Comics I Bought This Week: October 29, 2009

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus a hard cover collection:

Sergio Argonés: Groo - The Hogs of Horder -1

EC Archives Frontline Combat Volume 1

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

"Desperadoes: Buffalo Dreams" by Jeff Mariotte and Alberto Dose

"Desperadoes" is a comic I've bought over the years. Usually I bought it in month to month comic book form. This is the first collected edition of it I've purchased not having read the comics. I never picked this story up on the stands probably because "Desperadoes" comics are a little hard to find. Or maybe because it was published by IDW (used to be Image) and their comics are $3.99 a pop. That's too much for me. Constantly starting each new story line with a new first issue doesn't make it easy to keep track of either. This "Desperadoes" series came out in 2007 but it took me until now to get it.

I'm struggling with things to say about "Desperados: Buffalo Dreams" because it's kind of mediocre. It's a western, and I like westerns, with some supernatural elements thrown in, which I don't like as much. The usual cast of cowboy, cowgirl, and outcast characters are all back but their adventures didn't much interest me this time around.

"Desperadoes" has never been a great series but this volume seemed weakest to me. There are a couple of plot points that annoyed me with their stupidity and the story was only moved along only with the help of supernatural intervention. Nothing rang true about this book for me.

The artwork was also only so-so as was the storytelling. But it was the coloring that let me down the most though. It laid down and died. The book would have been better off in black and white. The color made the artwork duller somehow. That's quite a feat.

I hate to beat up on "Desperadoes" because it has generally been a series that, while not great, I have enjoyed. After all I did continue to buy series after series as they were infrequently released. If you want to give this western series a try don't start with this volume. Pick one of the others. That's all I got for you.