Originally published in black and white, but presented in this hefty tome in glorious colour (with credit for that going to the brilliant Matt Soffe), WesterNoir is the tale of Josiah Black; he’s a man who’s lost everything, but he’s given a new purpose after taking down a maniacal killer, with the discovery of a special pair of goggles.

The Old West that Black inhabits isn’t quite the same as the one in reality; that’s because those goggles reveal that all manner of supernatural creatures are living among the regular townsfolk across the country.

The appropriately named Dave West co-writes this riveting, lore-rich saga with Gary Crutchley, who himself provides the art for the tales in this volume.

It’s a fantastic ride, with West and Crutchley, aided by the aforementioned Matt Soffe (providing terrifically moody, atmospheric colour work), giving readers a Weird West story with incredibly strong, authentic ambience in both its visuals and dialogue, despite the more fantastical elements of the story.

As Black travels from town to town, doing his duty by taking down all manner of hideous creatures, the question does arise, more than once, that said creatures may be less monstrous than the coldly professional Black himself.

I found myself having an awful lot of sympathy for many of the supposedly evil creatures that Black takes down, seemingly remorselessly in the vast majority of cases, which is a testament to West and Crutchley’s writing and characterisation.

Speaking of Crutchley, his art is fantastic, and his creature designs sublime; both he and West infuse the story with such a strong sense of time and place, with plenty of ugly elements and seedy settings.

Though the world of WesterNoir is a dangerous and, often, unpleasant place to spend time in, I was absolutely riveted by this near-200 page collection of issues and short stories, and can’t wait to get back in the saddle alongside Black once more.

Of course, the developments in the final issue collected here make sure that you won’t find it easy to stay away from the addictive fusion of Western, Noir, Horror and Sci-Fi that can be found within this volume’s pages.

It’s a fantastic read, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more.

You can buy WesterNoir Volume 1 from Time Bomb Comics here.