Broken Frontier

Marshal Earp attempts to bring law and order to Dodge City and will have to keep all his wits about him if he wants to leave alive...

Wyatt Earp is a character who has been the subject of plenty of books and movies and is now the centre of his very own comic book. Dodge City tells the story of one of his attempts to bring order to a lawless town before his more famous exploits in Tombstone. Earp is a strong, honourable character and one who stands as role model for other men of power and substance. Unlike many recent ‘heroes’ in the Western genre and other genres common to the comic book, Earp uses violence sparingly. He is contrasted with the mysterious and impudent Doc Holiday who provides many of the book’s most entertaining moments.

This issue forms the final part of the Dodge City storyline and brings the power struggle in town to an unexpected but highly satisfying conclusion. Dixon eschews the clichéd blood drenched finale for an ending that is much more interesting for both character development and plot resolution. Dixon also puts another piece of evidence into the growing class action suit against decompressed storytelling. This issue features as much content as would have filled three or more of many current Marvel and DC comics. Moonstone understands the fact that their comics cost $3 and they have enough respect for their product not to pepper it with ads.

My only complaints with the book lie in the artwork. While I found the majority of Villagran’s artwork to be quite good- especially during the action scenes- his character work was a little uneven. There were so many characters who had to be identified by moustache alone that some of the scenes became a little confusing. Also, I found that some of his panels looked almost unfinished while others were breathtakingly effective in their simplicity.

I was highly impressed with Wyatt Earp: Dodge City #3 and indeed the entire miniseries. It is another admirable addition to the Moonstone stable of interesting genre pieces. It has also been an eye opening experience for me in terms of the work of Chuck Dixon, a man whose work has struggled to impress me in the past. I was completely taken by the character of Wyatt Earp and I hope to continue seeing his adventures in this form!