With East of West wrapping up its seven year journey into the Apocalypse, John and I are taking a look back at the Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Rus Wooten series from Image Comics!
You can check out part one here covering East of West #1 to #29 (the first two in-universe years of the Apocalypse), and in part two we’re covering East of West #30 to #45, the final year of the Apocalypse!
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For previous Deep Dives:
For more, check out the full guides on Comic Book Herald:
Dave’s Faves: The Best Comics of All Time!
Comics discussed include:
Journals From Armageddon (Pre-Show Notes!)
Dave:
Here’s what’s catching me on my read through the 3rd and final year of East of West’s Apocalypse, much of which I’m reading for the very first time (because it just actually ended!)
The idea of sticking landings is growing in importance across all of pop culture. I don’t know that the trend in its modern incarnation *started* with LOST, but that’s the biggest one that sticks out in my mind. Either way, you look across the nerd culture landscape, and the biggest stories in 2019 about Star Wars and Game of Thrones were about whether or not the franchises stuck the landing (or perhaps in those examples, more specifically about how they didn’t and how that is a grievous sin against mankind and generations to come).
All of this looms over East of West, and I think because it’s structurally akin to Game of Thrones – patiently allowing the audience to take in the world and characters, while allows teasing the eventual culmination of ice and fire (or I suppose in this case, death and end times) – the landing feels to me like an almost impossible challenge.
Just to get to a finish line, East of West has to really kick into overdrive. In year two we can watch Babylon decide whether to eat or befriend a pig. In year three, Chosen start getting taken off the board. So here’s the question:
Is year 3 rushed, hollow, or delivering on its promise?
Related, but not too directly: Who do you find yourself rooting for in year three?
Are you rooting for the ranger? The chosen? Archibald? Death and Babylon?
I’ll save my initial answer for the pod 🙂
John:
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