Cowboys & Aliens
Comic books have a wonderful privilege. They entertain in a very unique fashion, but also have the ability to craft story lines that are political in nature. To cut to the chase, comics can often be read two ways, the first, only for entertainment. The second, is how the story fits in to the events of the day. Cowboys & Aliens straddles these two worlds.
First, entertainment, the title alone pulls a punch. Yes, this comic has cowboys and aliens. I hearken it back to Snakes on a Plane, it's not going to pull any punches. The art style is classic 80s superhero, the characters are black hat bad guys vs white hat good guys, and the aliens really have a lot of green goo. These are the foundations of most comic book series, and the foundation of most action adventure films. It's easy entertainment, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Second, this comic fits in to the events of the day. At it's base Cowboys & Aliens is an anti-occupation force story. Aliens invade planet Earth and attempt to take over the Old West. The cowboys are forced to team up with Native Americans to force out the aliens. Comparisons can be drawn to the Iraq war all the way though to the events of the Arab Spring. It is, of course, up to the reader to draw them.
Moving on, the next comic on my long (and growing) list is Flight. Flight is an anthology series that's done by young and up and coming artists. Very excited about this.
Oh, and it took me over two hours to compose this blog post...
Comic books have a wonderful privilege. They entertain in a very unique fashion, but also have the ability to craft story lines that are political in nature. To cut to the chase, comics can often be read two ways, the first, only for entertainment. The second, is how the story fits in to the events of the day. Cowboys & Aliens straddles these two worlds.
First, entertainment, the title alone pulls a punch. Yes, this comic has cowboys and aliens. I hearken it back to Snakes on a Plane, it's not going to pull any punches. The art style is classic 80s superhero, the characters are black hat bad guys vs white hat good guys, and the aliens really have a lot of green goo. These are the foundations of most comic book series, and the foundation of most action adventure films. It's easy entertainment, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Second, this comic fits in to the events of the day. At it's base Cowboys & Aliens is an anti-occupation force story. Aliens invade planet Earth and attempt to take over the Old West. The cowboys are forced to team up with Native Americans to force out the aliens. Comparisons can be drawn to the Iraq war all the way though to the events of the Arab Spring. It is, of course, up to the reader to draw them.
Moving on, the next comic on my long (and growing) list is Flight. Flight is an anthology series that's done by young and up and coming artists. Very excited about this.
Oh, and it took me over two hours to compose this blog post...
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