Westerns are like a warm blanket, and The Enfield Gang Massacre is proof of that. It swallows you up in its old-school charm, devilish criminals, and law-addicted lawmen who will do everything possible to bring some decency to the wild west. In The Enfield Gang Massacre #1, set 150 years before the events of That Texas Blood, Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips capture the era’s time and pace well.
The Enfield Gang Massacre opens in Oklahoma in 1906. Before the comic’s opening, we get a slick-looking title page for the first chapter titled “The Bad Death of Bill Barley”. We meet a man selling folks on the wonders of the Wild West, complete with a rotting corpse in a pine box. He’s about to narrate the story we’ll be enjoying, which begins with a man named Enfield.
From there, the story follows Enfield, who robs a bank and makes a name for himself in the town as an outlaw. In a courtroom, we get a nice recap of what he’s done and how the folks see him. Condon introduces a few key characters, including a lawman who has retired. You can see the influence of great films like Tombstone in these scenes, as the reluctant hero type must defeat the villain.
In the olden days, empathy was hard to come by.
Credit: Image
Only tropes seem to go out the window when we discover what happened to the bank teller. There’s a mystery afoot, and based on how Enfield acts and talks to others, he’s clearly being set up or, at the very least, accidentally framed.
That isn’t to say Enfield is a good guy, but nothing is black and white in the wild west. That’s literally the case regarding the coloring of this comic by Philips with color assists by Pip Martin. The opening is in blue tones, while the main story is drenched in brightness. The aqua sky gives everything a nice pop art feel as well. Each scene is set up well via color that only comics could pull off.
Meanwhile, the dialogue is excellent. Condon puts you in the time and place through the way characters speak. It helps put you in the characters’ shoes while establishing this is another time and place. Meanwhile, with thoughtful facial expressions, Phillips keeps you inside the characters’ heads. Sometimes a random face can look unfinished, but you’ll know what key characters are thinking when it counts.
The Enfield Gang Massacre goes beyond what a Western is with an enticing mystery and key characters set up for a hell of a conflict. Maintaining that nobody is pure evil or good, readers will be excited to see how this shoot-em-up plays out. It’s a touch early, but The Enfield Gang Massacre feels like Eastwood Western with modern Bone Tomahawk edginess.
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