This excellent graphic novel is part western, part steampunk, and part Shakespeare. It sounds like a weird combination, but it works. The artwork is fun and colorful, flows, nicely, and is a great enhancement to the story. Modo is some for of being that wears a mask and has a special power. He is traveling with his shoe obsessed friend Octavia. They wonder into the last town in the middle of nowhere. All they want is a cold glass of milk, but instead wind up lawmen in a town where guns do not work. There is a special force field round the town that render guns useless. But ninja’s and swords work just fine. The story is a bit all over the place, but it works. I want more books in this series because I want more world building. Like what or who exactly is Modo? How did he hook up with Octavia? Please write more of these.

I haven't read any of the books in the main part of this series [although I've had a copy of one from instafreebie for ages], but the description said this was a standalone so I figured I would give it a shot. While it's fairly easy to extrapolate a general backstory for the characters, I think they might have felt more real and a bit less like caricatures if I had read the other books first. The plot is pretty self-contained though so I definitely wouldn't call it confusing at all. It's a fun story about a wild west town founded by an inventor who put several interesting things into the town - including an anti-gun forcefield. The art is a bit cartoony but it works with the subject matter and target age group.

My main problem with the book was that it seemed like the two main female characters were just there to get saved a lot. Octavia did get a few good shots in occasionally but it seems like Modo is supposed to be the smart one AND the muscle so it doesn't leave much for her to do except make sarcastic comments and get into trouble. And the book literally begins and ends with a joke about her spending all their money on shoes which is just ...#yikes. Also I didn't pay attention to a lot of the background characters but the only POC with a speaking role [I think] was a black boy who was a servant to the rich inventor's daughter which was probably not intentional but was still pretty unfortunate.

A Funny, Engaging, Well-Plotted, and Well Drawn Treat

This stand alone book just sort of came out of the blue, and I couldn't resist giving it a try. Awfully glad I did.

The set up is that two British adventurers, beautiful and sassy Octavia and shape-shifting Modo, are wandering the American West, (in 1885), looking for cowboy excitement. They find it in the town of Ember's End. The sheriff is dead and they become the two new deputies. The town is surrounded and protected by a number of strange inventions, (including an energy field that neutralizes gun powder, so no gunplay). An especially strange mechanism, called "the device", is the macguffin that powers the plot. Naturally, there's a villain with a ninja sidekick who's out to steal the device. And the inventor's mysterious daughter is in peril.

But that's pretty much all of the plot you need. Octavia is high spirited and Modo is a bit cautious and glum, and their double-act deadpan exchanges are the comedy fuel that really moves things along. The supporting characters all get good lines, and there are lots of mini-bits that punch up the narrative. There is a lot of sly, smart humor, seasoned with some subtle throwaway lines and offhand wordplay. The pace is fast, with an occasional break for some banter and horse riding. The Wild West Steampunk doesn't weigh things down, or overwhelm the narrative, but adds a creative angle that freshens up the plot.

This is all supported nicely by artwork that complements the tone of the story. The lines are crisp and the inking is just right. The panels are colorful and the characters are expressive. When the punchline to a joke is a character's expression you know the drawing is on point. You get a nice western feel, with some big scenes, crisp action drawing, the right color scheme, and just enough exaggeration and distortion around the edges to bring the scenes to life.

So, this ended up as a very entertaining find that I enjoyed reading. Please note that this Arthur Slade is in fact the same author who wrote "The Hunchback Assignments", of which this is a spin off. Slade also wrote the remarkable, Bradbury-like standalone "Dust".

(Please note that I had a chance to read a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)