The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine #1 Review:

When one thinks of adventure magazines, they conjure up images of those 1950s magazines with John Wayne and Roy Rogers on the cover and stories about the Wild West. “The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine #1” Tries to bring that kind of excitement back into the modern era but fails miserably.

The first story called “The Way of ’No Way’” by Andrew Vachss and Geof Darrow takes place in a sort of post apocalyptic old west world where every weird monster imaginable exists (like a giant king crab). A crime boss, The Toxic Amoeba is setting up a trap for The Shaolin Cowboy, an Asian cowboy who rides a mule and packs a limitless supply of guns and ammo. Or so the story says.

The problem with the story is that it so imbalanced with scenes that just happen with no rhyme or reason or are unneeded which turn the story into a big mess. It’s poorly plotted, action scenes are there for sake of having action scenes and characters ideas are created because they sound “cool.” These “cool” characters include an evil giant king crab and a biker gang with members with such monikers like the Rasta and the Vacuous Viking.

One of the biggest problems with the writing is that is so amateurish that it can only be classified with those stories found of “fanfiction.net.” The dialogue is badly written and childish; the descriptions fall into purple prose territory and the mule “courtship” scene is unnecessary and reads like an immature teenager’s first exposure to sex.

There is some artwork to go with the story. Its basic pencil sketching that doesn’t stand out nor is it bad. It’s just there. That’s also the main problem with the drawings. 99% of the drawings shows the Shaolin Cowboy in a pose which has nothing to do with the story. The other 1% of the drawings shows the characters that appear in the story at that moment or that one shootout scene with the biker gang.

The second story, “Time Factor” by Michael A. Black, is boring, poorly paced and is not worth skipping the first story to get to.

The magazine has some one page comic strips called ‘The Shaolin Cowboy’s Helpful Hints” which all show how to use everyday objects normally and then the last panel shows the cowboy using that object as a weapon. These strips are ho-hum at best and get old and predictable fast.

“The Shaolin Cowboy Adventure Magazine #1” has two stories poorly written stories, one “fanfiiction.net” bad and one boring bad, and basic pencil art that makes one read only two pages and then move on to something a little more appealing.