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If you hate Western Comic Books then Savage Bastards will change your Mind
In this Article:
I’m going to preface this review with one statement: I hate comic books about westerns or cowboys and indians. Yes that means Jonah Hex too. The tone of 99% of them always falls flat. They’re trope heavy and stink to high heaven with endless clichè. So if I could enjoy Issue #3 of David Galiano’s Savage Bastards then you can too.
Writer David Galliano and Artist Carlos Angeli depict a harsh and barren world devoid of the usual masked protagonist saving a damsel in distress. Where there’s a barren wasteland there’s usually pain and misery. A pain and misery that is welcomed in this issue of Savage Bastards.
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Artistically its the right amount of Grit
Angeli’s harsh pencil work adds an element of grit that is seen and felt through the broken nature of the characters in this series. Depicting a duo of protagonists (Sam and Elliott) who will go to any lengths to right the wrongs that Darragh’s 
Clint Eastwood would be proud to ride alongside these Savage Bastards
Without getting too spoiler heavy, Issue #3 of Savage Bastards spends a lot of time setting up what will no doubt a savage and bloody conclusion to the exploits of Sam and Elliott. While the focus is clearly there, Galliano’s script does allow for an interesting thread of characters looking to either reconnect or get redemption. We’re gradually uncovering the wants, needs and motivations of Galiano’s characters with each panel.
This comic book spends more time playing the mobster genre wearing the skin of a cowboy then it does being a traditional western. You have multiple factions, stories of redemption, revenge killings and even the search for ones family. With a dash of horror as a cannibalistic character is thrown in the mix. What comes out is uncomfortable story telling. Uncomfortable enough to suit the grit and savagery (‘scuse the pun) contained therein.
If you’re feeling the fatigue of straight forward storytelling and are after a story that pushes the boundary of what a western can be then look no further. This is far from your regular garden variety of spaghetti westerns. This one has meat on its bones.
Savage Bastards #3
hits LCS shelves on June 24, 2020.
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