The first volume of WesterNoir told the story of Josiah Black, a man with nothing to lose; Black is given a special set of goggles, and sets off across the Old West to take down the creatures he can see when wearing them. The man in charge of directing him in his seemingly righteous mission is Sebastian Caligary, who remains an enigma throughout the first collection.

That changes in the second volume; with the first book ending with the murder of someone that Black was fairly close to (at the behest of Caligary), Black is taken into custody and sentenced to death, but it seems that someone, perhaps something, still needs him around. And meanwhile, Caligary’s ultimate plan is coming to fruition, and it’s going to spell disaster not just for the American West, but for the future of the entire world.

I hugely enjoyed the atmospheric, horror/western saga that unfolded in the pages of WesterNoir Volume 1, but at the risk of negating the point of the rest of this review, I enjoyed WesterNoir Volume 2 even more.

It deepens and expands the lore of the saga so masterfully, and with some genuinely shocking twists and turns; though at times WesterNoir Volume 1 could feel a bit like we were continually being introduced to a new type of monster, before Black blew them to kingdom come by the end of each individual issue (not that there was anything wrong with that at all), this second volume justifies and explains everything we’ve already seen, even dealing with that uneasy feeling we had at times, with it seeming like Black could well be the bad guy.

The dialogue and art, supernatural occurrences and beings aside, are steeped in an incredibly authentic Western ambience too.

Creators Dave West and Gary Crutchley have absolutely outdone themselves here; WesterNoir Volume 2 is a phenomenally paced, brilliantly written, stunningly illustrated story that significantly adds to the deeper lore behind the action and supernatural creatures we’ve already seen. It’s an absolute triumph, and properly solidifies WesterNoir as one of the best British indie comics to have emerged in the last few years.

Thankfully, WesterNoir’s third volume is on the way, accompanied by spin-off tale Moon Cursed, previously serialised in the awesome British anthology comic, Quantum. You can sign up to be notified of the WesterNoir Double Shot Kickstarter campaign here.

You can buy WesterNoir Volume 2 from Time Bomb Comics here.

Many thanks to Time Bomb Comics for providing me with a digital copy of WesterNoir Volume 2 for review purposes.