having read anything else.

You know what sucks? Creditting!

So, the covers list "Mauer", and being lazy I went to Wikipedia to see who that was - but "Mauer" isn't listed on the page, which seems kind of sucky to me. Mauer is Thomas Mauer and he(?) was the Letterer. So, I'm going to edit wikipedia and hope the change sticks. To be fair to Wikipedia, the letterer is in fact a field in their little infobox template, so it was an easy addition.

As for the comics themselves?

I read three volumes, so while I may not sound super enthused now - I did continue reading!

In a nutshell, it's a western - it's the new sheriff who just moves into town, doesn't know the locals, steps on feet, but also just wants to get stuff done and clean up. While I can't offhand remember a single movie that has that as the main premise - it was not a premise that was all to surprising. BUT, it's scifi - set on an alien planet and there's lots of different sentient species, and robots, and there was a war in the past, and so on.

To say what I read was predictable would be unfair. I'd say it was unsurprising and familiar, and I don't mean that in a pejorative way. I checked quickly and there are four volumes - and while I wouldn't mind reading the 4th, I'm also not putting it on my list of things to get/locate/check out from the library either (mostly because that stack is too high at the moment)

Would I recommend it? Maybe - it's not a "OMG this is amazing", but it's not bad either - so someone who likes space westerns should enjoy it?

I had high hopes and expectations for this one, and I was not let down.

I've read many (all? most?) of Brubaker and Phillips' collaborations - Fatale, Criminal, and their Reckless series as well. And they have all been super fun to read.

I've been trying to think of how to describe them (and Where the Body Was fits perfectly in genre of all the ones I listed above) - and I started with "true crime" which does fit, they're also pretty pulpy...but modern pulp? If they were movies they might be like Tarantino movies? (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction...)

I guess I would summarize them (genre wise) as stories that could be real, with flawed characters who are middle to lower-middle class, often struggling and there is crime involved.

No supernatural stuff, no gore/horror, no superpowers.

Anyways, this one was super fun and interesting and I feel like to have gotten my hands on an "advance copy".

So this volume, still solidly feeling like a Jodorowsky-setting story, starts off kinda "oh, another lots of violence story" but then it gets a lot more interesting. And it sort of spans a lot of time and is strangely, and unexpectedly, a love story with a cool ending. So, at this point I'm pretty interested in whatever comes out in this series - assuming it's a series? I haven't been bothered to look.

There's also some really neat ideas... space ghosts? Check! ;-)

I'm not sure if it would appear to someone not familiar with The Incal and all that, but I think it would appeal/seem interesting? It doesn't really rely on earlier knowledge...