In the first story, a Native American man often derisively called "Two-Dogs" lives a life of alcoholic emptiness. Seven George (his birth name) was crushed by the weight of European civilization and what it did to his father, grandfather and other ancestors before he was even born. We flash back to those earlier days, and that seems at first to be the crux of the story. We see how his grandfather, Five George, was betrayed by a corrupt sheriff and hanged for a murder he did not commit. We see how his father (yes, Six George) was destroyed by the Vietnam War. We see a portrait of multigenerational death, and that alone could have been an interesting story.
But then actor Lance Henriksen and his co-writer Joseph Maddrey get to the second story: the cartoonishly corpulent and evil mayor of the remote Colorado town where "To Hell" takes place tries to drum up the local skiing and tourism business by -- get this -- seeding clouds with yellowcake uranium. It's a plot straight out of paranoid conspiracy websites like Worldnet Daily and Infowars, and yup, it goes bad. Many of the people exposed to this snow explode into a molten mess of gore. Then the U.S. military hires international mercenaries to come in and kill everyone and clean up the mess. This second story -- both pro-militia and anti-government -- becomes the main plot of the graphic novel. It takes over, leaving the first story in the dust. Although this plot does lead to Seven George's personal and supernatural transformation, the story just feels more ridiculous with each page.
As for the art, Tom Mandrake's work here is amazing, with intricate linework that flows and feels alive. The digital reading experience doesn't always do the art justice, though. Mandrake uses complex page layouts and reading this in the "panel zoom" format doesn't always work. Most of the pages were designed to be read as entire pages, not as single panels, so some of the impact is lost in the digital format on small screens. Try to read this in full-page format if you can.
All-told, this is an interesting failure, a graphic novel with great art and one great character that is hobbled by a plot that makes little to no sense and a paranoid worldview.
Two out of five stars.
Available digitally from Dark Horse Comics.
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