The cowboy demon hunter tale continues in Dead Acre: Black Badge #2 from Vault Comics, and it’s out this week.
James Crowley has arrived in Dead Acre, a dusty town with a saloon, a moldy church, and little else worth talking about. There isn’t even a sheriff. But the local cobbler has gone missing at the same time as a number of graves were desecrated. And Crowley’s guardian angel keeps hinting that there’s something truly foul behind the gravedigging.
Creators & Story: Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle
Script: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Riley Brown
Colorist: Fares Maese
Letterer: Andworld Design
Cover Art: Riley Brown
Starting off from where we left off in the previous issue, we get a much deeper look at the relationship between Crowley and the powers of Heaven. This is something I found particularly interesting, as we start to understand more about the power dynamic involved, including what can and cannot be done. There are rules to this relationship, and the way they are explained gives us an excellent look at the lore behind the story without giving everything away at once.
In between the investigation, we also get a good aside looking at Crowley’s fall towards Hell and what happened when Heaven reached out and grabbed him for this particular role. It gives us more insight into why he is the way he is and how he ended up caught between these different forces. It is also interesting to discover that Crowley is not the only one who has found himself in this position. Seeing how the others are viewed, as well as how they view themselves and the role they have been given, adds another layer to the story and the wider mythology.
The investigation itself takes a much darker turn as Crowley heads to the local graveyard and discovers a body – and this is certainly not one that has been prepared for burial. Using his unique powers, he is able to see the final moments of the deceased, giving us another glimpse into exactly what he can do. Once again, though, the limits of this power are clearly established, which I think works really well. There is enough information to move the investigation forward, but it remains vague enough to keep the mystery intact. We are given clues rather than straightforward answers, which makes you want to keep reading to discover what is really going on.
Although this issue is perhaps a little lower on action than the previous one, the darker aspects of the story more than make up for that. There is a real sense that the investigation is leading Crowley into something much bigger, with the mystery becoming deeper as we learn more about the human, demonic and heavenly sides of the story.
I also continue to enjoy the way the western setting works alongside all of this supernatural lore. It gives the book its own identity, rather than feeling like a straightforward supernatural story, and the combination of the western elements with Heaven, Hell and Crowley’s investigation makes for a well-rounded and increasingly intriguing read.
