La Frontera - 1

The Frontier #1

by Alessio Fioriniello, Jacopo Paliaga

When the storm struck, it sowed death across the land. It soon spread to the four corners of the Earth, racking up victims and changing the face of the world forever. For the worse, in the eyes of most. For the better, in the eyes of some. All that stood between mankind and total destruction was a small band of outlaws. They were called... The Frontier.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy

224 pages, Paperback

Published December 29, 2023

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining first volume in a story that will entertain and intrigue the reader in equal measure. Because all is not as it seems. A storm is spreading across the land bringing death. Don’t worry there are some heroes with the powers to protect. But then again who protects when the protectors are not that at all, and have more personal tragedy than is healthy for themselves let alone anyone else? Thank you to Europe Comics and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

[Katharine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

It's hard to explain The Frontier. It's very much a Western but with several fantasy elements. It's as if Firefly and The Umbrella Academy got mashed together, and the result of combining the two was The Frontier. The plot does get a little confusing at times, but I think it's on purpose to keep up the suspense. The way flashbacks explain the character's backstories were handled in a smart way. Their backstories open each chapter, before promptly returning to the present events. The way the backstories were placed into the story works great. It gives you more insight into the characters and their motivations, while also keeping the suspense and plot steady. Learning how they got to where they currently are makes you more curious about why they're doing what they're currently doing. I am a little confused about how and why certain people have powers. Not everyone has them, but how did they get them in the first place? This is only the first volume though, so hopefully it gets expanded on in a later volume. The character designs are fairly interesting for the most part. The only qualm about the designs that I have is about the Native characters. Was it necessary to make the Native women scantily clad? They both basically have almost their entire chests out, with only their nipples just barely covered by a tiny bit of leather bits. I know this is sort of more of a fantasy Western, so it's not going to be historically accurate at all, but when none of the other characters are sexed up like that, it paints a poor picture. It doesn't help the other female characters are all clothed in pretty much historically accurate Western womans wear, with them fully covered. Well, except Nova, but I'm not even sure she's a person or something else masquerading as one, so she's not included in this complaint. Regardless, this first volume ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. This world is pretty wild, so I am actually interested in seeking out the second novel when it releases!

[Sorcered · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this Far West, Calamity Jane, Speedy Gonzales and Butch Cassidy are real superheroes with awesome powers - and they’re also real supervillains with their own heavy, sin-charged past. They’re not only fighting the law (and the outlaws…) - their current mission is to save the town of Caldwell from The Storm, a supernatural phenomenon that travels the earth leaving complete destruction in its wake. But nothing is really what it seems in this violent saga that mixes horror, fantasy, western and superhero soap opera, jumping back and forth in time to slowly build the universe and add depth to the characters. It’s an euromanga in many ways - visually, it expertly mixes Japanese manga tropes and European sensibility; story-wise, it’s a very quick read that’ll keep you glued to the pages until the obligatory cliffhanger. It also mimics shonen manga in that it relies heavily on tropes and visual references, although it tries to be original by placing well-known elements in different contexts. Still, it's a good first volume that made me interested in following the series. If only it would be like manga in its production speed, too, I wouldn’t have to wait that long until the next volume :)

Disclaimer: I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for a fair review. This didn't influence my opinion in any way.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

free eARC received in exchange for honest review
This comic did not go as I expected!
It was full of twists and unexpected moments throughout! And I loved every second of it.
Think Umbrella Academy set in the Wild West, with an apocalyptic storm brewing.
Luckily there is a group of sinners with powers looking for...really unsure is it redemption or to have fun, to stop it.

The story is gritty, truly gritty and dark. It's compelling and carries you along well. Though it does get a little lost in itself at times.
But the artwork is definitely a highlight! Slight changes to a more simplistic approach in a few areas to highlight comedic moments or such, but overall it is well drawn, full of detail and motion and the lack of colour doesn't detract from it at all! Some moments were intensely graphic but overall I felt that the B&W nature of the comic helped to soften that a bit and make it not too jarring

The character of Mr. Bone was definitely a favourite, creepy, mysterious, everything you want in a strange character you aren't sure if they are a villain or not.

Overall, enjoyable, intriquing, and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger that really makes you want to read the next issue...

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Black and white graphic novel where five unlikely – if not unearthly – heroes try to save certain people from a mahoosive storm, behind which is only death, in some weird variant of the Wild West. Unfortunately, for all the premise, this is done in a manga style, so the action is crap, the sound FX huge and hugely annoying, and the art varying from fabulous down to placeholder sketches. You're a long way in before you have a handle on who the heroes are. The way the story completely switches away from the western town for other places kind of makes the whole first chunk of this ongoing narrative worthless, and the fact the second (and now third) volumes haven't been translated from French with the pace the first was does suggest it didn't quite succeed.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the outside, it's very reminiscent of East of West. An apolacyptic western with supernatural elements and manga influence art. But once you dive in it's... Disjointed... A mysterious man dressed in white recruits bad guys all over the country to stop the supernatural storm that's leaving nothing but death and destruction in its wake. We follow one of the teams under his command. Every chapter kind of introduces one of the characters and their reason for joining. Most of them don't quite make sense. The "twist" doesn't make much sense either. Character motivations are all out of whack. I'm not sure if I care enough about the world or the intrigue to keep reading

[Curious Madra · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are going straight through the Wild Wild West indeed with this graphic novel! I like the fact we get a girl boss Jane minding a unique group of characters. I have to say out of all the group, I thought the Clint character was hilarious like he doesn’t take things seriously and comes out with funny remarks. I felt bad for him that his favourite jacket was destroyed by gun shots from the saloon, all he has is his fancy fluffy scarf at least 😆

I really enjoyed the action, the characters, the unique art and the storyline!

Thanks a lot publisher and Netgalley!

[Adelaide McIntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was pretty cool. I love the art, the writing was good, it was really great as a first issue setting up what is to come! I am so excited to learn more about these characters, and how they all ended up exactly where they are.

[Jin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice drawings but nonsensical story.

[Cecil Behar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really surprising for Le Lombard to publish a manga, although they're coming out with a blunder.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nightreign if it was a western. I wish I was European so I could draw like this

[Irene ➰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

- Thank you to the author and the publisher for putting this title as a "read now" on NetGalley. -

I'm back after my holiday week!
This read was very manga style, meaning it's all B/W and the art was very similar to a manga.
The set wasn't one of my favorite because I'm not a huge far west style in general fan, but the story was fun to follow and interesting in various parts as well.

[Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[Melissa Young · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really thought I’d enjoy this because the synopsis sounded great, but god this was painful to get through.

For the amount of action it had in it, it was boring. The story was confusing and the pacing was all over the place. I couldn’t keep up with who these characters were and what powers they had. Also, there was no explanation for their powers other than this mysterious storm that you never see.

There’s also quite a lot of racism. I don’t remember seeing any black characters, the only character of colour was an Indian woman (I don’t know her exact origins) and everyone was so racist to her. One of the members of her team even refers to her by her ethnicity and my god it’s horrible.

Also, women are very objectified throughout the entirety of this graphic novel. There are multiple nude scenes and there’s even an instance of what looks like sexual assault. None of these things act as a plot device or have any effect at all, completely pointless and potentially triggering for people.

I was willing to give this graphic novel a rating of 2.5 before these things happen but it is an absolute one, I’d give it zero if I could.

[Musical_literature_of_vannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonne BD qui rappelle un peu Lastman dans son délire brigant/anti-héros qui sauvent des gens haha !
Là on suit 5 brigands qui ont plus ou moins pactisé avec le diable pour sauver une ville bientôt victime d'une tempête absolument pas naturelle.
Le dessin est cool, la narration marche bien, les persos sont intéressants.
Hâte d'avoir le T2 en main !