Death fights War of the Apocalypse in East of West No. 42!
As East of West winds down, the intensity goes up
For five long years, writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Nick Dragotta have been spinning a tale of a hyper-violent alternate America where warring factions fight each other and are in cahoots with the literal Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Death being perhaps the most primary character focused on in the series. With colors from Frank Martin and lettering done by Rus Wooton, it’s one of the better-looking comics that Image Comics has going right now, with a story that allows for the fantastical and often violent imagery that makes the comic such a treat to consume. Hollywood hubbub is that Amazon is developing East of West into an hour-long drama series and, if done right, it could have a huge following. There’s only five more issues until the story concludes, so this issue capped off the penultimate arc with a suitable cliffhanger.
Image Comics
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East of West pits gods against each other
In the last issue of East of West, all the backstabbing and fighting had culminated in a giant battle between thousands of people, and War and Death were about to fight each other. This issue starts with War, dressed like a Western cowgirl but completely blood-red, challenging Death to meet up for a one-on-one fight for their lives and swiftly progresses to them meeting up, in full view of the Chosen, along with Plague and Famine. War feels like Death betrayed her. So to exact revenge, she chopped his wife up, and the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse partially ate her. Our new widower understandably takes that badly and cuts Plague in half with a Bowie knife. Famine steps up next, and Death cuts her arms off, exposing big gnarly flesh tentacles that turn into a monster, ripping out of her body and requiring Death to also kill that with his Bowie knife. The action flows so smoothly, the visualizations are so enthralling that this battle royale is surely one of the greatest set of panels in the whole series.
Image Comics
Death and War go head to head
Famine was the Chosen priest’s mother, so he’s all sad. But it doesn’t matter because they were both evil. Now, it’s just Death and War, who fires some rockets off, materializing them out of her corporeal form. It seems kinda hokey but, hey, she’s War; if anyone can make mini-missiles pop out of their body, it’s War. Death blasts most of them out of the sky with his six-shooter, but War zooms up to him while he’s reloading and stabs him through the chest with a sword of fire. Ouch. War turns out to be a scorned lover, who can’t understand why Death took a mortal wife when he could have had her. While she’s hollering at him, Death picks up a bullet and squeezes it to ignite the powder, firing the bullet from his hand with his Death-strength, which hits War right between the eyes. Now, Death is the only (barely!) living Horseman left, but the Chosen have plans.
Next. A group of angels confront the devil in Lucifer No. 7!. dark
Bel Solomon, a member of the Chosen from the Republic of Texas, says some stuff about trying to “beat Death”, and then he impales him with Plague’s sword, which disturbs the rest of the Chosen, who all then fly away in one of their space cubes. Then the final pages make clear that Death has died. The upcoming arc is going to be a doozy, and honestly, who can say what direction it will go? 10/10, absolutely recommended! Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.