East of West #3

Three:  The House of Mao
written by Jonathan Hickman
art by Nick Dragotta
colors by Frank Martin

As promised by the final panel of East of West #2, "The House of Mao" begins with Death's wife, Xiaolian, captive in New Shanghai and, it is revealed, sister to Mao Hu of the Chosen, in attendance at Armistice for the meeting of the new President in the previous issue.  Death, newly informed of her captivity, begins his unforgiving assault on the People's Republic.  Seeking out their brother, the other three horsemen look to the hunter who aided them before, the Atlas bartender and, it turns out, the Pathfinder, and his treacherous eye.

All roads, it seems, point to events ten years prior, an ambush between Death and his grown apocalyptic siblings, orchestrated by at least some of the Chosen currently conspiring to end the world.  The former President of the Union, Chamberlain of the Confederacy, Hu of the People's Republic, Cheveyo of the Endless Nation, the hunter-turned-Atlas-barkeep hired to track him, and at least one other cloaked and shadowy figure above them were there looking on.  In East of West #3, we learn of another ambush preceding and perhaps precipitating the other:  Hu, flushed with religious fervor, betrays her sister, wife of Death, to War, Famine and Conquest, who, it is widely believed, killed her.  Instead, pieced together with prosthetics and medical regeneration, she is captured and held by mute guards in a garden for ten years.  Hickman continues to pack East of West with story, moving through both the current apocalypse and its precursory events with deliberate and well-timed alacrity.  He enhances his dense, rewarding storytelling with rich, savory dialogue and narration.  It is, in fact, Hickman's finest style, far exceeding his other current efforts in its lush restraint.

As always, Dragotta's artwork is impeccable.  His lines are clear, fine, and precise.  His compositions are cinematic in their variable use of close-up, distance, and dramatic angles.  He and colorist Frank Martin, who gives Dragotta's sleek pen-work both depth and texture, make an exceptional team.  Add to this Hickman's willingness to write important details into the illustrations, and East of West becomes a rewarding piece of narrative art, whose visual components are integral as much as complementary.

[June 2013]