Over the years, the DC Comics Western series Bouncer has become a classic alongside great masterpieces like Lucky Lucke (Goscinny), Comanche (Hermann/Greg), Blueberry (Moebius/Giraud), and Durango (Swolfs).

In Bouncer Francois Boucq’s art is once again first in class and equally as hip paired with the writing of Alejandro Jodorowsky (also known as “Jodo” in the comic book world). The vastness of the West, the palpable saloon and how they manages to bring the gunfights to life are all visually fantastic and give Bouncer its status as cult saga. This colorful series will take you to panoramic and majestic landscapes, and includes Indian tribes, settlers and soldiers who will compete in lawless territories with its borders left open to the madness of men. Jodorowsky’s pen can be brutally violent but it certainly paints the harsh landscape of Wild West savagery. He displays a balance between Shakespearean tragedy and films of Sergio Leone. Violent, bloody and tinted with eroticism, the saga plays on all fronts.

Throughout his career, “Jodo” has gained a reputation as a philosopher and a scholar (filmmaker, playwright, actor, author and spiritual guru) but he is best known as a comic writer Grandmaster. With series like The Incal, After the Incal (artwork by Moebius), Before the Incal, and TechnoPriest (artwork Zoran Janjetov), The Adventures of d’Alef-Thau (artwork by Arno), The White Lama (artwork by Georges Bess), The Metabarons (artwork Juan Gimenez) but also Borgia (artwork Milo Manara) and Bouncer.

In Bouncer (a nickname for man that were responsible for ensuring peace and kicking out drunks from saloons) our half Indian hero has a peculiar disability, he has only one arm and the physical challenges he faces are great. He has to compensate for the absence of a right arm but manages well with the impressive address of the left one. As Boucq once said “What was most difficult to stage, is the handicap of Bouncer. An arm by itself is heavy in weight. When you’re without an arm, you must constantly rebalance, to fill the weight missing. So I spent much time studying the postures of the Bouncer, so they are as realistic as possible. “

The first album starts after the Civil War when America was traumatized by years of war. The three brothers Van Dorman, a pastor, a soldier and “Bouncer”, will tear each other apart in this unstable environment for the possession of a legendary diamond “Cain’s Eye”.

No.1 “Cain’s Eye”, No.2 “The Executioners’ Mercy” No.3 “The One Armed Gunslinger” are available in single album published by Humanoids/DC Comics (USA). Not published in English yet are No.4 through 8.

Will you like it? Well, if you are a fan of Jodo’s writing it’s a safe bet. If you like Westerns, this is your bag, as well. Finally, if you like Boucq’s artwork, you can’t go wrong here, it looks gorgeous. It ‘s a masterpiece.

Christophe Chanel