Review: All Star Western Vol. 2- The War of Lords and Owls

Quick Summary

Pros: The characters continue to be great and the action continues to be entertaining. The social commentary is well done and feels relevant today. The artwork is great and is a wonderful complement to the tone of the story.

Cons: The Court of Owls tie-in is handled oddly.

Overall: The second volume of All Star Western ensures that the success of the first volume was not just a fluke, this is definitely a series worth reading. The story is interesting, the action is enjoyable, and the artwork enhances the entire endeavor. In the end, the whole book feels like a unique and worthwhile addition to the DC Comics landscape. Any readers with an interest in modern western comics or who enjoyed the previous volume should consider picking this book up.

Story

All Star Western Vol. 2: The War of Lords and Owls, by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, makes a serious case for the validity of western comic books in the modern era. This collection captures the unbridled energy one would expect from this genre and imbues it with meaningful social themes that feel relevant to this very day. This comic also centers around a wonderful cast of characters who manage to bring some serious charm to every page they inhabit. Overall, this is a solid book that can appeal to fans of westerns or fans of comics in general.

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The main narrative in The War of Lords and Owls centers around Jonah Hex and Amadeus Arkham’s attempts to curb criminal elements in New Orleans and Gotham City. Both adventures are packed with exciting action and near brushes with death that are fun to see play out. They are then enhanced by a few surprising twits, such as the fake-out Hex uses on his enemies in New Orleans or Tallulah Black’s one-woman rampage in Gotham, which help make the narrative more engaging. Plus, Hex’s ability to infuriate Arkham, whether it be through his general disinterest in anything Arkham says or his comedically ridiculous actions around Tallulah, continue to make these character a fun pair.

Both adventures also incorporate meaningful social themes that are great to see in a book like this. The first story depicts the twisted mentality possessed by white supremacists while the second has a female hero save the day despite facing some serious adversity. Though both stories take place in the past, where the intensity of these issues was at an entirely different level of intensity, they still manage to feel incredibly relevant in the present.

The only strange part about the main narrative in The War of Lords and Owls is the role of the Court of Owls. They help kick off one of the story arcs but, besides this, don’t end up contributing much at all. One would expect they would be the next foe for Jonah to hunt down but, instead, they just vanish from the narrative.

After the main narrative is done, The War of Lords and Owls concludes with a couple of backup stories centered around different western characters. Each of these stories is charming in its own way but I enjoyed the Nighthawk/Cinnamon stories the most. They were all fun approaches to old west style vigilantism with a hint of romance thrown in to keep things interesting.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in The War of Lords and Owls manages to create the same mix of elegant cities and gritty western environments that the previous collection did so well. Moritat’s work here is detailed, creative, and well designed all the way through. Specifically, Moritat does a fantastic job of creating imaginative characters and environments. All of the newly introduced members of the Religion of Crime have familiar, yet clearly unique, designs and the entire city of New Orleans looks wonderful. This helps develop a book where the artwork is a perfect reflection of the aesthetic presented in the story.

Continuity

All Star Western Vol. 2: The War of Lords and Owls continues the story from All Star Western Vol. 1: Guns and Gotham (Review).

The story here continues in All Star Western Vol. 3: The Black Diamond Probability (Review).

This volume also references stories from other comic books, detailed below:

• Tallulah Black’s backstory presented here appears to be a slightly altered version of her backstory from Jonah Hex #16, collected in Jonah Hex: Origins.
• The mention of Jonah Hex’s former wife is a reference to Mei Ling, who he married in Jonah Hex Vol 1 #45.