Shaolin Cowboy: Staying A.I.Live #1

by Geof Darrow, Ian Herring (Colorist), Nate Piekos (Letterer)

Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2026

Reviews

[Machiavelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished The Shaolin Cowboy: Staying A.I.Live #1, and honestly, I’m still not completely sure what I just read. This was my first Shaolin Cowboy, and it dropped me straight into a bizarre mix of what I’m guessing is misinformation, but there was for sure some crazy anti-immigrant paranoia, gross-out humor, and sudden ultraviolence. I could tell it was taking swings at some really ugly parts of modern life, but the satire was absurd and rather scattered so I wasn’t always sure what it was trying to say.

The story itself is pretty thin, with the Cowboy trying to deliver a dead son’s letter to his mother while a town mistakes him for the terrorist shown in an awful racist drawn image. Geof Darrow’s insanely detailed art and wild action carried me through, even when the humor didn’t land. Definitely strange, occasionally fun, and interesting enough that I might try another and hope the next one makes more sense to me….

[Seppe Vanhoof · Rating 3 out of 5]

An artistic way of representing what the USA is like under the Orange C*nt. Reading this as a European, its about exactly what most foreigners think the USA is like right now and it this point I don’t even think we’re far off. This book is an full of humor and action, and our main guy has a mission. The story at this point is a bit flat yet a fine representation of whats happening today. It did become a little personal, because it was stated that the monk me be Belgian :D, the goat.

I did like the art, every panel is completely full and the action sequences are great.

Overall: story 2/5, characters 3/5, art 4/5 => 3/5 stars

[Jarrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest of all time does it again.

Geof Darrow does it again. Absolute genius. Every panel is dripping with intricate, fascinating satire of the mess that is 2026 and it doesn't let up from cover to cover. Don't sleep on this one. Amitoufu!

[Maksim Prokhorov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aesthetic delight. Great choreography and humor.

[Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The issue I bought had a sweet David Mack cover. It all goes down hill from there. Darrow's a great artist but not a great political or cultural observer.