Strangeways: The Thirsty

by Matt Maxwell, Gervasio and Jok (Illustrator), Luis Guragña (Illustrator)

Two One living and one not-quite-dead. Westward bound, ex-soldier Seth Collins finds a ruined village named Drytown. Just why is it that everyone in Drytown seems to want to avoid the sun? Before long, Collins finds that Drytown isn't a village, but a deathtrap. But who's setting it with live human bait? There's no clear answers, and only just barely time to escape to safety in the nearby town of Cedar Creek. The monsters from Drytown are thirsty enough to follow and hunt, even in the sunlight now. Led by their master, Raphael de Medina, the creatures are driven by desire and addiction and will not stop until they've drunk every single drop. Husbands hunt wives, men of faith are shaken, the law provides no safety, and one man's hunt for revenge may doom all the living souls of both towns to a monstrous kind of half-life, to thirst without end. The Thirsty is the follow up to MURDER MOON and the second graphic novel from writer Matt Maxwell (TUG ON THE RIBBON, HIGHWAY 62 REVISITED and RAGNAROK SUMMER.) The book features artwork by Gervasio and Jok, Luis Guragña and Alex Sheikman. In addition to the feature story, this volume includes the novella "Red Hands" which tells the story of a different breed of vampire. Gorgeously illustrated in stark black and white, THE THIRSTY is a trip to a dark West that never was. In the wilderness of the Strangeways, black hats and badmen are the least of your worries. Here, there's fates worse than death and you just might might that your trusty revolver isn't enough to get you out of trouble.

Genres: Graphic Novels

199 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published March 19, 2008

About the author

Hey folks, haven't been around for awhile. Poking my head back in to update this because there's nothing more fun than updating a million websites and membership zones, right? Yeah. So much fun.

Since I was last here, I've successfully Kickstarted All Waters Are Graves (which may be listed here, but who even knows) and Fake Believe (which should totally not be listed here yet.) They are the second and third Hazeland books, respectively. What's Hazeland? It's genre-agnostic (some say genre-antagonistic) stories all set in Los Angeles of the past, mostly the 80s. Things are weird and getting weirder. What can you expect? Fantasy horror science fiction weird magical realist human crime fiction is what.

More later.

A southern California native transplanted to the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Maxwell has been writing since he learned how to touch-type before he was in high school. He attended college at University of California, Irvine and graduated the same year TWIN PEAKS came on the air. Afterwards, he went on to work at a think-tank with members of the Manhattan Project team. Don't get excited. He did computer and clerical work. He took classes in design and animation and went on to work as an animator at Netter Digital, on MAX STEEL and DAN DARE. Sometimes he plays guitar and or keyboards and or drones for Identify 9, which you can hear at highway62.bandcamp.com.

His latest project is the weird horror/crime series Hazeland, with the first release coming out this summer and the next several releases coming two a year.

He is the author of several novels, including RAGNAROK SUMMER (out for the kindle now). He has written several short story collections, including TUG ON THE RIBBON and BLINK AND OTHERS and the upcoming DUSTBEARER. HIGHWAY 62 REVISITED is his latest collection of non-fiction and commentary, following THE COLLECTED FULL BLEED. Finally, he is the writer and creator of the western/horror comic series STRANGEWAYS, illustrated by Luis Guragña (gur-anya) and Gervasio and Jok. He talks too much on twitter (@highway_62) and spends too much time on tumblr (highway62.tumblr.com and intrapanel.tumblr.com) where he chatters about movies and comics, respectively.

Reviews

[Tina Haigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was good. I liked the characters and story. The wolf looked ferocious. The skinwalker angle set it apart from the typical werewolf story. I think it could've used more backstory and mythology though. You get some backstory at the end but there are too many gaps for it to add much. Overall it was a solid venture but more research and depth would've made it even better.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A historical horror graphic novel taking place in Nevada in 1868. I liked the writing better than I liked the art, and they averaged to three stars. The guest drawings by major artists in the back actually made the art look even worse.
On the other hand, the story was very interesting, especially with the second story partly explaining things. Unfortunately, a third story was really needed, explaining the transformation of a seemingly peaceful werewolf from the back story into the killer shown in the main story. The writing was good, and the historical bits were solid.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always had kind of a yen for supernatural stories involving either the old west, or old Japan. Nothing like fighting a werewolf with a sixgun, or a demon with a sword.

Matt's talk of the soundtrack he was listening to when writing the book made me want to see this story as a movie, with soundtrack by Neko Case, Tom Waits, and---as he says---of course, Ennio Morricone.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my review at http://www.mattselznick.com/blog/scri...