The townsfolk of Eden, Wyoming wake up to the first official murder the town has seen in 25 years. Their reaction to this isn't normal, and there's a reason for that. Eden operates as a haven for fugitive criminals who remain here while new identities, often including facial reconstruction, are created for them. There is zero tolerance for any illegal activity that might draw attention to the town and an "official murder" is the last thing they want. A single, tight-knit family runs Eden with the youngest oddball son Mark Shiffron overseeing the postal branch, the only means of shipping in or out of the city. THE FBI has repeatedly been foiled trying to insert an undercover here; they see Mark as the weak link to exploit. This murder gives them a new opportunity.
the concept is interesting, but the r slur is used a bunch and the racist native american wise man trope is used, so uh, i won't continue with this, i think
stories with Aspergers protagonists give the impression that they were written after a very brief skim of the internet. Some people on the autism spectrum are like this- and the same stereotype is used for most stories- but not most. Nor are we (yes) more likely to cause violence than to be victims of it. So disappointed on that ground, for one.
I had never heard of this comic or any of the people on the creative until someone in a comics chatroom on the app Line recommended it to me. I found the issues on Comixology.com. I just decided to jump right into the series to give it a shot even though I had no idea what I was getting into.
The series is written by Matt Hawkins, who apparently has been at Image comics for years, and Bryan Hill. The premise of the story is that there is a town called Eden, Wyoming that is the home of nothing but criminals. Even though the town is full of people on their last chance because of lives of crime, no criminal activity is allowed in the town. The Mayor of the town is a former criminal too (so the dossiers on some of the characters at the end of the issue says). The mayor's son is the town's postman. He has Asperger's. The only thing I really know about Asperger's is that it is a form of Autism. The postman basically acts like Rain Man from the movie of that same name. There is some criminal activity that the postman happens upon. There is another crime at the end of the story that is supposed to be a cliffhanger to keep you wanting more. I could not possibly care less. The postman having Asperger's is pretty much the only slightly interesting thing about this issue. The rest of the book is pretty mundane and could be a weekly crime drama on TV. That isn't really my thing. Neither is this comic. Writing gets 2 stars.
The art is done by Isaac Goodhart. Some of the art has a rough sketchy quality to it, especially the backgrounds and grass in the first couple of pages. After that, the art has a smoother look to it. The characters look pretty good considering the style. This isn't normally the type of art that I like, but Isaac pulled it off fairly well. The art was definitely the strongest portion of the book, but it is still nowhere near the top of the pyramid of all comic art. I give Isaac Goodhart's art 3.5 stars.
The 2 star writing score and 3.5 star art score average out to a 2.75 star overall score for this issue. That's the lowest score I've given a comic in a while. This isn't the type of story I'd ever pick out to read to read on my own. The subject matter just does not interest me and I didn't find any of the characters in this first issue likable other than the waitress. I'll at least keep reading this series until the first arc is over, but unless something miraculous happens in the next few issues to change my mind, I won't be reading this series past that point.
I thought the concept of the town is interesting, . But boy oh boy was there some problematic stereotyping. The r-word constantly being thrown around. How the Comanche character was portrayed. It was all just a big yikes and took away from any kind of interest.