Tomorrow's Review Group takes on the new Billy The Kid's Old Timey Oddities. Tonight, Lee takes on the final issue of the first volume!
Credits & Solicit Info:
Billy the Kid's Old-Timey Oddities #4
Writer: Eric Powell
Penciller: Kyle Hotz
Cover Artist: Eric Powell
Genre: Humor, Horror, Action/Adventure
Thanks to the combined distraction of Billy's entrapment and the explosive entry of yet another insane treasure hunter seeking the Golem's heart, Sproule and his companions are able to escape from their bonds, but with the monstrous villagers mindlessly obeying Dr. Frankenstein's every word, none of them can escape from the lab . . . at least, not without Billy's help. But does Billy have the courage to overcome his greatest fears and free himself in time to save the others? Does he have the generosity of heart to risk his life for a group of people he has called "freaks?"
Don't miss the fourth issue of Billy The Kid's Old Timey Oddities from Eisner Award-winning Goon-creator Eric Powell and fan-favorite horror artist, Kyle Hotz!
Friends are lost. Secrets revealed and new relationships forged.
Powell's epic story of horror, freaks, and a Wild West anti-hero comes to the rip roaring conclusion one would expect. The real reason for the journey is revealed. The secrets of the heart exposed and the evil doctor is usurped.
In the end, the hero was not an 11th Hour savior, but the inner demons of Billy let loose. When the doctor makes the tragic mistake of killing the miniature boy's guardian, he becomes the trigger to lock the good man hiding behind the bandit. The script is of such fortitude, that you actually gain some insight into what might make such a notorious legend be the way he is.
It's not just empathy gained for Billy though; it is the beginning of some purpose to his new life, a new family to forge through the mysteries of life. As surprised as the reader is to his reaction, it is even more of a shock to those characters that had made up their minds about the bank robber before meeting him.
The loss of a friend to the scalpel in the castle is filled with this new ignorant but entertaining sort and it looks as if what was a trademark to be continued possibly ending is seeing its fruition with the Ghastly Fiend of London.
Billy the Kid's Old Timey Oddities was a rollicking good time. Like The Goon, Powell's story transcends the pulpy nature of the idea into a statement on how we accept and react to stereotypes. He skillfully plays everyone against type showing how their warts can be considered beauty marks.
The final chapter is as effortlessly illustrated as the first three. Hotz adds the sounds and kabooms needed for the gun blazing finale and finds the quiet in the aftermath – even if Powell's script goes into extensive but readable monologuing.
A fun and different kind of horror book filled with laughs. Here's hoping the trip to the far east known as London is just as Wild.
Review by: Lee Newman