The frontier boomtown of Timely has more than its share of scoundrels, and it’ll take a hero to keep them in line. A hero named Red Wolf – the Cheyenne who crossed the desert and stood up to Mayor Wilson Fisk and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the fallen Sheriff Steve Rogers. But that’s all in the past. Following the events of Secret Wars, Red Wolf finds his boots firmly transplanted into the Marvel Universe.

One of the standout miniseries from Secret Wars was the superhero western 1872 which saw alternate versions of familiar characters and gave a nice mix of the two genres. This new series continues that story, starting in 1872, but takes Red Wolf in an interesting direction that by the end of the first issue jettisons that unique and entertaining world.

It’s hard to not discuss this debut without discussing the cloud surrounding writer Nathan Edmondson. It’d be a lie to say all of that wasn’t on my mind when reading this first issue, and why it’s difficult to detach “politics” and previous knowledge/opinions from reviews.

Edmondson is a good writer, and I’ve enjoyed his work previously (particularly The Activity), but something about this first issue doesn’t click for me. It’s not just Edmondson’s writing, but Dalibor Talajic‘s art too just isn’t up to snuff, especially when the covers are so amazing.

This is a debut issue that misfires, from art where perspectives are off, what’s going on in the background makes no sense, to character design and positioning too. In some scenes Red Wolf looks like an adult, in others he looks like a teenager. Everything is just very… off.

Things aren’t helped by the fact that when the issue is over it’s clear what worked so well in the 1872 miniseries is likely going bye-bye. I don’t want to slam what’s likely to come, but interesting and unique in comics currently may be giving way to dime a dozen.

This new series had an opportunity to be something interesting, unique, and really stand out, but the first issue is underwhelming on all fronts. I gave the comic a shot, but what I see is so-so art, and a story that matches by underwhelming. This is not a series I’m sticking around for the second issue.

Story: Nathan Edmondson Art: Dalibor Talajic
Story: 6 Art: 6 Overall: 6 Recommendation: Pass

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review