A Man Named Hawken

A Man Named Hawken by Timothy Truman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Kitchell Hawken's former friends turned on him and left him for dead, they made one mistake: THEY DIDN'T FINISH THE JOB! Now, haunted by the spirits of the people he killed, Hawken travels the West for vengeance!

I watched an interview with Tim Truman not long ago when he mentioned creating this series with his son. Western Comics Month was just around the corner so the stars were right.

Created on a road trip through Arizona with his son, Hawken is a classic western vengeance tale. The baddest outlaw of them all goes looking for payback. Hawken has his dog Caramba in tow, along with his blind mule. As Hawken's vengeance trail is washed with blood, his protégé Sombre gets sprung from the pen and goes looking to finish the job.

The writing is punchy and it reminds me of the Jonah Hex stuff Truman did with Joe Lansdale for Vertigo about a thousand years ago. There were a few times I though Hawken might not make it but it's his name on the cover.

The art is fucking spectacular. Truman has grown tremendously as an artist over the years. It feels gritty as hell and the sepia tones add a lot to the spooky mood, as does the use of negative space to make the desert feel like a vast, unwelcoming place.

If I had to find one thing to gripe about, it's that Hawken's quest isn't quite over at book's end. There's still killing to be done but Truman's son Ben, his co-writer and Hawken's cocreator, says they've got tons of ideas in the hopper.

A Man Named Hawken may be Tim Truman's best work to date. Five out of five bullet riddled outlaws.

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