Earlier this month our beloved country celebrated its 238th
birthday. Our country has grown a great
deal since back then, and there once was a time where the Western frontier was
unknown territory. That was until Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark to travel west and study everything they saw. From May 1804
until September 1806 Lewis and Clark traveled from St. Louis to the Pacific
Ocean, in what is now Oregon, and back. Now anyone that has ever played the
computer game Oregon Trail in Elementary School knows that this was a dangerous
trip,(whoever has died in Oregon Trail from Dysentery raise your hand, there’s
no shame) with unknown trials and
tribulations. Manifest Destiny by Chris Dingess and Matthew Roberts asks the question;
“What if there were unknown horrors added to the trials and tribulations of
this expedition?” The answer is you get a freaking good comic.
This Volume of the book started out with our heroes Lewis
and Clark and the rest of their expedition traveling to a fort to rendezvous with
their guide, Sacagawea, who seems to be more than meets the eye. But on the way
to this meeting the group is first attacked by large buffalo headed monsters
and once they escape that danger by the skin of their teeth they stumble onto a
fort that has lost the majority of their population to a disease that turns its
victims into plant zombies. That’s right this book first hits you with buffalo
headed monsters and then follows that up with a solid dose of plant zombies, if
you need more than that to rope you in to this series I don’t know what to tell
you.
Matthew Roberts’s
artwork is amazing and he paints a lush scene of the country’s woodlands and
the beauty of the frontier. There is plenty of intrigue and questions that this
initial volume introduces and I am patiently waiting for the next volume.
Now I came across this comic in an interesting way, it was
recommended to me by the owner of my local comic shop, StormWatch
Comics. I cannot stress enough the importance of your local comic shop. The
people in there can point you to some very interesting reading material if you
ask them, stuff you might not have given a second look at otherwise. The people
at my comic shop have never steered me wrong and have introduced me to some
great books and series so if the people at your shop are pretty cool let them
point you to something, you might find a new series to love.
I’m also always looking for new graphic novels to pick up so
leave me your suggestions in the comments. We also have a contest going on for
our one year anniversary so head on over to the post right here: http://www.fangirlreview.com/2014/07/fangirls-1-year-anniversary-contest.html#.U9ISdbHJDzM
and enter to win.
