Image Comics has finally achieved their long sought-after position as one of the ‘Big Three’ with their creator-owned initiative. Sure Invincible, Spawn, and Bomb Queen still exist, but instead of trying to follow the “shared universe” formula of Marvel and DC Comics, Image is letting creators (and BIG NAME creators) tell the stories that they want to.

This has led to a number of incredible new series—some limited, others ongoing—that are a breath of fresh air in an industry of spandex wedgies and never-dead deaths. And this week’s big new #1 from Image Comics is….

PRETTY DEADLY #1:
Story By: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Art By: Emma Ríos

Westerns are back in a big way. What with the success of Hickman and Dragotta’s East of West and now Pretty Deadly, mark these words: “Westerns are back in 2014!”

Pretty Deadly is billed by Image Comics as an “all-new ongoing series that marries the magical realism of Sandman with the western brutality of Preacher,” which is a pretty grand claim. One, though, that the series could well live up to with time. With two of the industry’s best female creators, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios, creating/working on the title, the series is off to a good start.

Without the ‘shared world’ or ‘continuity’ of the Marvel or DC universes, the characters in Pretty Deadly start as unknowns, which makes for an original and exciting read compared to the latest X-Justice Crisis Reborn crossover tie-in issue of Captain Pointyears. The mystery behind who the main characters are is nicely juxtaposed by the ‘traveling show’ scene in Issue #1 that reveals the back story (or the legend of the back story) of Deathface Ginny, the daughter of Death.

Emma Rios deftly blends European, manga, and North American mainstream artistic elements together in what will now be known as ‘European Fusion’ in Pretty Deadly #1. Her art speaks of a Paul Pope influence, but the characters’ faces are much more manga-styled than Mr. Pope’s work.

Hailing from Spain, Ms. Rios fed her imagination with comics from around the world, making no distinction between manga, Marvel, and Moebius other than the quality of the story found within. This ‘European Fusion’ of comic book styles creates very kinetic art (the European influence) which features especially expressive eyes/faces (manga) and strong archetypal character stances (North America—think Superman).

Rios’s architecture and design background is especially evident in the incredible paneling and graphic layout work done in Pretty Deadly #1. The Tarot deck (or playing card) motif that is used to tell the story of ‘Deathface Ginny’ adds a fun (and time period–appropriate) design element to the issue.

This bodes well for the series, which isn’t the first time that DeConnick and Rios have worked together. First collaborating on Osborn at Marvel Comics, they were quickly talking about doing a creator-owned project together. When DeConnick came calling with Pretty Deadly, Rios jumped aboard and the rest is history. DeConnick’s stellar rise in the industry is built on her quality writing on Captain Marvel, and more recently, Avengers Assemble. The reteaming of such talented creators can only mean that comic book readers are in for quite the treat with Pretty Deadly.

Like to support creator-owned series? Check. Like to be on the edge of the culture wave? Check. Enjoy reading comics your mainstream geek friends haven’t heard about and then insulting their white-bread lack of taste? Definitely check. And if you are one of those weirdoes who enjoys quality storytelling and exciting artwork, Pretty Deadly has got you covered there too.