All-Star Western #18 Review

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that All-Star Western #18 was the final issue of the series. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray use this latest issue as a means of wrapping up Hex's adventures in Gotham City. It's a shift that had to happen sooner or later, though I wish they hadn't tried to simultaneously send off Hex and wrap up the battle with Vandal Savage in the same issue.

Pacing is the great enemy in this issue. Whereas several books this week suffered from an overly lackadaisical approach, All-Star Western veers in the opposite direction. The writers follow Hex and Dr. Arkham as they flee their pursuers, make their way through the hidden tunnels beneath Gotham, gain a few new allies, and have their final showdown with Vandal Savage. As with the previous issue, Savage is easily the standout character in this story. Palmiotti and Gray have a strong handle on the villain as he is at this stage in his long life -- a far cry from the sickly, depressed Savage we saw in The Return of Bruce Wayne #4. Savage's showdown with Hex is thoroughly entertaining, with a strong Indiana Jones vibe to it.

But between tackling all that material and then sending Hex on his way back west, the writers aren't able to deliver a completely satisfying conclusion. The final pages jump from one thread to the next far too quickly, ignoring seemingly crucial scenes like a reunion between Alan and Catherine Wayne. The writers do at least provide an enjoyable final encounter between Hex and Arkham, though I'm hoping their odd pairing will continue to be focus of the series even as it shifts away from Gotham.

The backup feature is particularly strong this month, as it always is when Palmiotti and Gray focus on Doctor Thirteen. If Teddy Roosevelt were a DC superhero, Doctor Thirteen is pretty much what you'd get. Entertaining in its own right, this segment also acts as a piece in a larger puzzle as the writers continue assembling the 19th Century incarnation of Stormwatch. The visuals in this segment aren't terribly memorable, but Thirteen's antics alone are well worth the price of admission.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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