Thousands of ways to die in the West

Pretty Deadly, Vol. I by Kelly Sue Deconnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles (Image Comics, $9.99)

This is myth-making of the highest order, as what appears to be a Western is in fact a story about how the world was saved by a little girl who was willing to die. And, like all myths, it is a story within a story; the butterfly wants a story from a bunny, but this bunny is no longer alive. It’s a hopping skeleton, but nonetheless one helluva story-teller.

And that’s just the beginning of the fantastical in Pretty Deadly.

A pair of buskers—a blind man and a little girl with one blue and one brown eye—sing the song of Deathface Ginny in a Western town and then collect the change. But a chance encounter with a red-headed gunslinger leads to a bounty hunter—Big Alice, under contract to Death himself—on their trail. As the myth unfolds, we get a clearer and clearer picture of the stakes in this battle. And it serves as an origin story, so that the myth-making can go on.

In short, it’s the best thing since Neil Gaiman’s Sandman reboot.

The color scheme is reminiscent of the best art in the Saga series, and the art is graceful, with elements of Native images and La Calavera Catrina faces from Mexican folkloric tradition. Let’s also note that the women aren’t drawn as physically unobtainable male fantasies; they’re beautiful, yes, but also representative, racially and physically, of reality. 

And did we mention that they strong, smart, and have agendas of their own that don’t involve doing what men want? Yeah, rate Pretty Deadly a “don’t miss it,” and make sure to keep up with the series.