By d. emerson eddy — There are a number of comics out there that feel like they were specifically written for me. Comics that so completely encompass my interests, both in terms of content and how the stories are told, that I swear that the creators tapped right into my brain. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips seem to be the creators who hit upon the formula most often, but there are others who tap into it. Like the pulp western-tinged gritty crime drama Undone by Blood – Volume 1: Shadow of a Wanted Man by Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, Sami Kivelä, Jason Wordie, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

The first volume of Undone by Blood follows Ethel Lane as she searches for vengeance against the people who killed her family only a year before. It's an interesting mystery, with Ethel beset by problems consistently through her attempt to discover the murderers, with some bits upending conventions of the genre. Interspersed with the contemporary tale in 1970 are chapters of Ethel's book starring Solomon Eaton, the Shadow of a Wanted Man. It's a more traditional western, laying out a path of revenge there too, as Sol tries to rescue his son.

The pacing and thematic parallels between the two portions of the story are incredible. The pulp western gives us more or less what we expect (while also giving Nadler & Thompson a chance to show off some traditional prose chops) versus Ethel's variation that is fraught with many of the issues that might actually occur in reality. The bad guys in Ethel's tale often win without comeuppance and they come in the form of the ordinary, just being cruel because they can. And that ideas of corruption, complicity, and everything making sense in one giant scheme might just not be reality.

This is also another book where the synergy between all of the creative team is off the scale. Kivelä, Wordie, and Otsmane-Elhaou dive headfirst into the shifts and changes between the two different formats, flashbacks, and occasional mix of prose/comics that just the overall structure of what this story looks like enhances the overall feel and atmosphere. Kivelä's line art is chameleon-like as it goes between straight-up western and '70s period piece, with some incredible layouts for both. 

Wordie's colors too giving a sepia-toned dusty feel to the pulp western and a more washed out feel and atmosphere to the '70s reality. I get a kind of feeling of existential despair in the contemporary pieces. All of it tied together with Otsmane-Elhaou's letters working overtime. I particularly like the approach taken to the dialogue in the pulp western sequences, carrying on the idea that this is something out of a book versus Ethel's reality.

Undone by Blood – Volume 1: Shadow of a Wanted Man by Nadler, Thompson, Kivelä, Wordie, and Otsmane-Elhaou is a wonderful synthesis of two types of western (more traditional pulp and Cormac McCarthy-tinged bleak modern) into an existential tale of revenge that might just break your heart. It's also one of those comics that is as important in how it is told as it is in its story content, showing off just what's magical about the possibilities of the medium.

Classic Comic of the Week: Undone by Blood - Volume 1, Shadow of a Wanted Man

Undone by Blood – Volume 1: Shadow of a Wanted Man
Writers: Lonnie Nadler & Zac Thompson
Artist: Sami Kivelä
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: AfterShock Comics
In the early 1970s, Ethel Grady Lane returns to her hometown of Sweetheart, Arizona with one thing on her mind: killing the man who murdered her family. But first, she'll have to find him.
As Ethel navigates the eccentric town and its inhabitants, she learns that the quaint veneer hides a brewing darkness. She has no choice but to descend into a ring of depravity and violence, with her only ally an Old West novel that follows famed gunslinger Solomon Eaton. As both stories unfold simultaneously, a love of fiction informs choices in reality, for better or worse.
Release Date: November 4, 2020
Price: $15.99
More Info: Undone by Blood - Volume 1, Shadow of a Wanted Man

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.