Review: East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise

East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise by Jonathan Hickman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As far as media based on alternate history goes, I’d think that East of West, by Jonathan Hickman has one of the more unique points of divergence. Rather than reusing the tired troupe of ‘What if X faction won the world war/ cold war’, the story this time around starts much earlier; during the American civil war.

A prolonged civil war, followed by a comet fall in the middle of the continent, resulted in an Armistice, with each faction carving out their own portion of the land for themselves. This new entity is called the seven nations of america.

Over a century and half has passed, and the impasse continues. Technology has progressed, new armies have risen, and the factions remain baring their teeth at one another, barely held back by the accord of the Armistice.

Away from all this, arise the four horsemen of the apocalypse, sans one, who have through subsequent iterations attempted to kindle the apocalypse for some hidden agenda of their own. Facing them, the dissident of the four, death, as well as his allies, who for their own reasons, choose to avert the end of the world.

As each proceeds with their missions, all around them, different factions and personalities all vie for power, in the strange, new, yet all too familiar world.


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The story has solid worldbuilding; no need to mince words. We are not hit over the head with exposition, except enough to set the history and players. The dialogue is minimalistic and often asks you to follow along, picking up pieces to understand what is going on, why the person on screen might be gratuitously sodomizing everything in sight. Which brings us to the violence. While not as explicit as some of the other titles I’ve read (cough-boys-cough), the body count is quite high in the story. Even in just the first volume, entire armies of mooks get turned to shredded meat puppets in a short order.

The cherry on the cake when it comes to things which I liked about the story, has to be the art. It has a western feel to it, which is obvious when you consider how our protagonist is a dystopian version of Clint Eastwood's man with no name. This gritty, dustbowl aesthetic is mixed with the futuristic tech and baroque architecture of the near future. Overshadowed by the grim gargantuan structures which seem to quite literally press their boots unto the collective.

In particular, there is this thing that the artists do, where they use a black and white shadow and light design for our three main ‘vigilanties’. It adds a certain air of mystique and dread on anyone that is unfortunate enough to cross their part. Death, the literal embodiment of it, is drawn in all white, which I consider a welcome contrarian choice. I mean, how many times are we going to be treated to the same grim reaper in dark robes vibe.

His companions, wolf and crow, denizens of the eternal nation and with clear native american aesthetics, are contrasted in black and white. Wolf is white with dark streaks, while the lady crow is pitch black with white hair, accessories, accouterments and ritualistic tribal markings. Side note; I might have a crush on lady crow. Can’t find fault with me, her character design is drop dead gorgeous.

In short order, volume 1 of East and West has set up the characters, the stakes, and which side each fall into, for now. It has also made me intrigued as to how the narrative will go from here. Hoping the story maintains the bombastic start.

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