Streets of Glory

Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Mike Wolfer

I loved the HBO TV show Deadwood, which I suspect Garth Ennis had been watching when he wrote Streets Of Glory, his take on a Western.  He was probably reading Jonah Hex too...

The series opens with a man travelling through Montana with his older brother.  It's his first time going 'out west', and he's there to join his brother in a new business opportunity.  In no time, they are attacked by bandits, and the younger man survives only because of the intervention of Joseph R. Dunn, a legendary veteran of the Civil War, and America's varied conflicts with its indigenous population.

Dunn has history with two people in nearby Gladback; the bar keeper is an old friend of his, and the town doctor a former lover.  He's not there long before learning that his old enemy, an Apache named Red Crow (of course) is attacking settlers in the area.

Things follow their course, in the revisionist vein, as Dunn puts together a posse to hunt Red Crow, although he has to put up with considerable interference from the hired guns of the incredibly rich Charles Morrison (picture the way George Hearst was portrayed on Deadwood).  This being an Ennis book, there's a great deal of gore, a few odd deaths, and a touch of sentimentality to things.

It's not Ennis's greatest work, but it is an engaging enough read.  Mike Wolfer is a solid journeyman artist, who gets to work with some remarkable writers at Avatar.  His art is serviceable, although, like when Gary Erskine draws a comic, none of his characters are attractive.  I'm sure most people in the Old West weren't though, so it's all good.