Review: Burnished Sunsets And Burning Mysteries Fuel ‘Canary’ #3

The posse is gathered and ready to set off to investigate the collapsed mine just outside of the township of Canary and further down a path towards the true horrors heavily hinted at in this series so far. And, while on the road, we get a good deal of back-and-forth between the three diverse characters of grizzled hero Will, Mabel and Doctor Edwards.

Pretty soon Will and company cross paths with local Native American tribe, the Paiute, but it’s not an initially friendly one. What makes these particular indigenous people stand out from any number of such stock characters in Western stories of the pats is their leader, the educated, but scarred, Wovoka. A leading figure of his community who’s past hints at great trauma at the hands of the colonialists now firmly in charge of America. It’s one of many classic Western tropes Scott Snyder has recast in an original way throughout this series. While Will et. al. are chasing something supernatural, it is the Native American, Molokai, who has a simpler, scientific reasoning for the seemingly evil nature of this area. It’s certainly a very different depiction of a people who are often the group more closely ties to supernatural happens in such narratives. A very intelligent role-reversal on Snyder’s part.

While this is an issue quite full of talking heads, there is no escaping the beautifully rendered desert skies Dan Panosian litters this issue with once again. The deft use of colours here – very reminiscent of abstract marbled oil paint on water – evoke so much. It is a familiar world of heat, dust, rough and wild nature and slow burning sunsets that are so much a part of the DNA of many a Western, in print on on screen. But, in his use of colours so different to the colours of other comics, Panosian achieves an effect that really captures the genre and tone of the story. 

While this is a heavily dialogued issue it does hint at so much else too. Snyder, I have learnt, is not one to waste words. The horrors of the collapsed mine are one thing, but the real horrors that the indigenous tribes of America suffered at the hands of European settlers over the centuries, and still in force in the late 19th century too, should give readers pause for thought. Snyder is almost willing his readers to seek out more on the schools set up in such places as Nebraska, for “Indians” and the scars – real and psychological – many suffered in their time there. 

Canary #3 is out now on ComiXology

And, for more on Canary, check out my interview with Scott Snyder here and Rachel Bellwoar’s recent interview with Dan Panosian here.