That Texas Blood, Volume 1 Review (Chris Condon, Jacob Phillips)

Despite Ambrose County, Texas being a small town, it has more than its fair share of violence! And it seems violence only begets more violence, as a man returns to identify his estranged brother’s death, likely at the hands of some local mobsters, That Texas Blood stirs, and suddenly vengeance is on the cards!

“Well…”

… which is a phrase oft repeated in this book - that was surprising. Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips’ That Texas Blood, Volume 1 is one helluva debut! Like father, like son, Jacob Phillips, like his dad Sean, has found a great Ed Brubaker-esque partner in Chris Condon to produce what could easily be a new addition to the Criminal library.

Except I don’t remember Brubaker being this good so early in his career. This doesn’t read like a newcomer comic at all - Condon’s storytelling is so damned confident and polished, from the fast-moving, exciting story, to the sharp characterisation and effortless dialogue, this reads like a veteran comics writer at the helm. It’s really impressive.

Ditto Jacob Phillips. Prior to this I’ve only seen his colouring on Brubaker/Phillips’ books but damn this kid can draw every bit as good as his dad - and, again, still so young! The comic is well laid out with engaging and imaginative shots and expressive characters. Like the writing, it doesn’t seem possible that this is a first-timer’s effort but it looks like both Condon and Phillips are natural comics creators - or, more likely, have worked really hard at their craft to start this strong.

There are some criticisms to be had, but no dealbreakers to stop this being a cracking comic. As skillful as Condon’s writing is, his clipped style can lead to some underwriting - Ray’s motivations in the opening story are unclear, as are the traumas of Randy’s childhood that haunt him so. The flipside is Joe Bob’s rambling dream story which is overlong, predictable and goes nowhere.

Randy descends into his old self pretty darned quickly and decides to throw his new life away on nothing more than a hunch, which makes his revenge plan seem a little astoopid. I didn’t really understand his motivations either - if he hated his brother Travis so much, why go to such lengths to avenge him, particularly as it means his own future’s certain destruction? And the direction everything goes in this book is grim and gratuitously grimmer, which is the de facto direction of crime stories, and, while fine for the most part, still make the stories here less memorable because they’re such obvious choices.

Well. Anyway. That Texas Blood, Volume 1 is still a terrific read and I enjoyed the hell out of it, blitzing through it in one sitting. Thank jeebus there’s more than one great creative team at Image capable of churning out quality crime comics! If you enjoy Brubaker/Phillips’ comics and/or Cormac McCarthy’s novels, you’ll definitely want to check this bad boy out.