Review: All Star Western Vol. 4- Gold Standard

Quick Summary

Pros: All of the stories here are entertaining and a few of them have a well-executed moral message. The conclusion to the collection has a great cliffhanger. The backup story is unique and interesting. The artwork may be some of the best in the series thus far.

Cons: There are a few unbelievable moments that pop up in this collection.

Overall: Solid storytelling and beautiful artwork ensure that this Jonah Hex adventure is an entertaining one. It has moral dilemmas, humorous situations, unique stories, and all of the gritty action readers have come to expect from this series. The entire adventure also closes on a cliffhanger that really helps build excitement for the next volume. Readers who have enjoyed earlier volumes or readers who simply want to read about Jonah Hex should consider picking up this collection.

Story

All Star Western Vol. 4: Gold Standard, by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, takes readers on another enjoyable trip with a character who just can’t seem to catch a break. The story in this volume starts out by diving into the interesting moral problems of Gotham City, shifts to the unbridled insanity of the wild west, and concludes with a cliffhanger that will leave readers dying for more. It also contains a backup story that ends up being so unique, it can easily appeal to fans of Stormwatch and those who know nothing about it. Overall, this is another worthwhile entry in the All Star Western series.

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Gold Standard starts out with Hex still in Gotham, working to stop the evil mechanisms of the nefarious Vandal Savage. This arc ends up being one final look at corruption and extreme economic stratification in a city with its fair share of moral problems. This examination is well-executed and is given some additional appeal from the tension brought on by Jonah Hex’s mission.

From here, the narrative finally takes its leave of the city and moves into the wild west. This portion of the book involves a pleasant contrast between the dark actions of some seriously disturbed individuals and the charming antics of Booster Gold. The end result is an entertaining adventure that feels like a refreshing change of pace for the series as a whole.

Then, in the final chapter of the book, Jonah Hex is accidentally launched forward in time to the modern day. Though not much of this new environment has been shown at this point, it is already looking like a promising shift for the series. I’m excited to see where Gray and Palmiotti go in the next volume.

Gold Standard also contains a very unique and entertaining backup story that centers around a version of Stormwatch from the 19th century. The formation of a superhero team in the 1800s is a novel concept that ends up being surprisingly fun in its execution. Honestly, my biggest problem with this portion of the book is that it didn’t end up continuing into a whole new comic series.

The only real problem with this book is that it requires some serious suspension of disbelief in order to get around a few of the plot points. The absolute insanity expressed by the people of Gotham City makes them appear more like braindead zombies than sick people. In addition, the Booster Gold portion of the main story and a number of aspects from the backup story require happenstance and coincidence a little too much.

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Art

The artwork in Gold Standard takes the All Star Western series to new heights. The first few chapters depict a divided Gotham City in the midst of a very rough winter. Moritat is able to provide an excellent contrast between the breathtaking beauty of the city’s snowcapped buildings and the depravity seen on the streets below. Moritat’s work continues to look great as the story moves out of Gotham as well, depicting awesome western scenes with the same contrasts between wonder and horror.

Gold Standard also contains a backup story illustrated by Staz Johnson. Through this portion of the book, Johnson presents a number of entertaining character designs and also shows a great ability to alternate between different environments. The overall visual appeal of this backup story is less than the main story but should still be good enough to satisfy most readers.

Continuity

All Star Western Vol. 4: Gold Standard continues the story from All Star Western Vol. 3: The Black Diamond Probability (Review).

The story here continues in All Star Western Vol. 5: Man Out of Time (Review).

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

• Booster Gold’s appearance here takes place sometime after his disappearance in Justice League International Vol. 2: Breakdown (Review)
• The history of Stormwatch is mentioned in the backup story of this collection. This history is explained throughout Stormwatch Vol. 1: The Dark Side (Review).