Art by Dan Nokes
Written by Dan Nokes
You can rarely go wrong with a comic based on the old west. At least from the perspective of a 49-year-old reviewer who grew up on books such as the Rawhide Kid.
So I was pretty excited when The Pistoleers (Chapter One of Three) arrived.
Interestingly artist/writer Dan Nokes said he wasn't a western fan as a kid.
“The Pistoleers was originally like my previous series 'The Paranormals' derived from a single sketch I did back in 1996, or so that got buried in an art bin for about nine years,” he said. “In 2005, or so, I was half way through 'The Paranormals' when I came to the conclusion that I was sick of The Tolkienesque fantasy epic and wanted to do something more grounded. I dug through said storage bin, saw the pic and was inspired to elaborate.
“As to being a western fan, I can say now yes! Most definitely.
“When I was a kid no, most certainly not. The fascination came in my early 20s for sure.”
Now a comic tends to live and die by its art work. Let's face it we all thumb through the pages to check out the art before we shell out the green to take it home.
With The Pistoleers Nokes offers up an artistic style which sort of has a feel of something done in an earlier era. There is a roughness to the art, a sort of simplicity which hearkens back to a different time.
“As to artistic influences I am self taught,” said Dan Nokes in an email interview. “It's a matter of the Edisonian method of trial and error as to how I learned to draw. “
Nokes said as a youth it was some well-known comic artists he admired most, and that has tended to be the same as he as matured, always being influenced by good artists from the comic genre.
“As to artistic influences, when I was a kid it was John Byrne, and Walt Simonson all the way.
“As a teen I was caught in the 90's boom and became a huge fan of Jim Lee, as well as Mark Bagely, Sam Keith and others.
“These days guys ranging from Chris Bachallo to John Romita Jr. to Jack Kirby, and John Cassaday influence my art.”
In some respects I think of the early Steamboat Willy cartoon art, when looking at The Pistoleers, in respect to its rawness.
Rendered in black and white only adds to that 'feel'.
The look tends to grow on one, although it doesn't necessarily impress at first glance.
Now to overlook this comic would be a mistake, because Nokes writes a darned good tale of the old west, tieing the story's roots to the Civil War, and including the interaction of a black youth, and his adopted white family.
Of course there is a reoccurring villain, tied to the war, who resurfaces by the book's end, which might be a bit clichéd, but some genres survive because there is a formula which works.
I will say there is one panel early in the book, that of an old photograph that foreshadows the answer to the question at the end of the book 'will the Marcus Brothers Escape From Their Bonds?' but otherwise the suspense builds nicely.
Like a lot of indie comics, The Pistoleers took some time to go from idea to comic book.
“As to putting together a clear picture of what I wanted to do with the series, it was cultivated, outlined, and formulated over a three-year period, while I was working on Paranormals #6-12,” he said.
The western is the third title for Nokes in his career.
“As to my pre-history with comics, that started in 2002 with my 67 page one-shot 'The Reptile and Mister Amazing',” he said. “It was a straight out superhero comic about a geriatric ex-superhero teaming with a dinosapien janitor from a parallel earth to take on an omnipotent homicidal game show host.
“The Paranormals came next. It was a 12-issue maxi series I did between 2003-2008.
“In short it's an end of the world story where your heroes include: A feeble minded robot, a chain smoking English vampire, an alcoholic binge eating Australian Aborigine werewolf, a teenage witch, and angry Scottish dwarf. I just collected and will be releasing the first six issues of the book in TPB (trade paperback) format.”
As for The Pistoleers, Nokes said it is a finite story.
“The series will definitely end with issue #3!,” he said. “It's rough to do a continuous series in the indie comic world. You have to compete with the big boys for shelf space which is like a local microbrew cola competing for shelf space at the 7-11 against Coke and Pepsi!
“Besides after 'The Paranormals' I want to keep down to one shots, graphic novels and mini series of four issues or less.”
Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.myspace.com/21sandshark
-- CALVIN DANIELS
Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra
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