Good morning everyone,
Today we’re examining the comic series “Frontiersman” written by Patrick Kindlon, drawn by Marco Ferrari, and published by Image Comics. The first issue was released in September 2021 while the fifth (and final) issue of the original run came out in January 2022. That run was compiled into a trade paperback (TPB) in early March 2022. Additionally, a one-shot entitled “Frontiersman: Lock-up Special,” drawn by new artist Nicolo Assireli, came out in May 2022.
Patrick Kindlon and Marco Ferrari previously collaborated on “PATIENCE! CONVICTION! REVENGE!” for the now-defunct Aftershock Comics. I haven’t read that comic, but it appears to be set in an apocalyptic world which includes a robot army and a Las Vegas ruled by a criminal syndicate.
Turning now to the plot of Frontiersman, the titular hero retired fifteen years ago to live a secluded existence in the woods. Then an environmentalist called Deonte sought out his assistance to prevent a logging company from chopping down redwood trees. After some convincing, Frontiersman set up shop on a platform attached to one of those redwoods high above the ground (a technique called tree sitting). Noticing his return to the spotlight, many super villains and old acquaintances sought him out!
One of those super-powered people was Brynhildr “Bryn” of Lanrhl, a fae warrior queen. She is normally eight feet tall, but can increase her height up to 150 feet! Additionally, Bryn “… has been observed lifting over 100 tons.” (SIDE NOTE: Bryn’s biographical details were taken from the Frontiersman TPB. Her one-page biography in that book was apparently modeled on biographies in the “Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe“ first published in 1982.)
Luckily for giantess lovers Bryn and Frontiersman get frisky in issue 4:
Alas, it’s important to note that while Frontiersman was rated “M” for “Mature” there was no frontal nudity, no genitals were shown. Bryn was topless, but that was as risque as it got. A pity really.
I blame mainstream American comic book publishing where even a M-rated comic is apparently not allowed to show a penis or vagina. (SIDE NOTE: Image has the third largest market share in the U.S. so I consider them mainstream.) “M – Mature” is the highest rating that Image has.
Patrick Kindlon wrote about sex in comics in that issue. His words, seen below, are worth a read.
I echo his concerns and hope that we get more sex in comics. It irks me that Image’s adult comics are still prudish about sex. Image has no “Adults Only” rating like the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Mature is Image’s highest rating and is intended for people 18 years old and up.
Additionally, in keeping with the American approach to media, graphic violence is A-okay, but sex is bad. Thus, no one bats an eye at a bloody drawing of a man who had been clubbed to death. That drawing was the artwork for the final panel of issue 3. Such violence is unremarkable in American comics and thus did not require explanation. Contrast that to the soft-core sex scene in issue 4 which Patrick felt had to be addressed.
Obviously, I have no issue with sex or violence. Mature comics should be able to shock readers with violent carnage and titillate with erotic imagery. I don’t know how to change the current situation except by creators pushing publishers to release comics which go beyond current boundaries. Someone write a M-rated Image comic which shows two adults engaging in consensual sex and showing their penis and vagina!
That point made, let’s switch gears and discuss what was good about Frontiersman. First of all, the characters were well-written and the dialogue was smart. Furthermore, Marco Ferrari’s art was top-notch and enjoyable. Human bodies were realistically depicted, lovely ladies were beautiful, and monsters were suitably misshapen.
As for negatives, my first difficulty was answering what should have been a simple question: “Does Frontiersman have super powers?“
I don’t think so. No explicit reference to super powers was given. He didn’t fly, shoot laser breams from his eyes, throw a car over his head, etc. However, he recounted numerous fantastical adventures such as gladiator matches on Mars and fighting otherworldly entities. Which, not for nothing, would seem rather perilously for a regular guy. He also killed a man who knocked a four-door Sedan onto its side with a single kick. DC Comics mitigates the physical disadvantages of their human superhero Batman by using cool gadgets. In contrast, Frontiersman had a wooden club. So, maybe I’m wrong and he does have super powers.
The only direct reference (in the right panel below) to whether or not he had super powers was in the one-shot Lock-up Special. Even that was ambiguous.
Frontiersman did not actually answer whether he had powers or not. “Man of the People” might have meant that he liked to associate with regular humans, but he himself was actually superhuman. Frontiersman may use that phrase like a rich politician who claims to be a “Man of the People” even though the politician has financial resources far beyond the average citizen.
Maybe he has less showy super powers like being slightly stronger than a human (akin to Marvel Comics Captain America), which was my initial assumption. I bought the Frontiersman TPB, the only collected edition of the character, and it was never clarified. That sole reference was not in the TPB, but was in the one-shot. I wanted to know and erroneously assumed that the TPB would tell me.
Perhaps it would have been too much exposition to give us a stat sheet which detailed all of his biographical detail. Except that was done for other characters like Professor Unicell, Galaxie Prime, Valor (a.k.a. American Standard or Trefoil), etc. Surprisingly, no such biographical data was given for the most important character, Frontiersman himself.
Additionally, the cover for the one-shot was wildly misleading. It showed a number of bizarre super villains who did not appear in the comic. Seeing that art, my assumption was that there would be a riot involving many strange super-powered prisoners. Instead, there was only one super-powered person (two if Frontiersman counts).
However, the most glaring flaw was the uncertain direction. Which is to say, “Where is the Frontiersman going?” The end of issue 5 teased that issues 6 and 7 would introduce new characters and other goodies. However, they were never made. Presumably, the one-shot was the story that originally was going to be issues six and seven, but maybe not. There was no reason given for why those issues never materialized. Transparency would have been appreciated.
The original creators created another series, “Antioch,” in Frontiersman’s world. Two issues were released, the first in early September 2022 and the second in early November 2022. Since then, nothing else (according to the official series page) has been produced. According to Amazon, an Antioch TPB, consisting of four issues total, will be released on October 3rd. That is less than two months away and, given that half of the issues have not yet been published, seems unlikely.
As a consumer, I would appreciate knowing what the intent is going forward. Will Frontiersman return someday or is it a waste of time reading comics that will never be finished? Conversely, a company might like to keep that vague so consumers will still buy the issues which were already released.
Eventually, after doing some digging, I found an answer. During a 3-hour interview on the “Graphic Vandalism” YouTube channel, click here to watch that, Patrick stated that Marco had some heath issues and a death in the family which delayed production on the Antioch series. Nonetheless, issue 3 reportedly has been done for awhile and issue 4 was in the editing process. That interview was uploaded to YouTube on May 24, 2023.
It’s August now, two months have passed, where are those Antioch issues? Image’s release schedule, projecting out until August 23rd, did not list Antioch. The interview only had 376 views as of 9PM on August 8th, Japan Standard Time (JST). So, the claim that despite indications to the contrary Antioch was not discontinued has not been widely disseminated. The average comic book reader may think that Antioch was abandoned or cancelled since nothing new has been released over the past nine months.
Political pushback may also be a factor. According to Patrick’s comments in issue 3 some readers thought his series was political and that the environmentalism aspect was “… an assault on Trump in some way.” That was a ridiculous critique. No reference, not even an oblique one, was made to the 45th President. Unless anyone who tries to protect redwood trees is anti-Trump.
Per the aforementioned interview, Patrick also received e-mails from people claiming that the book was “too right wing” while other e-mails complained that it was “too left wing.” Lastly, Patrick is in a band, runs two podcasts, and has an unspecified day job. That busy schedule may contribute to the delays.
Overall, Frontiersman was an enjoyable read brought down by the fact that its release schedule was sporadic. Hopefully, Antioch (and by extension Frontiersman) gets a predictable release schedule in the near future, but there exists a possibility that the entire Frontiersman universe could be unceremoniously abandoned. Despite that uncertainty, I enjoyed it. Thus, Frontiersman is recommended.
That’s it for today folks. The blog’s next post will celebrate the birthday of a special someone named Yu Takeyama. Until then, keep growing!
This review was written by SolomonG and is protected under Fair Use copyright law.
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