|
|
|
|
|
|
HomeShop at BookSurgeFictionWesternsTex Arcana: A Saga of the Old West |
|
|  |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Yippee Ti-Yi-Yo! May 25, 2007
I'm sure all old-time (ha) fans of Tex Arcana were as overjoyed as I was to discover that the comic has been reprinted in a paperback edition. This strip was one of the high points (when it appeared) in Heavy Metal magazine's "post-movie" period in the early-to-mid 80s. I was surprised to discover that there were actually 250+ pages of Tex Arcana available for purchase and that the initial serialized story I remembered only constituted the first 58 pages of this volume.
The good news is that this book includes all the Tex Arcana you'd ever want, including the intros and outros by "the old Claim-Jumper" (which were removed from a previous collection) and the 25-part "The Toast of Europe", which has apparently never been collected before.
The book loses a star for me because the printing quality is good but not great. The paper isn't as rough as the newsprint in DC's Showcase series or Marvel's Essentials, but overall, the printing looks darker, and lacks the subtle greytones that characterized the strip when it was first published in Heavy Metal. The "color" palette in this book is much more limited, and a lot of detail has been obscured, as long-time fans will probably notice as early as the first page. It's a minor complaint, but still a shame, as the originally-published version of Tex Arcana was remains one of the most detailed, subtle, and beautiful uses of greyscale I've ever seen in comics
In any case, though, please don't let my fanboy nitpicking keep you from getting a copy if you're a fan! I've never even read 4/5 of the material in this book, so it was a no-brainer blind buy just to get everything in one volume. Here's hoping that the sales of this book will justify a future "Absolute Tex Arcana" edition!
Fondly remembered---wish it continued Apr 25, 2007
I used to love this in the old _Heavy Metal_ magazine, back in the days when I bought _Heavy Metal._ The combination of supernatural horror and the Old West was something I'd never seen before, and a lot of the characters rocked, including Tex Arcana himself, his girlfriend, the mysterious Woman in White, and the two hapless little demons, Sweazey and Herm.
 A true classic, and a must have. Mar 24, 2007
People make that comment about a lot of things, but John Findley's
"Tex Arcana: A Saga of the Old West" deserves those accolades - and more.
A horror/fantasy/adventure set in the "Old West" of the mid-1800's,
Findley weaves a superbly literate tale that is by turns humorous, creepy and dramatic.
And the artwork is a match for the storytelling. The b/w pencil/pen and ink work is rich and incredibly detailed. Super-evocative in the way only the very cream of such work can be. It adds amazing punch and fascination to an already multi-layered and finely crafted story.
So, whether you are a fan of a great story well told, or just a fan of truly first rate art, this is a must for your bookshelf.
You won't be dissapointed!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Tex Arcana Feb 14, 2007
This is simply one of the best graphic novels ever, in my opinion. The quirky characters, the offbeat humor, and the amazing artwork are incomparable. I remembered this series from the Heavy Metal magazine in the 1980s and was very pleased to find the series collected into one book. I look forward to seeing more books in this series!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Brilliant Dec 22, 2006
I read "Tex Arcana" in the old HEAVY METAL magazine in the 80's. Even there it stood out as one of the funniest, wittiest, best-drawn (by far) and best-plotted graphic novels ever produced.
This republication gives fans the chance to read again the adventures of Tex (a sort of Old Western occult detective), his loving and far more competent wife/anima the mysterious Woman in White, Doc, Sadie the whore with a heart of gold, The (undead) Old Claim Jumper ("his dyin' was hard and he deserved it") and a host of other brilliantly imagined and drawn characters. The stories are predominantly humorous but some have tragic and ironic elements which prevent the whole thing being too sickly sweet. It's brilliant, I repeat, and I don't know why it remains almost unknown here.
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
