Broken Frontier

1875 in the Arizona desert Sheriff Clark and his Deputy Jefferson find themselves dealing with aliens of the green skinned variety… and they’re hungry.

Comic books are the realm of something different. The melding of art and words, their history steeped in science fiction and fantasy has, in turn, embraced every literary genre in existence. Is it any wonder, then, when a writer seeks to have a little fun in this wondrous, mad scientist’s lab, and attempt to create something that mixes comedy, western, and science fiction? Writer Jay Carvajal’s The Misadventures of Clark and Jefferson is, like a lot of experiments, a gamble. Does it pay off?

Sagebrush, Arizona is a fairly small western town. The widowed Sheriff Clark finds his duties are pretty routine with only the occasional wanted man or two showing up. On this particular day a band of bandits have arrived, leading Clark and his myopic Deputy Jefferson to uphold the law and round them up. When one of the men successfully escapes the manhunt stretches across the desert where Clark and Jefferson come across some mighty peculiar sights…strange lights in the sky, an entire herd of mutilated dead cattle, and an entire squad of mutilated dead soldiers. Clark and Jefferson are about to discover that there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of… unless that dream is a nightmare.

A western with aliens? Well, yes, it actually has been done before but not done so often that it has lost some of its freshness. If anything, though, Jay Carvajal’s The Misadventures of Clark and Jefferson puts me in mind of the old Bob Hope movie The Ghost Breakers. The titular Clark and Jefferson bicker with wit, comedy and occasional profanity but have the feeling of a genuine friendship and the fact that they have been plunked down in the middle of some serious weirdness only gives that banter slight pause. While much of the comedy here is a bit on the sophomoric side there is nothing inherently wrong about that. I will say, however, that the fecal matter jokes predominate a little too heavily and get old after a while. Carvajal could use to not go to that particular well (or should I say outhouse) quite so often.

There is also a nice, creepy edge as the action heats up. There is plenty of horror and Carvajal manages to create a sense of claustrophobia in the wide open spaces of the American old west – no mean feat.

Marc Borstel’s artwork is also quite well done – capturing some of the grittiness of life on the American frontier but also managing the beauty and openness of the desert landscape. He does a very nice job, odd as this may sound, on the more horrific aspects of the story. He makes the massacre victims (both animal and human) just gory enough to raise a feeling of dread in the audience without going over the top.

This first issue has a nice feeling of a story getting warmed up and provides an equal number of laughs and scares. For something that provides a bit of pure, fun, movie popcorn entertainment The Misadventures of Clark and Jefferson #1 is worth a look.