The Hated, Issue 1. David Walker (Writer), Sean Damien Hill (Art), MX Struble (Colour), Becca Carey (Letters & Design), Solid Comix (2020)

 A brilliant alternative history western that makes sharp and serious points as part of a superbly told story.

The United States Civil War has ended in a truce that left the Union States of America and the Confederate States as two mutually hostile entities.  Southern Raider cross over to the Union states to kidnap free black as slaves, Northern Liberators venture into the Confederate states to liberate slaves. A small scale, continuing conflict that is steadily moving deeper and deeper into the territory of each. Araminta Free is a liberator arrives in the town of Harmony, Kansas with the body of a raider and some bad news, the presence of the raider so far inside Union territory. At the same time a Confederate group, Morrison’s Raiders are attacking an isolated farm. The stage has been set and the story does not shy away from following it.

With a bold move David F. Walker has taken the western and used it is an unexpected way that still wholly honours the conventions of the genre. Having a tough as nails female as the lead is a good start, it is the context that give the story its power and passion. The conflict is genuinely existential one for both sides, there is now peace in a truce, there must be a complete victory to settle the causes of the conflict. Sean Damien Hill’s art is exceptional, it captures the nuances of the western with care and detail, the faces, clothes and the landscape are everything they should be, For a western fan this is just the work to make them relax utterly into the story confident that they are deeply, talent hands. There is a single panel that demonstrates without shouting the brutal lifelong assault that slavery is and gives the story the force and passion that burns through it.

The colours by MX. Struble are washed out, the colours capture the details of the art and the nuances of the story with subtle skill and bring them out for the reader without ever pushing forward and upsetting the balance in the comic.

Becca Carey’s lettering is quiet, never drawing attention to itself and flowing naturally with the art.

The Hated is a great western and a great comic, what a pleasure to read.