Gunhawks #1
Released on February 6, 2019
Writers - David & Maria Lapham
Artist - Luca Pizzari
Colours - Neeraj Menon & Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters - VC's Travis Lanham
Cover Art - Gerardo Zaffino
If you have not read the comic yet be warned that there are spoilers below.
The beginning of the comic starts with a blurb about how the law doesn't mean much and how dangerous it is in the wild west. There are those that wrestled human order from the chaos. Then on the first page it states that the story takes place in Arizona in 1914. When I think of the wild west, I don't think 6 years before the roaring 20's.
The story starts with Dean Donnelly facing off against three banditos. A gunfight erupts obviously and two banditos are killed while the third one gets away. One of the dead banditos shown is a woman.
Dean rides back into the town of Clearwater and we learn through the mayor that Dean fought in the Mexican Revolution. Dean goes looking for his bride to be and learns his deputy, Jacob has already taken her to the ranch that the couple plan to live in once they are married. Dean then makes his way to the ranch to find Colleen is just fine.
Dean then tells Colleen about the Soldaderas, women who fought for Pancho Villa during the Revolution. Deans calls them demons so they must be bad-ass.
It seems Dean was part of a group of 12 when he was sent to a village that they believed Villa was holding up. Villa or any soldiers were there and things got bad. Dean states, "It got out of hand. Then it got ugly." Looks like the Soldaderas have been hunting down and killing anyone in their way of capturing the 12 of which Dean is the last one.
Dean and Colleen go back to town with the plan of sending Colleen back East while Dean deals with the Soldaderas. However it's too late and the town is attacked. The Soldaderas have come for Dean. Big battle before an ending I did not expect.
So onto what I thought. I didn't like that it took place in 1914 but it did fit in with the rest of the story. The visuals are clearly western and I think in 1914 there would have been some more modern trappings.
The story did fit together well and the ending was not at all what I expected.
I really enjoyed the art and colours in this book. I had to look up what else Luca Pizzari has done and it turns out he worked on a mini series I really enjoyed last year, Marvel's The Black Knight: The Fall of Dane Whitman.
David and Maria Lapham are of course from Stray Bullets.
I only got the standard cover by Gerardo Zaffino, and I think its a great cover. Wouldn't mind getting a print of it actually.
When I first started reading I was a pit put off because of the date, but by the time I got to the last page, I was really immersed in the story and enjoying the book.
I think the blurb at the beginning should have mentioned that it was the dwindling days of the wild west era and it might have gone down smoother with me.
If you are looking for existing Marvel western characters, you will not find them in this book. I believe this is Dean Donnelly's first appearance. Not even an appearance by the original Gunhawks, Reno Jones and Kid Cassidy.
If you like western comics I would recommend it.
