East Of West #45
It’s the final showdown in East Of West #45, by writer Jonathan Hickman, artist Nick Dragotta, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Rus Wooton. The final issue of the book, this one ties up all the loose ends and brings things to a satisfying conclusion.
The last Texas Ranger faces Archibald Chamberlain and Bel Solomon. Archibald goads Bel into shooting him, but the gun he gave Bel had no bullets. The Ranger and Archibald have a duel, and Archibald’s luck finally runs out. The Ranger then keeps his promise to Bel. Death and the Oracle make their way to the Valley of the Gods. They meet up with Babylon, who tells his father that he’s been trying to get the Horsemen to surrender. Death has his final showdown with them but is badly wounded, and father and son make their way west. At Armistice, Wolf and John call together the remaining leaders and sign a new agreement, one meant to finally unite them all. Death collapses on the journey west and sends his son on to his mother before he dies. Babylon finds his mother and removes his helmet, seeing the world as it is for the first time. Together, the two of them begin to rebuild their fractured land, with love as their guide.
A lot happens in this book, but none of it feels rushed. Hickman paces it perfectly, giving everything the room it needs to breath. At first, Archibald’s Death seems a little anti-climactic. He’s had such a grand journey through the book, manipulating his way to greater and greater power and feels like maybe he should have had a more significant death, but this actually fits perfectly. Throughout the book, Chamberlain’s skills as a duelist, as well as his look, have gotten him through nearly every situation. For his luck to finally run out and for him to actually miss is a huge deal. It says a lot about his journey and who he is; this was one fight too far, and it could only end one way.
The battle between Death and Horsemen is excellent as well. He pretty much gets a flawless victory against Famine and Conquest but gets the worst of it from War, which is probably something readers didn’t expect. Death has been such a titan throughout the book and even wholly blind, he was able to defeat two of the three Horsemen thoroughly. War, though, gives him a run for his money. It’s not even him that actually gets the victory against War, but Babylon. After that, there’s just so much emotion in the remaining scenes between father and son. Hickman doesn’t change anything about Death- readers don’t suddenly see this mostly stoic man become an emotionally open person who gives his son an outpouring of love before he dies. However, his last words to his son are perfect, and his final act of sending the boy to his mother, where he can finally learn about love, is an act of a man who doesn’t want his son to end up like him.
Nick Dragotta’s art is wonderful, as always. Conquest and War both transform into their true forms during their fights with Death, and they look great. The action scenes are well-paced and hard-hitting, exactly what readers would expect from Dragotta. Frank Martin’s colors really put the shine on Dragotta’s work, taking something already great and making it amazing.
East Of West #45 sticks the landing. At first read, it feels like something is missing from the book, but the more one thinks about the various endings, the more perfect they feel. Hickman deserves a lot of credit for getting this ending right; East Of West has always been a very complicated book, full of intersecting plotlines and multiple characters, and reaching the conclusion this well really speaks to his skill as a writer. Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin take his script and bring it to life wonderfully. They sell the emotion of what’s happening on the page and get the action scenes entirely right. It’s sad seeing East Of West go, but it’s great that it had an ending this good.
Grade: A
