Thanks to netgalley.com and Europe Comics Publishing for the advance PDF ARC for my honest.

This is what a Old West comic should be. Starts in Washington with an old politician Matthew Montgomery, heads west in 1870 after his wife and daughter are murdered and raped, he gets frustrated with the local Police and ends up going west to track down their killers.

He did a little investigating, discovered a name in a motel, that has him heading to Topeka, Kansas, the end of the trail and to where rail road tracks are being laid. The storyline is decent, it's interesting, just starts to get good and abruptly ends. Have a few empty pages, just surprised that no preview is add, for future volumes that will continue the story and conclude it.

Matthew Montgomery heads west in 1870 to discover the link between his murdered daughter and wife and a strange star carved on her body. But what he finds is only the beginning of the mystery. The reader will need to keep going in future volumes to find out what that star means. Nice artwork! Very appropriate color scheme.

Far too short to really decide what to make of this. Great artwork, and yes, there's quite a bit of nudity, but frankly, I've seen a lot worse in sci-fi graphic novels so I wasn't really bothered by it. The mystery of the thing is what is supposed to be important, and the mystery definitely deepens before the end.

Our hero is a grizzled old politician, who's also a stickler for the rules – except for the one about being faithful to your wife. He's practically disowned their daughter due to a bad choice in men she made, but he'll come to regret all of this when, quite bluntly and brutally, he loses both of them. A kind of emblem carved into the daughter's breast leads him on the trail of a mysterious man with a mysterious hold over everyone, forcing him from the relatively civilised Washington to the fierce railhead frontier town of Topeka, Kansas, and – well, who knows what? This is the first of four parts to this book, and makes one very keen on finding out the full story. Yes it is ridiculously filled with stereotypes, both visually and plotwise, and yes the women are either dragons or whores (this will never pass the Bechdel test), but it's actually really compelling. The rule is that books like this get translated when they deserve to be – the good ones promptly, the poor ones when nobody can be bothered to do anything else. The fact this took twenty years to come to the English market is a big slip-up. OK, so the other volumes may have leaked out over a period of years, but I am surprised the urge to get this out early was not met. It really does leave the reader begging for the rest.

I'm going to have to track the rest of this story down. It's a tale of justice and revenge in the Old West after a powerful man's family is brutally murdered. He tracks the killer across the US to find out why and take vengeance on those who did him wrong. The art is great. Warning, there's some very graphic sexual violence in this book.

'Desert Star Volume 1' with story by Stephen Desberg and art by Enrico Marini is a graphic story of life in the Old West.

The main character, Matthew Montgomery, has an important job in Washington and a predictable life until his wife and daughter are savagely murdered. Now with nothing, he heads out West to find the person responsible for the murder and the clue left behind. His hunt takes him through rough towns and the untamed wild.

I liked this story, but in some ways it felt a bit cliche, plus it's got a bit of a cliffhanger ending. It was also a bit more graphic than I would have expected. The art is very good. Maybe the story is better going forward.

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

I wasn't the intended audience for this book. I love graphic novels but I don't like scenes of rape or gratuitous nudity. The story was intriguing and the artwork was good but the story just wasnt for me.

This graphic novel had more substance than I expected. I thought it would maybe be more of a western, based on the cover image. However, it is much more about family, love and revenge and there is much more depth.

The artwork and the colours used are really effective - there are some panels at the start that have snowy scenes and they are beautiful. However, it is very explicit and may not be suitable for everyone -definitely not young people.

The story is intriguing enough that I kind of want to know what happens next.

A pleasant surprise after my initial expectations.

Thanks to Euorpe Comics and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC.

Basic setup: Matthew Montgomery is a stern man of dignity with a position of respect. His daughter Helen has returned home from some ill-advised, perhaps mildly scandalous, adventure. Montgomery had warned her against running off but she did anyway and her return only increases his righteous indignation at having been disobeyed. An indignation that is short-lived when his wife and daughter are savagely raped and murdered in their home. The only clues are an enigmatic symbol left at the scene and a name in a hotel registry. Montgomery takes it upon himself to find the meaning of it all.

This is just the first chapter/book in a four part series. It's open ended so there's no resolution of any significance but, boy, there is one heck of a setup! Think of it as the pilot episode of a limited TV series: The hero (Montgomery) embarks on a quest for answers... Why has this happened? Where will it lead? You'll have to catch every episode if you want the answers.

I usually don't like books that end without a resolution, it often seems like a gimmick to hook the reader into buying the next issue (and in some ways it is), but this one does such a good job of creating an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue that I couldn't help getting caught up in it.

The art is good with a muted color scheme that adds an authentic old timey feel. The story is intriguing. The way the art changes slightly in style and background to reflect the move from the staid trappings of "civilization" to the more loose morality of the wild frontier is very convincing.

I liked this one a lot. I will almost certainly be following up on the rest of the chapters.

A note of warning: This one is for grownups, both the art and the story show it - think more along the lines of HBO's Deadwood than classic TV shows like Gunsmoke or Bonanza. There is nudity, depictions of sex and violence.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up Stephen Desberg’s Desert Star: Volume 1 on a whim. I’m not sure what I expected, but it caught me off-guard and proved more than a little diverting.

Desert Star: Volume 1 is definitely on the mature side of the aisle. This western is as cold and hard as the barrel of a Peacemaker. It is a violent story with more than a little nudity, but despite these realities, I found I enjoyed the author’s exploration of pain, loss, regret, and revenge.

The women of this story suffer much, and Montgomery reads a little stiff for my tastes, but I couldn’t help falling for the intrigue at the heart of the story and am curious to see where Desberg takes the Desert Star series moving forward.

゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜

Note: I made a point of reading Volume 2 of the Desert Star series on the heels of Volume 1 and feel it important to recommend prospective readers do the same as the decision to read the story in full influenced my opinion in ways it wouldn't have been had I read the books as standalone publications.

Many will feel disappointed by this first instalment of the comic book Desert Star, simply because it ends.
Add to that the frustration that nothing is really resolved and the mystery just got darker.
It is not a neat story within a story, Volume 1 leaves more questions than it provides answers but it clearly provides the platform for a series you want to follow to its end.
This is no children’s comic this is a gritty graphic novel before the West was tamed and where the railroad ended the law seems to become derailed.
Ultimately it is a clash of cultures the different types of character needed to make America a success.
We meet Mathew Montgomery a business working in Washington - living at the heart of ‘civilisation’. A man respected by others and therefore by default a respectable man. Not all his deeds and choices back this up however he says of himself that he likes order, a man who respects rules.
His life changes in a moment when personal tragedy is visited on his home. Now his direction and focus must change. He must leave the city, head West for a man from that distant frontier has visited his house.
It was not a random attack, a victimless crime. He has a name and an Indian symbol to search for answers and enact his revenge.

I was expecting a Western-styled murder mystery, gunslinging, saloons etc.

But what I got was a crazy misogynist who doesn't learn even after his wife and daughter are raped and murdered. He proceeds to investigate, but the narrative spends more time overtly sexualizing every female character rather than do - well - anything else.

The artwork was beautiful, and I've no problem with the violence or nudity - it creates a cruel, harsh world, and I liked that the tonal shift was obvious in the colour changes. But the scripted half just seemed rushed and simplistic.