The Tinman Drifter

    (Joshua Ellingson, 2003)
™ and © Joshua Ellingson

Picture a world that is inhabited by robots, not by men. Now picture the robots living in the Wild West. That is the subject behind Ellingson’s Tinman Drifter, a funny, interesting, and extremely well done look at what the Wild West would have been like with robots.

The story revolves around a Tin hero who saves a damsel in distress in #1 and survives a gun battle with a talking stove in the second issue. Throughout the first two issues our light bulb-looking hero never says a word, but always saves the day.

The thing that makes the two issues great is that both of the stories are good, plus they show how Ellingson has matured as a writer and artist. Even though the first issue is very good the inking and story are vastly improved by the second. The main problem is that each comic can be read in a matter of minutes, because there is minimal text and the second issue is very art heavy.

The comic never explains why there is a desert world with robots that mimic a period of American history, but it is not even needed, because it is an after thought. This mini-comic is definitely worth the money for everyone who wants to be taken to a world where robots run the saloons and the villains run on steam.

— Nathan Melby
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist