WESTERNOIR

Josiah Black had been lots of things in his life. Some were good others not so much. He assumed that, thanks to all the experience he had, he was ready to face any and all challenges. Having said that, just as the saying goes, “Fact is Stranger than Fiction” and after meeting Mrs. Anderson he will later bump into the elusive and enigmatic Mr. Caligary who will offer him the opportunity to see reality from a different perspective. From then on, Josiah Black will cease to be a lonesome gun-for-hire and become a hired hunter of strange paranormal phenomena, just like brothers Sam and Dean Winchester.

Thanks to the letters brought by Mr. Baylocke, Mr. Caligary’s courier, Black discovers the world is not the place he supposed it to be and that in it there are also nightmarish creatures, legendary beings and, in short, evil in all its forms.

As it tends to be the case, though, Mr. Caligary hasn’t told Black everything nor is Mr. Baylocke a trust-worthy person. This combination will take Black to a cold cell, charged with the murder of three sisters who apparently were not what they claimed to be.

WesterNoir, by Dave West and Gary Crutchley, is an amazing fusion between the classic Western stories and H. P. Lovecraft’s narratives. Supported by an elegant artwork which plays with white and black as Universal Horror Film movies used to do, Josiah Black’s adventures takes us to a world full with paranormal activities in a time-period in which this symbiosis does not usually happen (except for counted examples, such as Cowboys & Aliens).

A voice from offstage is Dave West’s chosen tool to let us know Josiah’s thoughts which, in turn, intertwine with the other characters’ speech. This is another element the writer has placed a lot of care in as the characters express themselves with the linguistic characteristics of Coastal American English. Indeed, the characters in WesterNoir not only look like cowboys, they also sound like cowboys which makes this series even more believable.

WesterNoir is a well-composed, entertaining story which gets the reader hooked from the first moment, even though he or she is not a fan of Westerns. It is also proof that good stories can be published also by a small, independent publishing company, such as Accent Uk.

If you have some time to spare, I strongly recommend a visit to Accent UK’s webpage, www.accentukcomics.com. There you will find a short but selected collection of titles Accent UK offers to readers demanding high quality products.

The only question left to ask is, “When is Book Five going to be available, please?”

WesterNoir © 2014 Accent Uk Comics.

Cover © 2014 Gary Crutchley