Brian Azzarello’s EL DIABLO has nothing to do with the El Diablo of DC Comics past. But it has everything to do with that writer’s reputation for dark, violent work. Over four issues in 2001, the 100 BULLETS creator told a weird Western tale that’s just now making its trade paperback debut. Is it worth the wait? You bet your guns.
Moses Stone serves as sheriff of a two-bit town named Bollas Raton. When he’s not keeping the peace, he’s chatting up the local bounty hunters, executing Apaches and trying to get his wife pregnant. But one day, the peace becomes much harder to keep.
That’s when Monkey Joe and his gang roll into town. At the saloon, they tell Moses of a “shadow” who’s been following them: a cunning sort known as El Diablo. Soon, this mysterious figure catches up, putting bullets through both of Monkey Joe’s eyes and slaughtering the rest of his crew. Moses himself is strung up in the bar, but left alive, with the word “Halo” carved into his back by El Diablo’s knife.
It’s a taunt, to have Moses meet him in the town where Moses grew up. So off Moses and his men go. Place your bets on how many will come back alive.
To say anything specific about the story once this journey gets underway would ruin Azzarello’s surprises; suffice to say, he has many, starting with the title itself. But oh, yes, there will be blood, as various characters are prone to fits of gunplay at a moment’s notice – and sometimes not even that slowly.
It’s the kind of dirty, dingy revenge tale you’d expect from him, and Danijel Zezelj is the right artist to bring it to fruition. Although his style sometimes makes it difficult to tell which character is who, Zezelj’s depictions of the shootouts are a thing of beauty, like the very best frame of a Peckinpah Western on pause. Of particular note is El Diablo’s initial appearance: a dark figure in the background, a blue headband the only color on him, standing amidst a blood-red background as his gun puts forth a horizontal line of six yellow Xs etched into the panel.
Don’t know why it took so long for EL DIABLO to see print again, but given the current wave of hard-edged Western comics – from JONAH HEX to THE LONE RANGER – it’s hard to imagine it having better company. Other than your shelf, of course. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• DOCTOR 13: ARCHITECTURE AND MORALITY by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang
