I’ve just reread “Mars” (Wheatley and Hemple, First Comics), first time in several years (even better this time). “The Batman Adventures” will get another happy go-through in a year or two, “Love and Rockets,” too. If you like any of these, Houghton’s art for “Reed Gunther” is like that, cartoony in the very best sense of the word, is flat-out expressive: has what Mars and Bat-Adventures and Love & Rockets have: exuberance!

And if expressions are exaggerated, well, everything in Reed’s adventures are exaggerated—even the bears and the cows have readable expressions, and the giant green sneering river-living tail-rattling two-fanged snake–

The Houghtons have taken the wildest, best-believable aspects of “Pecos Bill” and given them to a good-hearted, guile-less guy of the Dudley Do-Right romantic hero style and given him a bear to ride. And a girl, Arla, to meet, while she beats off that giant cattle-rustlin’ rattler. Arla’s a demon with a machete; it’s her herd, she’s means to protect’m. Reed and Sterling are there to help. Sterling is the bear, Reed’s mighty steed (“sterling” as in sterling silver..? hi-ho-sterling—away!).

Happily what few captions there are are mostly time-transitions, ‘that night,’ ‘later that morning’. The spoken parts add to the characters and situations informally, naturally. There’s a lot told in issue one, yet no panel feels rushed, or unnecessary. Page layouts are varied, always easy to follow and the colors are bright without ever being garish, crisp even depicting night.

I was not going to mention the “all ages” bullet on the cover, because issue 1 genuinely is great for everyone from beginning readers to sophisticated readers, and an ‘all ages’ notice too often turns a larger part of the audience away; but the just released issue 2 is much darker in tone, has some genuinely frightening elements, not the creatures so much as the kind of peril Reed is in, and in that issue 2 begins with Reed (innocently) supporting the bad guy.

Not less good-hearted, #2 is considerably less light-hearted than issue one, and is, in a sense, a continued story, ending as the bad guy gets away, and Reed about to set out after him. Coloring, drawing, and dialogue are everey bit as engaging, and Arla makes an extended cameo appearance, although her dilemma (she’s cheated, selling her cattle) seems forgotten. Issue 3 is due in August and issue 4, September. Hopefully, more issues will follow.

Because Reed and Sterling are fun to be with. And at an economic time when I’m almost relieved to see my second-list titles disappearing or dropped, over-priced, “Reed Gunther,” is well worth supporting, the entertainment value happily well exceeds its cover price.

best wishes,
Matt Levin