This first issue of Kingsway West jumps around a bit before we find our footing in the present story. Greg Pak (House of Penance) has created a brand new, but awfully familiar, world. It’s the era of the gold rush, the US is split between the Chinese and Mexicans, and the gold is red. Yes, Red Gold. This Red Gold powers a phenomenon that science cannot explain, especially since it can be used as a weapon. Everyone wants it, badly enough to go to war.

That is the setting. Post-war, the story is of Kingsway Law, a Chinese gunslinger who deserted and is wanted for treason against the Queen of Golden City. Unfortunately for anyone trying to bring him in, they don’t last long, except for a Mexican woman who saves and marries him. We jump forward again by five years and, like all Westerns before this, it becomes a trek through the wilderness – a hunt. One with grit and sass . . . and monsters!

Within recent months – although I’ve known Greg Pak’s excellent work for a while now – he has become a writer I watch out for, especially with his creator-owned original works. He creates vivid landscapes and otherwise realistic settings, but with dangerous twists.

It’s difficult to say where this one is going, but I love Westerns and I love sci-fi/fantasy, so I say bring it on.