Your family pretty much informs your taste in things growing up, because either you go the total opposite or you get drawn to it. My maternal grandfather was a huge cinephile, as his love of movies trickled down to his children and on to us, grandchildren. This is something I even passed down to my daughters. One of his favorite genres, was the Western.

Me and my cousins watched all the classics with him starring Lee Van Cleef, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and countless other fil stars that would go on to work in many more genres. Looking back, it made me fall in love with that era as well. The one running story in most of these celluloid classics, were that of a stranger who wanders into a town, minding their own business, no wanting any trouble but finding it nonetheless. This is exactly the outline M.F.K. by Nilah Magruder plays in, but she subverts tropes and injects realism where western standards would have been used by lesser hands.

We are introduced to, a mysterious wanderer, named Abbie, who is on her way to scattering her mother’s ashes in a mountain region named Potter’s Spine in this western dystopia, where the government is broken, and wielding magic, is much like wielding a gun. She stops in a townlet for such rest, when she gets to known the town folk, and one after the other becomes enamored with each of them. So, when a gang of rogues, who are known as the Parasai. By book’s end, the gang has gone too far, Abbie, unveils she has power all her own, and injustice will not carry on any further.

Overall, a dystopian fable which definitely turns the genre on its head, as Magruder shows that levity ad heart can be included in a story where the world fails itself. The story by Magruder, is elaborate, genuine, and beautiful. The art by Magruder, is gorgeous sequential art with tips of the hat to anime and sprawling Western art pieces of the Old West. Altogether, a story which challenges norms of gender, race, body and most importantly, storytelling.

Story: Nilah Magruder Art: Nilah Magruder
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy