'High Moon Vol. 1' by David Gallagher with art by Steve Ellis is a graphic novel set in the weird West.

Ex-Pinkerton agent turned bounty hunter, Matthew Macgregor has been summoned to a sleepy, dusty town. What he finds there defies imagination as he is attacked by....vampires. Then a new character appears to assume his identity, known now as Edward McGregor, and movea on to another town to fight werewolves.

The art was pretty cool. The story kept losing me with things that seemed to skip around without explanation. I really didn't understand the main character switching in the middle of the story. Things like that just didn't seem to make sense.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Matthew MacGregor, who looks a lot like Clint Eastwood in his Spaghetti Western days, is a former Pinkerton, now self-employed as a werewolf hunter, which is like a bounty hunter except there are no bounties on werewolves. He breezes into town and agrees to find a rich guy’s missing daughter if the rich guy will give up Eddie Conroy of the Sullivan gang. The Sheriff is absent but his daughter is filling in. Monsters ensue, dead bodies in mineshafts, all the usual western motifs with a side dish of horror. Wolf creatures and bat creatures abound.

The story twists in the second chapter. Conroy MacGregor, who looks a lot like Clint Eastwood in his Spaghetti Western days, only black, is the new self-employed werewolf hunter, having taken over MacGregor’s gig. Yes, this is the villainous Conroy from the first chapter, but now he’s a MacGregor, albeit in name only. Why is he the new MacGregor? No clue.

And then there are the MacGregor brothers. And there’s the MacGregor mama, who has a bug up her bum about Conroy, who apparently didn’t do a great job of protecting her daughter. And there’s a guy who sort of resembles a steampunk clockwork man. Why is he in the story and what is his role? No clue.

There might be a plot here but it is a struggle to spot it. The whole thing is pleasantly weird but, as far as I can tell, impossible to comprehend. The broad outline of what’s happening is usually easy to understand, but why anything that happens is happening in this volume is an absolute mystery.

The art and coloring are impressive. They capture the atmosphere perfectly. The dialog is pretty good but the story as a whole, well, I would give it more props if it made sense. I’m counting on it making sense in later volumes so I’m giving it 4 stars, but I might revise that if I’m as puzzled at the end of the series as I was at the end of this volume.

Steve Ellis provides some great moody art for this supernatural western, reminiscent of Dan Brereton. Lots of creepy supernatural creatures abound within. But the story is confusing in places. I was often left with that "Did I just skip a page?" feeling. If they work on their storytelling this could be a 5 star book.

First and foremost I am just going to state outright that I did not completely understand what was happening in High Moon Vol. 1: "Bullet Holes and Bite Marks". I enjoyed it, it was interesting, but alot of the finer points of the plot were either too nuanced for me to get or just plain over my head. Frankly, I understood more of what was going on from reading the Amazon blurb than I did from reading the story itself.

It's kind of like if you step into an existing sci-fi series a couple of books (or sequels) in without knowing all the "rules" and whatnot of the particular world in which that story exists. Ultimately I just went along with it and didn't worry about the details.

So, High Moon is broken up into two chapters, the first features a Pinkerton detective named Matthew MacGregor who has busted up the notorious Sullivan Gang and is in the process of tracking down one of the surviving members, a fellow named Eddie Conroy. In the course of tracking down Conroy, MacGregor is enlisted to find a young girl who has disappeared. What follows is a sort of gothic western/horror mash-up featuring supernatural creatures... also MacGregor is hiding a dark secret... there are a few twists and turns that will keep a reader guessing.

The second chapter features a mysterious, yet familiar, character calling himself Conroy MacGregor. This MacGregor's mission is a little less defined than that of Chapter One's Matthew MacGregor. There is also an even more mysterious fellow called Tristan MacGregor who is hunting for the man who murdered his brother Duncan Macgregor... there is ALSO a mysterious elderly woman (a former slave) who engages in a strong form of HooDoo. Add some more supernatural creatures and a bit of steampunk just to make things even more mysterious and if you can make total sense of everything you're a better person than I.

The first chapter is pretty much a horror twist on the classic western trope of the stranger who comes to town and kicks butt. Picture Clint Eastwood's famous Man-With-No-Name set in a horror story and you're almost there. The second chapter was a bit confusing to me and I finally quit trying to understand it all and just went with it.

At times High Moon Vol. 1 reminded me of the classic DC comic series Weird Western Tales that I used to read as a kid. At other times it brought to mind the short-lived TV series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. which was a mash-up of western/sci-fi/supernatural and pretty much everything they could think of to throw in (I loved that show).

The artwork is gloomy, at times murky (in terms of picture clarity), and sets an ominous tone that suits the story perfectly.

I plan on checking out Volume Two when it becomes available (maybe it will clear up a few of the more confusing details). I would recommend High Moon Vol. 1 to anyone who likes something a little different and is willing to take a chance.

*** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for making this title available for me to read and review.

Couldn't - or wouldn't - review, as got a file with only one chapter in.

Illustrations: 5 stars; story: 2 stars. I loved the swirling colors and impressive illustrations especially of the wolves and vampires. However, the story was hard to follow and confusing at times, also sometimes I was not able to recognize which character I was currently following. I guess I got the overall meaning of the stories but not the whole details, which leaves me with the frustrating feeling that I missed something.

High Moon is an interesting genre mash up of western, horror and steam punk that I read online. Originally released between 2007-10 by Zuda Comics, an imprint of DC Comics, it is now being re-released by Papercutz.

This western begins in 1890 in the fictional town of Blest, Texas, which is enduring drought and devilry. Bounty-hunter Matthew MacGregor, a former Pinkerton detective, comes to town under the guise of looking for Eddie Conroy who is wanted by the state of Texas. The young daughter of the local robber baron has been kidnapped, and MacGregor is on the case, and receives some help by the town deputy, sheriff’s daughter and doctor. Surly and mysterious, Macgregor seems to deny that werewolves could be the culprits of recent deaths. A Scottish tartan and guns engraved with the words “Gáe Bulg” point to him being an immigrant or at least descended from one, but they are the few hints we are given of his past. His battle against the many monsters and the final showdown between them raised more questions about his connection to the paranormal and occult.

Part two now moves to Ragged Rock, Oklahoma with Conroy taking over the mantle of bounty hunter. We get some flashbacks to Conroy’s slave past, yet his connection to another black family that has settled in OK after Emancipation confused me. He gets in the middle of a domestic dispute between two brothers fighting over the love of one woman. The men’s mother uses some Hoodoo magic to help Conroy battle some supernatural monsters, plus Matthew’s brother Tristan has shown up to assist. Tristan has a mechanical arm and utilizes steampunk apparatus to fight.

The art has an appropriate color scheme of sepia tones with an Old West feel to the people and dusty terrain. I was unnerved at how much MacGregor looked like Wolverine in Old Man Logan, and it actually became somewhat distracting. I wanted to call him Logan and expected claws to pop out at any moment. The creatures are appealingly grotesque, and the pages had a nice variety of different panels and layout, so I felt the visuals were top notch.

I received the online book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I had quite a bit of trouble navigating through the book and double checking details, but I won’t count that against the story, for it very well could have been an issue with my tablet. I found the narrative intriguing, but will not be visiting this supernatural region again as I found it too complicated and frustrating to follow.

So I'm a western lover and also one for monster fights so put them together and I'm sure in for a fun night of reading. This graphic novel wasn't one of my favourite reads but to be fair it wasn't that bad.

I enjoyed the art which did a great job at setting the time period and keeping to the western cowboy feel in the story, even if it does steer away from original cowboy stories and throw in the supernatural fighting.

I felt the story could have been reigned in a little as I was at some points not sure what was going on and that with the lead character shifting halfway (which was a strong move which was worth going for) it led to some instability in reading.

Overall it was a pretty good read, as long as you don't mind pushing through some confusion.

This was fine up until the halfway point: a little girl is kidnapped, a sheriff is trying to find her, and then all of a sudden here come some werewolves and vampires.... and then chapter 2 was just something TOTALLY different that made no sense with the rest of the story at all. I am very confused.

I really enjoyed this one...thought occasionally confusing as it felt like some small portions of the story were left out...and keeping track of who was who when many of the creatures looked similar to each other. Loved the action, and the artwork nonethe less.

A former Pinkerton detective, MacGregor, searches for a known criminal in a Western town infected with evil.

Set in 1890, the villainous gangs in this graphic novel are extremely original paranormal creatures. Their originality is the best part of this book. The other characters are western movie stereotypes like the damsel in distress, the old doc and the crooked richest man in town. The plot is a standard western trope too with the usual villainous gangs replaced with monsters. There is also an off-hand reference to steampunk and a sub-plot regarding slavery, which seemed to be afterthoughts.

I love the idea of a western paranormal mashup. It makes sense that an old mine might house evil. The plot is good if somewhat derivative. However, the artwork is murky and it is frequently difficult to tell what is happening. Many of the panels use the exact same color for the foreground and the background with only a thin line separating the two. Also, the shadowing is done using thick cross-hatching, while the outlines are using thin lines that decreases the clarity in many panels. The original online comic won a Harvey award and didn't have this clarity issue. Hopefully, that will be the way it will appear in the final released version.

The real reason to read High Moon #1 and the next volume due out in May 2018 is to prepare for the all-new volume 3. The original web series ended with a cliffhanger about seven years ago. Fans of the original series and others that want a good quick scary read for Halloween will be interested in this book. However, others should get a free Kindle sample or view the book in person to make sure the artwork issues have been cleared up before ordering a copy. 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Papercutz, and NetGalley for an advanced review copy. High Moon #1 will be released October 31, 2017.

This is my first graphic novel by this author and I thought it was really interesting. I love werewolf type books but these creatures were a bit more than than and even though it kind of confused me at times it made a bit of sense towards the ending though all the Macgregors was confusing me. Lots of cool graphics though sometimes the characters looked a lot alike and I got confused, but they were still pretty awesome.

I find it hard to review graphic novels because it's not a very long one so I don't want to give anything away so if you like horror and creatures then give it a try. :)

I received a copy of High Moon Vol. 1: Bullet Holes and Bites Marks from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The cover art for High Moon immediately drew my attention to it – and that quality of art is maintained throughout. I honestly believe the artwork was the highlight of the graphic novel for me. It all appears to be hand drawn and inked, and done so in a beautifully striking style. The monsters (more on that later) are horrifyingly perfect and seem to almost jump off the page (or screen) at the reader.

I really wanted to love High Moon – the concept sounded interesting (werewolves and vampires meets the Wild West? Yes please!) and the artwork is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately on the whole I found myself to be less than impressed with it. I think it had a lot of potential, and with a little bit more work Gallaher and Ellis could have a thing of beauty on their hands.
High Moon is the sort of story that throws you right into the thick of things. We’re immediately thrown into a town that’s already having troubles – unfortunately given no time to know the main character (s) or understand their motives or reasoning. It made it difficult for me to get into the novel.
There were a few points where I actually had to go back and re-read a section, because I didn’t understand how we got from point A to point B (re-reading did not clear up my confusion). I felt this was particularly true during the fight scenes. While visually striking they were somewhat disorienting and confusing.
I still really love the concept of werewolves and vampires causing havoc in the Wild West – so I want to give the creators credit for this idea. It’s brilliant and has so much potential. I’m hoping that later volumes will spend more time on character development – that’s what this series really needs in order to start shining.

The Volume 1 of the High Moon comics series entitled Bullet Holes and Bite Marks which was created by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis, has an engrossing story. Although, there are confusing parts such as that I thought the protagonist was the detective Matthew McGregor. Then in the middle part of the story, the fugitive Eddie Conroy, which later became Edward McGregor, was after all the lead character.

Another cause for confusion is who Ester Kittel really is and what did his sons Frederick and August mean on the latter part of this graphic novel. I could have gave this 3 to 4 stars if only I was not confused on some scenes; and I guess, those unanswered questions of mine about Ester spoiled everything.

The art, character designs, and general mood of this book are great. I loved the vampire designs in particular. However the story is kind of confusing on a lot of points, and I feel like we're missing certain background information we need to understand the characters. It kind of seems like someone made a bunch of character designs and had certain scenes they wanted to draw and then tried to string those random moments together into a story to make it work. For me it's still worth a quick read based on the artwork alone [I'm also a sucker for supernatural western stuff] but if you're more of a story-driven reader this is probably not the book for you.

A fun graphic novel with a lot going on. Loved the art style.