An undertaker in the Old West that may be more than he seems. He's hired to bring a man who is planning on killing himself to be buried in his goldmine. For some reason, he decided to eat two pounds of gold in order to take it with him as well. The town finds out about it and wants their cut of the gold. There are a whole lot of moving pieces to this, probably too many for a 50 page installment of a longer story.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Pretty cool old west comic, the story was wild! Would read more of the series.

Once again, I fell into the trap of not noticing that graphic novel I was picking up was the first in a series. As I have no way of getting my hands on the next two (other than buying them), I will have to be satisfied with just this one. That said, I was glad to at least have given this a shot. I liked what I read and can extrapolate to possible next steps in the storyline.

We meet an anti-hero in our undertaker who seems to take pleasure in using underhanded measures to make his way in the world. This is a short first volume which introduces the world at the time and the life-threatening situations everyone finds themselves in. It is fast paced, with many twists and a forbidding ambience. I would recommend picking this up if you have a way of getting your hands on the entire collection.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Typically, I'm not a fan of westerns because I find them super formulaic and they all just sort of blur together. What this one has going for it though, is absolutely gorgeous artwork and a fast-pace storytelling style that keeps the action constant and the reader engaged in the story. Also, the vulture is cute!

A pretty competently put together Western graphic novel, this part one (of five) introduces us to an itinerant undertaker. He's the sort of maverick who will try and make a pet out of a vulture he's been paid to shoot, and he is very good at the job – as well as at diplomacy, and the patter needed for the trade. But in this book he'll have to be very good at the rootin' and tootin' as well – but surely he hasn't got a mysterious past to prove his form? A rich, fat gold mine owner is adamant he will die overnight, and the English mistress of his house and books, and our hero, will have to dispose of him – and his gold, in a nicely novel way – before the other types of vultures circle. But the town is such a hot-bed of antagonism and pure need and greed, that before long everyone has made the mine owner's corpse of prime interest. It is a little awkward to follow all the hirsute blokes and tell one from another, but it really does work as a different kind of Western story. This volume ends on a real cliff-hanger, however – so I can't really judge what the remaining four books will cover, as this particular arc has the feel of being wrapped up before too long. Either way, this is a strong calling card for this series, and all five, should they have the quality of this, would be pretty impressive indeed.

'Undertaker #1: The Gold Eater' by Xavier Dorison with art by Ralph Meyer is a graphic novel set in the old west and features an undertaker who may be more than he seems.

Jonas Crow, undertaker and mystery man, rolls his hearse into town and gets hired to bury a man. The unusual request is to haul the body to an old mine and bury it there. Before the man dies, he swallows his remaining gold. The problem is that the townspeople have found out and Jonas may have a fight on his hands.

I liked this atmospheric tale. I'd like to read more adventures with this character. The art is pretty cool too.

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 enjoyed the story of Undertaker so much! I was never really keen on westerns or stories set at that particular time of Gold Rush, but I liked it anyway.

The artwork is truly amazing and atmospheric, keeping the plot and characters vivid and interesting. I liked the colour scheme chosen, especially for the last few scenes.

Jonas crow is a great character, right in the middle of being likeable for his moral choices but still enjoyable to follow through the adventures.

I would definitely read another instalment in this series.

Really good artwork and a gripping western story. This volume sets the scene for the series and the initial twists and turns in this volume have definitely drawn me in. Characters are really well developed and the first volume leaves the reader wanting more.

Wow; an action-packed variation of the Western.
Here is a comic book of atmospheric illustrations of a prospector town where the mine and town are owned by one, self-made man.
Hated throughout his life he has never shared his prosperity; indeed those drawn to the town are working for less than minimum wage but as prospectors they live on the hope of striking gold.
Close to living out his last days, despite the protection of the corrupt sherif, Joe Cusco sends out a telegram for an undertaker.
His plan is to be buried in his original shaft in the mine where he first struck gold. He has a trusted assistant and employs the services of the undertaker Jonas Crow. He will commit suicide to avoid a painful death and somehow take his fortune to be buried with his gold.
Crow the Undertaker is more than the sum of his parts and he will require al his black arts to fulfil the Will of the rogue Cusco. Unsurprising the workers feel with the owner dead, the mine and the town by dint of their hard work mean they are equal shareholders to inherit these assets.
When someone suggests that the coffin holds the gold, the town folk revolts and do what they can to prevent the gold being smuggled out of the town.
The action escalates, the violence spills over into riot and wild shooting. Without adequate law enforcement the town leaders send for the army to help.
This is just part 1 and ends on a cliffhanger worthy of the thrust of the story. We know Crow is hiding his identity and true past, but maybe at this time the only hope to Rose seeking to bury her former employer, according to his final wishes. Can she trust Crow when he appears to be a cold-blooded Murder? His compelling argument is that everyone want the gold and if the Sherif, the miners or the cavalry take the gold their own lives will be forfeit. They would be killed to conceal the theft.

Set like a western, Undertaker is the story of Jonas Crow, undertaker, who's tasked with transporting and burying the body of the richest man in Anoki City and owner of the gold mines. But what Crow doesn't know, is that he accepts this task with the man being still alive. The mogul has a plan. And it's one that's going to infuriate the whole city, and get Crow into a lot of trouble.

Atmospheric, dark and adventurous, Undertaker is an immersive read, accompanied by fitting and beautiful illustration. A recommended read both for general graphic novel fans, and for fans of everything western-style.

This entertaining Western graphic novel is a great set-up for an exciting series. The artwork by Ralph Meyer and the colours by Caroline Delabie are beautiful and add great atmosphere to the story by Xavier Dorison. The cliffhanger made me turn the page so fast and while the story didn't continue I was rewarded by some more beautiful artwork. I really enjoyed this story and will definitely keep an eye out for part 2.

We follow Jonas Crow, an undertaker, as he is asked to transport the body of a recently deceased man who made his millions in mining but shortly before his death he swallowed all of his gold which leads to fights, a race to reach the body and unrest in the mining town. I loved the Wild West setting, the art style and how unusual the premise is but as with a couple of the other short reads I finished in March, it just wasn't as great or memorable as I hoped it would be.

<i>arc provided by the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

This just wasn’t the graphic novel for me. I thought that I would enjoy it but I really didn’t. I was bored pretty early on, I didn’t like the plot and the art style wasn’t my favourite.

I won’t be continuing on with this series unfortunately.

1/5 ⭐️

TW: death, guns, shooting, blood, gore

I really liked this! I got a copy from NetGalley which I just joined. The artwork is very good and the story is very interesting. Jonas Crow is an undertaker with a pet vulture and he is a character who can be kind or very hard. Hired to bury a mine owner who swallowed his gold, he faces angry townspeople and miners who feel entitled to that gold. Not to mention a corrupt sheriff. He sticks to his duty to bury the man as agreed even though it puts his life in danger. The only problem is the cliffhanger ending. I hope the sequel Dance of the Vultures can be found soon.

As with most graphic novels, I picked up Xavier Dorison’s Undertaker: The Gold Eater on a whim. I’d not read him before, but the story looked vaguely interesting and I figured it wouldn’t require much time to read so I took the plunge (Am I a cheap date or what?).

I don’t want to get too far into the details of this piece as it’s short and any real discussion would give the good bits away. That said, I found the story well-paced and engaging. It’s a little violent, but no more so than most westerns and I was tickled by Dorison’s wit. The Gold Eater is not a comedy by any means, but Undertaker Jonas Crow’s propensity for dark-humored cheek brought a smile to my face.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my admiration for Ralph Meyer’s wonderful renderings. The panels have just the right amount of edge and I liked the movement he was able to capture, especially once the story took off.

Will definitely be on the lookout for the rest of the series. Highly recommended.

I received a review copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Undertaker is a Wild West comic about, you guessed it, an undertaker. He gets a job from a certain man named Cusco, who owns several goldmines. Cusco wants the undertaker to burry him in the mine where he first found gold, an offer the undertaker accepts. Cusco then takes poison and while slowly dying, he swallows all of this wealth in gold nuggets so nobody can have his fortune.
Naturally, shit hits the fan when one of his servants finds out and the town decides that they're done with being exploited.

Honestly, I'm luke-warm about this comic. Artistically it's well executed. The coloring is really nice, some pages are even beautiful. The panels are usually rather standard but a few pages are done creatively.
The execution of the story is tepid and the characters are all charicatures. You know from the very beginning what everyone is going to do and say: there's the handsome, rugged-looking anti-hero who has a heart of gold but plays badass and of course he has a dark, mysterious past and happens to be the best shooter in the whole world (and also he's sexy); then there's the sex interest who is a stunning beauty but of course uptight and frigid so there can be some romantic and sexual tension but thankfully she has a banging body with huge boobs and perky lips with zero personality besides being disgusted by Undertaker-san's sexy broodiness and laissez-faire attitude; Lin, a Chinese servant of Cusco, is almost kickass but mostly a stereotypical Orientalist representation and there to tell us repeatedly that sexy, dirty boy Undertaker-san is actually nice; the other characters are either greedy, evil idiots or lost good guys, no matter if they're town folks, sheriffs, or Southern Confederates.
I was also waiting for the gratuitous boob scene and the comic delivered with very boobily boobs that nippeled tittily.

I don't hate the comic. I'm just indifferent to it. There's no unexpected creative choices, charming art style, or captivating characters. These are literally cut-out characters that beat to the drum of the most clichéd Wild West storyline ever.
And listen, Undertaken-san is handsome and visually my kind of guy but that's all he is: a handsome, ruggedy dude with no real personality and all of the tropes with zero charme or deviance from the cliché-path.
My favorite character is the vulture, for crying out loud, and it's an animel who's shown occasionally and just sits there.

The plot doesn't move according to people making choices and then others react. The plot does, what a list of items says, ticking off each item as a pre-written bullet point list says because of its genre. I mean seriously, you can guess the plot to 99% correct just with these infos: mysterious handsome undertaker shoots vultures for a guy but the one he saves, showing he's nice; and then goes to a goldmine town to take on an odd job you know is going to go sideways; the guy who gives him the job kills himself with gold nuggets inside him; all of the town want the gold; the sheriffs and soldiers are corrupt; then there's a sexy up-tight British lady who criticises him.
There. You know exactly what's going to happen. You don't need to read the comic.

Ultimately, the comic feels uninspired to me. It was mediocre all around and rather dull. You may like it, I don't know, but this wasn't for me.
It's just so "Eh".

A traveling undertaker with a horse drawn hearse goes about his unsavory business in the Old West. Jonas Crow aka The Undertaker has no time for sentiment, an injured vulture serves as his grim mascot, he's all about getting paid. The man is mysterious and more than a little creepy.

This is a good one. Undertaker 1. The Gold Eater is, as the subtitle implies, just the first in a multiple-volume storyline. It also ends on a cliffhanger. Those are two things I usually avoid as they tend to disappoint and leave the reader feeling almost cheated. Not the case with this one; The ambiguous ending left me wanting more... I can't wait to read the next volume in this series!

The art captures a sort of Edgar Allan Poe bleakness, though it's in color it has a decided dark Western Noir appeal. Some of the stuff is a bit cliche but it gets absorbed in the larger story. My only real complaint is that the style of the lettering makes it somewhat difficult to read. Even when enlarged on my Amazon Fire Tablet (<- shameless attempt at pandering) the letters lacked crisp definition. It slowed down the reading considerably and had an effect on overall enjoyment.

There is some slight nudity (a couple of panels with a topless woman) and a smattering of cursing (I noticed one F-bomb) along with a bit of gore. I would give this a PG-13 rating.

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