Weird Western Tales# 71
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Dan Didio
Artist: Renato Arlem
My favorite part of DC’s Blackest Night has been the one-shot issues continuing canceled titles like Shazam or The Phantom Stranger, and bringing their stars back from the dead. To be honest. I’ve been holding off on buying the issues and just reading them in store or on-line while waiting for collected versions to come out so I can have the whole story and read it straight through; however some of these titles I can’t help but straight out buy, like Weird Western Tales #71.
Weird Western Tales has been canceled for a ton of years now but Jonah Hex and Bat-Lash are huge favorites of mine, so how couldn’t I give into watching them rise from the dead in pursuit of a black ring?
The story is simple: at a secret research center in the west, built by Simon Stagg (villain of Metamorpho fame), a black ring is brought in for research and all the dead of the wild west who’ve been buried attack (this includes Jonah Hex, Bat-Lash, Scalphunter, Super-Chief and a few others).
The writing by Dan Didio is great and he does a nice job of showcasing our favorite DC Western heroes/villains in a zombie sprawl of supporting parts and cameos. Artwork by Renato Arlem is also top of the line and never looks bad, each panel rocks. So whether you are into the whole Blackest Night saga or a fan of the old DC Western comics, you can’t go wrong with this one.
On a related side note, I just want to congratulate DC on Blackest Night. There were a handful of readers out there feeling like this was DC’s answer to Marvel Comic’s Marvel Zombie storm that has been tearing it up for a handful of years now. DC though has proven it is so much more and has given us a lot of fun with this saga. In March DC will start up First Wave, which many already feel is their answer to Marvel’s The Marvel Project. If there is one thing DC has done with Blackest Night, it is they’ve given us more than an “answer to” but a pleasant surprise, which I hope continues in First Wave (after all Batman, the Spirit and my all time favorite pulp-hero Doc Savage in the same book! Can’t go wrong there).
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
I think the tie-ins are decent at best. They’re fun, but nothing more or less than that. The main story and the Green Lantern tie-ins are phenomenal, though!!
Isn’t it also interesting how Marvel is in a Dark Reign while DC is experiencing a Blackest Night; next Marvel will be in an Age of Heroes and next DC will be experiencing the Brightest Day.
lol
Also, isn’t the First Wave universe totally detached from DC continuity?
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That cover is awesome!!!
The idea of resurrecting “dead” titles is just brilliant by DC. I’ll ne picking up all of these tie-ins.
@ Andy: I think First Wave is detached from the current DC world, but is attached to the original pre-Crisis (forgive I cant think of which Earth number that is but its the one where they’ve been aging in real time and by today are old peeps) and takes place in the 1930s