PoserPoints #42--Wikid Publishing Presents!

So yesterday in the midst of my indie Free Comic Book Day coverage, I tweeted out if there were any other indie creators out there who wanted me to take a look at something, I'd love to give them a fair and honest review.  Shortly thereafter I was contacted by the folks behind Jack Irons: The Steel Cowboy.

Jack Irons: The Steel Cowboy #1-2 (Wikid Publishing)
By: Cody Fernandez, Maximilano Dall'O, Steve Canon, Vincent Rush

Through the first three pages of the book, we learn several things about the titular character, Jack Irons.  His family was murdered in front of him when he was younger. He looks like the title character from one of my favorite video games: The Adventures of Bayou Billy. Finally, he rides around on a motorcycle which also is powered in the front by two steel horses which glow a terrifying red because "ain't no harm in having a healthy sense of the dramatic."

You can purchase Jack Irons Issues 1 and 2 in digital form (the physical is currently sold out) from  their website:  https://wikidpublishing.square.site/

As we get to learn more about Irons, he has been alive for quite some time, as he has memories of previous lives he has lived: as a greek soldier, as the son of an indigenous tribe leader, and now we are learning about his actions in the future.  As he is telling one of the patrons of these lives, he decides he should finish his beer and leave.  That's when a large bandana-ed robot stands and says he's guilty of 140k+ confirmed crimes, and drops my favorite line from RoboCop "Dead or Alive, You're Coming With Me!"  In the final pages there is an epic bar brawl, and I'll let you guess if Irons is guilty of another crime or not!

Book 2 begins in the "New Deadwood Reservation" which looks like your standard ruinous post-apocalyptic cityscape, but some stuff is still in flames, making me question how recent its destruction has been. You eventually learn back in 1995 a food crisis ensued, and a corrupt, failing, government was stocking new prote food for themselves while leaving the huddled masses behind in long queues with some literally starving to death as they awaited their rations.  After a civil war erupted, someone rose to declare in front of the UN he could recreate the new food source, but wars had to end.  After one year of people consuming the masked man's food, people started dying of a virus (presumably from the food).  As the final 15-pages unfold (I don't want to spoil anything!) we start to learn why Jack may be a target and what he's done to earn such a long rap sheet, we also get more insight in to how/why the world is still collapsing, and what may be in the works to save it!

Conclusion

This would have not been on my radar (I need to find a better way to search for indie comics) had the writer (Fernandez) not reached out to me.  While his story is quite engaging, the artist and colorist do a great job displaying different moods for the different periods of time or phases of the apocalypse.  Also, give some love to the letterer, the same thing I said about the art is true for the lettering as well, you see a different choice to match different moods or events, and that's not something you see done on a widely consistent basis.

Book 3 has been successfully crowdfunded, and you can track its process here: on their indiegogo page.  Or you can visit their website below, to check out the offerings of the Ironverse yourself!

Check out their Website with free reads, a store, a patreon and more!