SAVAGE DIRT AXES
CANDLE LIGHT PRESS
STORY: Will Beard
ART: Will Beard
LETTERS/PRODUCTION: John Ira Thomas
MISC. ART: Carter Allen; Will Grant
ISBN: 978-0-9743147-0-9; paperback (2025)
60pp, B&W, $10.00 U.S.
Savage Dirt Axes is a 2025 original graphic novel from writer-artist Will Beard. Published as a paperback original with black and white interior art by Candle Light Press, Savage Dirt Axes is set in the 19th century Old West and focuses a ragtag band of friends fighting a monster invasion. John Ira Thomas joins Will Beard as the story's letter.
Savage Dirt Axes opens with two cowboys – the stoic and stern, Rhett, and the somewhat cowardly young fella, Billy – ready to close out their day. They head on over to visit some roughneck pals, Ottis and Rex. Billy also hopes to meat his girlfriend, Josie, the daughter of Rex.
However, it turns out that Rex is missing, and the search for him takes the group right into a confrontation with a herd of monstrous, demonic, and gigantic creatures, which one of them call “dirt axes.” Can the cowboys, ornery old dudes, and one gal stop a monster invasion or will they end up being meat for the beast – just like the cattle?
THE LOWDOWN: Will Beard is a budding master of the weird Western comic book. In collaboration with writer John Ira Thomas, he drew the hardcover original graphic novel, Dan Callahan and the Sand Pirates. Also, Savage Dirt Axes reminds me of the 1999 weird Western original graphic novel, Red Range: A Wild Western Adventure, from writer Joe R. Lansdale and artist Sam Glanzman.
In Savage Dirt Axes, Beard has fashioned a weird Western comic book that is first and foremost set firmly in the Western fiction genre. Secondly, the monsters are genuinely scary and practically impossible to defeat, yet they don't feel out of place in or contrived for this story. I had a blast riding along with our heroes as they fight to save their lives.
I also like that Beard embraces the weird fiction roots of comic books and goes wild, weird, and wonderful on this story that doesn't try to make scientific sense. Savage Dirt Axes is pure comic book fun; it is a pure monster comic. Dear readers, you can enjoy the fun by finding the Candle Light Press table at any conventions they attend.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of the weird western will want to try Savage Dirt Axes.
A
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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