There are a lot of times where genre-blending can be difficult or turn out a wonky kind of story, but Remender holds a tight rein on his plot, allowing it to drive the story more so than its trappings.  Sci-fi is man vs. tech, while westerns are man vs. nature, human, and otherwise.  This mix fills the empty waste with all manner of horrors to the point of fantasy, but the story remains personal and more in the one-to-one relationships than the spectacle and expanse of the greater war.  There’s a great deal of world building going on, and the format allows for it to be done in a frank, yet efficient, manner.

Remender teams up with Jerome Opena for this series, and it’s a very fitting match.  Opena manages to capture the signature of Remender’s style while bringing a rustic and worn feeling to the work.  Don’t get me wrong, everything is beautifully done and the scenes he brings to life are incredible, but the world looks alive in a way that isn’t the pretty and slick newness, but rather a dinged up, lived-in reality.  It captures us because we are new to it, but this is a world that has been touched long before we ventured into it.  I love the attention to detail he shows in his technique that sells that feeling; it’s an intense thing to see.

This is a promising start to a series, if you dig your stories at a cowpoke’s pace but love your fantastical creatures and mind-bending technologies. You’ll want to jump on now.

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