Billy the Kid’s Old Timey Oddities and the Orm of Loch Ness #1

Famous gunslinger Billy the Kid and his freaky band of misfits are out to find the beast of Loch Ness, which they believe is connected to the disappearance of their missing companion Callahan. The old west collides with medievalism in this wacky cowboy adventure.

The Team

Written by Eric Powell (The Goon Vol. 12 : Them That Raised Us Lament, Chimichanga HC, Superman : Escape From Bizarro World), Tracy Marsh (Godzilla : Kingdom of Monsters Complete Oversized) & Kyle Hotz. Illustrated by Kyle Hotz (The Agency, The Hood : Blood From Stones, Epilogue) & coloured by Dan Brown. Published by Dark Horse Comics.

The Pros

Writers Eric Powell & Tracy Marsh have steeped the story with bizarre legends of monsters & warlocks with some creative myths & old wives tales. The characters are what intrigue me the most, as Billy the Kid keeps the weirdest company with individuals like Siamese twins, a plump mini child, a sexy mysterious woman and a strange deformed man who has hands for feet (hilarious moment).

Illustrator Kyle Hotz’s drawings are without a doubt the best thing about this comic. He has a strange flair for the fantastic and adds a Kelley Jones likeness to his illustrations with misshapen & eerie looking characters.

The Cons

Here’s my problem. With one look of the cover, I was expecting a full blown horror story, but instead a got a tamed wild west yarn that’s mediocre at best. While I was reading it, my mind kept wandering back to the old Jonah Hex series from Vertigo by Joe R. Lansdale & Timothy Truman, Two Gun Mojo & other stories I can’t quite remember the names of. Far superior horror comics that pack quite a punch in my opinion. I also had a problem with the ending where a famous horror icon comes out of nowhere and completely changes the groove of the plot. This is the villain? Really? Seems a little lazy to me to simply insert this character into this story.

The Outcome

Now to be fair, this is just the 1^st issue, so maybe the best is yet to come. However, my theory with horror comics is that in order to hook in the reader immediately, the first issue has to go for the jugular and not say “That’ll do pig”