![\"EofW_Map\"](\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/EofW_Map.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAs a backdrop to these all too physical events is the spiritual component of The Message, a prophesy in three parts.\u00a0 The two largest components sprang from the pen of Elijah Longstreet and from the oral recitation of a \u2018waking vision\u2019 from Red Cloud.\u00a0 The final piece falls into place a half century later, provided as an addendum to Mao Zedong II\u2019s, ruler of the People’s Republic of America, little red book.<\/p>\n
Fast forward about 100 years. \u00a0The wild frontier of the old west is now juxtaposed with and accentuated by the monolithic architecture and the ubiquitous flying cars of futuristic world reminiscent of Blade Runner.\u00a0 And into a small frontier saloon, complete with swinging doors, walks a lanky cowboy all in white \u2013 white clothes, white boots, white hair, white eyes, and white skin.\u00a0 Accompanying him are two Native American witches, a large, imposing man named Wolf, and a shapely, thin woman named Crow \u2013 each equally monochromatic as their companion.<\/p>\n
Here then is the Pale Rider himself, Death, who leaves a wake of destruction.\u00a0 But this embodiment of Death seems to be on a personal mission.\u00a0 More on this in a bit.<\/p>\n At the same time, further removed, we see a set of standing stones sitting in the wasteland, surrounding a brick circle decorated with four glyphs.\u00a0 Energy crackles, lights flash, and something seems about to happen.<\/p>\n Three figures then emerge from the ground, each sporting a single hue and a bizarre, childlike, appearance.<\/p>\n As they gather their senses, these three realize that one of their number is missing and, for that affront, they vow to kill him, followed by the world.\u00a0 It seems that they are the remaining three Horsemen<\/a>.\u00a0 The red one is War, the one decked in green is Famine, while the blue-hued one is Conquest.<\/p>\n The Horsemen immediately set out to find their confederates in the human realm.\u00a0 A secret cabal of select members of each nation is aligned with the Horsemen.\u00a0 Known as the Chosen, these agents act secretly within their countries to hasten the end times.<\/p>\n Driven by the Message, each of them plays a pivotal role in bringing about the Apocalypse.\u00a0 Their secret club house is a tower located in the heart of Armistice,<\/p>\n which is run by a \u2018priest\u2019 named Ezra Orion, who was groomed from infancy by Conquest to be the harbinger of the Message.<\/p>\n The main thrust of the drama comes from the tension between the Horsemen.\u00a0 Sometime in the past, Death, who was almost entirely black in his previous incarnation, falls in love with Xiaolian, daughter of the Mao Zedong V, ruler of the PRA.\u00a0 Xiaolian and Death set up house, have a baby, and try to live a cozy little life together, but Conquest, War, and Famine will have none of it.<\/p>\n In a narrative told through fractured glimpses of 10 or 15 years in the past, the Horsemen conspire to separate Death from his wife.\u00a0 They then ambush Death<\/p>\n and attack Xiaolian and take her baby.<\/p>\n Death is now back, looking first for revenge, and then upon finding out that his wife and child are still alive, looking to re-unite his family. This may not be a very smart thing to do, since the son, now referred to as the Beast of the Apocalypse,<\/p>\n has been raised in a secret location where his mind and body have been trained to levels of fantastic mental and physical prowess, while any sense of moral awareness and compassion have atrophied.<\/p>\n And so begins a grand tale, epic in its scope, about love, betrayal, tragedy, and disappointment. \u00a0Whether the little family will finally be re-united and at what cost to them, the Horsemen, the Chosen, and the rest of the world remains to be seen.<\/p>\n Along the way, we are treated to excellent exposition (all too lacking in today\u2019s comics), striking art, and more cultural allusions than I can count.<\/p>\n Hickman could easily lose the reader in his complicated set of interlocking motivations, ambitions, and occurrences, but he almost unerringly keeps the storyline easy to follow and the verisimilitude consistent.\u00a0 Minor flaws are present in the timeline leading up to the signing of the Accords at Armistice and in the use of the word Apocrypha (which literally means disputed or in error and so doesn\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t apply to the Message) but these are hard to find and easily ignored.\u00a0 The dialog orients us to the emotional states of the characters and their actions follow from these.\u00a0 No attempt is made to overly explain \u2018how\u2019 these things are occurring and so the story can proceed unencumbered with it mythology.<\/p>\n Dragotta\u2019s art is also excellent and, as I said above, striking.\u00a0 It is very nicely complimented by Martin\u2019s use of color \u2013 not only because the character colors are integral to the storyline, but also in conveying the raw intensity of a scene<\/p>\n or the stark horror of the events that bend many of these characters to the evil of the Horsemen.<\/p>\n There seems to be at least one homage to popular culture in every issue. Similarities to Deadlands, Blade Runner, Kill Bill, and other well-known stories abound. One of the most amusing is a parallel to the training that the Beast receives from a computerized system in his lair and the re-education of Spock at the beginning of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.\u00a0 In both cases, an emotionless computer is drilling an equally emotionless \u2018man\u2019 about the fine minutia of history, science, math, and logic.\u00a0 In both cases, the final question is \u201chow do you feel,\u201d which is answered by both trainees with puzzlement.<\/p>\n Finally, it is worth noting that East of West is reminiscent of the mythological work of Roger Zelazny<\/a>.\u00a0 One of Zelazny\u2019s favorite structures in writing a science fiction novel was creating a setting where the science of a world allows its practitioners to be regarded as figures pulled directly out of mythology.\u00a0 While the most famous of these is his novel Lord of Light<\/a>, in which the main characters parallel the gods of the Hindu pantheon, the mythic and narrative structure of Creatures of Light and Darkness is much closer in tone and style.\u00a0 In Creatures of Light and Darkness<\/a>, we find a fractured family trying to be re-united, an anachronistic world with ancient ideas mixed with modern technology, and a barely perceptible line between magic and science.\u00a0 Whether these similarities are coincidence or by design only Hickman, Dragotta, and Martin can tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n