Product Description: Last we saw Cotton Coleridge, he'd traded in his six-guns for stakes when he fought a frontier town full of vampires. This time around the "lightning rod for the supernatural" faces zombies, ghosts, resurrectionists, giant flies, carnivorous slugs, demons and lots of pure evil!
Just Didn't Enjoy It Sorry to be such a downer... but I can't remember in quite some time looking forward to a book-- only to be so massively disappointed after reading it. Volume Two of the Cotton Coleridge collection starts off great with an extended tale from the original creators. This story is just as good as anything that appeared in The Wicked West Volume One. Unfortunately, the quality starts to fastrack swiftly downhill from there-- as various well known creators (and mostly obscure ones)-- try their hand(s) at stories that vary in tone and length. The problem with these short vignettes is that many lack story/character development and visual power.
The artwork in Volume Two (unlike Vol. 1) seems rushed in most instances--making the visual narratives almost impossible to understand. You'll shake your head in amazement (and despair) when you see stories-- that seem to have an excellent idea behind them-- fail miserably due to sloppy, confusing art or truncated length.
The nadir of the book belongs to long time comic pro Nick Cardy-- whose ONE page "story" is actually just a one-off joke about Cotton taking a (apparently raucous) crap in an outhouse. This isn't a horror story. This isn't an Old West story. This isn't even a "funny joke" of a story. It is simply a one page "fan letter" to the series creators.
Sadly, "Abomination" is the appropriate sub-title for The Wicked West Vol. 2 collection. In their foreward, the creators state, "There was simply no way we were cutting any of these great stories. Don't believe us? You try it. Read them and tell us which ones we should have cut, because we don't have a clue."
No truer statement is made in this volume. Livingston, Tinnell and Vokes seem so overwhelmed that other artists would want to try their hand at Coleridge that they seemingly threw out all sense and sensibility with their good taste.
I want to make it clear that I am NOT saying don't ever buy The Wicked West anthologies again. I am simply stating that Volume Two is an almost worthless (if well intentioned) debacle compared to the first collection. Save your cash, re-read (or buy!) Volume One. Then let's all wait for the (as of yet unpublished Volume Three) and the hopeful 100% return of the ACTUAL creators to this world and the quality of Volume One that had me so stoked to read Volume Two in the first place.
Expanding the mythos When you see Mr. Tinnell's name on a graphic novel, you know you're in for a treat. But this book is a marvel of itself. What Mr. T, Todd Livingston and Neil Vokes did was create a character -- Cotton Coleridge, a vampire hunter with an ugly past in the Old West -- in Volume 1. The result is the kind of smack you over the head entertainment that only the best have the cojones to fire at you any more. But then in this volume, they added to their own update ofthe story by having 30 other contributors pitch in, bringing their own unique visions to the overall picture. The result is nothing less than amazing. Story after story, with differing visual styles, all playing together and wrapping themselves around the Cotton Coleridge character. The fun never stops, with genuine chills, novel twists and hearty chuckles. I believe it's rare for most artists to invite others along to their party -- there's too much "I Me Mine" involved. But what TL&V have accomplished by being brave enough to open the doors is 1) greatly expand the depth and significance of the mythos they have created, and 2) providing a rollicking good time no single creative team could have come up with (at least not in one book.) Bravo, folks. Bring on more.
My favorite comic for 2006 My Amazon order of WICKED WEST 2 has finally arrived and I am blown away: I had always enjoyed the first instalment, but now absolutely love the character of Cotton Coleridge, a Western hero with a difference: he chases Vampires and other undead creatures of the night.
This second book in the series is in an anthology format that really helps put the main story into a larger perspective and has me gagging to hear more about Coleridge, how he got cursed and his attempts to rid himself of the curse and seek revenge on the 13 men that instigated it.
The main story, "Abomination", is by far the longest and comes courtesy of the original Wicked West creators, Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell and Neil Vokes. On top of that we get another 23 (!) stories created and drawn by a huge number of guest stars such as Adrian Salmon, Michael Avon Oeming, Alex Saviuk and others. Those stories deal with various aspects of Coleridge's personality and adventures as well as his "career" as a pulp fiction character. We also have a handful of stories that follow up on the cinematic interpretation of the events in the first book, "Terror Over Texas". Some of those stories have a hard horror edge, others are more humorous, and a good number have punch lines that you'll keep in your mind for days to come.
It is great to see so many different variations on the theme assembled in this comic. As a result Cotton Coleridge has now become a fully fledged pulp character for me. That character has room for at least another dozen or so volumes and I hope that his success may continue.
Okay, Pardner, Buy This Book "The Wicked West Volume 2" is about the continuing adventures of the cursed cowboy, Cotton Coleridge. It contains 24 adventures about horror in the West, almost all relating to our reluctant hero, Coleridge. All the tales focus on horrors while never leaving the western milieu. That is, each graphic and prose tale (and there are two excellent prose stories) pull you into the American West like a Clint Eastwood movie...and hold you there like fangs on Christopher Lee. This book is wicked good fun. All the stories are good, but the stand-outs are the tales by Robert Tinnell, Todd Livingston, and Neil Vokes, whether in concert, or with others. Also, the continuing tale of the Coleridge-based 1930's serial is a delight. All in all, "The Wicked West Volume 2" is wicked fun. Be afraid, pardner, and enjoy!
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
