Cinebook the 9th Art: LONESOME 1 - THE PREACHER'S TRAIL

 

Author: Yves Swolfs

Age: 12 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 56 colour pages
ISBN: 9781800440005

£8.99 incl. VAT

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/lonesome-1-the-preachers-trail-p-4439.html

Kansas, 1861. As tensions rise between the Northern and Southern states, a fanatical, violent preacher leaves a trail of corpses behind him, all the while calling people to take up arms against pro-slavery states. Close on his tail is a lone rider with a strange gift: he can read the past and future of those he touches. In the small town of Holton, a showdown is brewing, but things aren’t as straightforward as they seem …

I was talking to the late John "Coop" Cooper one evening and he mentioned hthat he was a big Clint Eastwood fan and I believe the night before he had been watching The Enforcer. This got us talking about other Eastwood movies and particularly the Western ones. John noted that he had asked a few times about any Western work from British companies but was told the genre was "very 1960s" and that was that. I think he would have drawn a really good Western strip.

Just an aside. When it comes to Lonesome I immediately think of one of those Eastwood Westerns. Rough. Gritty. Nothing purty about it and plenty of "justified gunplay" (gun-play in comics is better than in real life believe me). Enjoyed the story and the art works well and the colouring by Julie Swolfs makes the artwork stand out even more.

A pity we do not have home grown original Western comics in the UK (and, yes, I am aware that I reviewed a few years back but it seems to have been a "phase"). Cinebook are delivering all the slap-leather (oooh) action you want -just go and check out there site. Western fans need to buy this one for entertainment. One to keep an eye on.