By Zack Quaintance — Above Snakes #1 is coming for us all in July. Marking the latest collaboration between writer Sean Lewis and artist Hayden Sherman (with letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou), the book is a western story of revenge that uses the small details to elevate the whole affair past expectations. To set this up, it’s maybe important to note that this is the third recent collaboration between Lewis and Sherman, following first The Few in 2017 and next Thumbs in 2019. The well-honed collaboration between the two comes across in how coherent the book feels with all its element, but this book stands a bit apart from those, swerving as it does away from the sci-fi and dystopian future elements of its predecessors to explore a western revenge motif.

And while “western revenge” sounds predictable, the other thing that makes this first issue really shine is just how unpredictable this comic manages to be. And of course the plot — which I won’t spoil here — is a big part of this, but so too are the small touches, the talking bird (that might be paranormal in some way?), the idea that there’s a circuit of revenge seekers on the frontier (most of whom aren’t all that serious about actually getting their revenge), and evil-doer castrations with subsequent quips played for laughs. It all comes together quite well.

In that sense, Above Snakes #1 is my favorite kind of genre comic, one that says let’s do what you’re supposed to do in this genre but do every little thing really really well. Lewis script is also fiery with the dialogue, not falling into hammy western tropes but delivering clever interplay between everyone in the story, even the narration and voiceover captions that lay over the story.

But the real star of the show here is (perhaps unsurprisingly) Hayden Sherman’s artwork. I’ve said this on Twitter often, but what really stuns me about Sherman’s work is how it continues to get better…and better…and even better. What particularly stunned me about Sherman’s work here is that books like Mary Shelley Monster Hunter aside, I tend to associate Sherman almost entirely with science fiction. Yet here they are, doing the hard rustic work of creating a western, right down to weathered characters and period-accurate buildings in the backgrounds.

What really stands out (to me, at least) is Sherman coloring themselves here, going all in with striking tones that expertly convey mood and action, from chilling blues on sinister reveals that give way to blood reds that convey a slap to the face…or worse. Sherman’s work in Above Snakes #1 is deliberate and confident, and as you can see from the early preview pages here, it imbues the entire story with a sense that this is a narrative just for comics, which is always a beautiful thing. In short, it’s one of those books that makes me think, if you don’t like this one, you might not like comics.

Overall: Above Snakes #1 is what you expect from a western revenge comic but better. It does the hallmarks of the genre well and elevates it with a mix of high quality and significant small touches. 9/10

REVIEW: Above Snakes #1

Above Snakes #1
Writer: Sean Lewis
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Publisher: Image Comics
The hit team behind THE FEW and THUMBS returns with an all-new WILD AS HELL miniseries! Writer SEAN LEWIS (KING SPAWN), artist HAYDEN SHERMAN (Wasted Space), and rock-star letterer HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU introduce a world where Deadwood-style Westerns collide with the fantasia of NEIL GAIMAN in the story of Dirt, a man seeking vengeance for his murdered wife with nothing but a talking vulture to prod him on. ABOVE SNAKES is a fast and furious explosion of Western tropes and American vengeance that explores where our rage can take us.
Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 13, 2022

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He has written about comics for The Beat and NPR Books, among others. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.