Weekend Reviews: Wasted Lands Omnibus

Wasted Lands Omnibus (Magnetic Press)

Created by Dave Dorman

My initial expectations about this omnibus were completely incorrect. This is not one single, cohesive story, but rather a collection of several story telling forms about the same characters set in a place called the Wasted Lands.  These have been published in various places and at different times for the last couple of decades, but are finally compiled here.

The Wasted Lands are a post-Apocalyptic world much like the American West, if the American West had been decimated by nuclear waste.  The Iron Wars have decimated the area, which is now being governed by an oligarchy of “rail barons” who criss-cross the nation with railroads that have apparently been built by construction crews addicted to Quick, a drug which gives them massive energy and stamina for a short while, but uses them up to the point that they die.

Dave Dorman, the creator of this universe, is clearly a lover of pulp fiction.  His attachment to the genre is obvious from the overstated dialogue in the opening story.  The first story read like a 1950’s western, with brash statements and dialogue meant to inform the reader of past events, rather than relying on narrative blocks.  It raised a lot of questions for me, such as what part Grin, the foremost rail baron, and his blind witch had to play in the story of the Wasted Lands.  Edgar Wallace, “Edge,” a ranger who Dorman appeared to be setting up as the main character, considering the quest he was given, was prominently featured, only to disappear almost completely from subsequent stories.  Unfortunately, the rest of the book did not really answer most of those questions.

Some of the entries in the omnibus were full color graphic novels set in the Wasted Lands, some were black and white inked stories–these seemed more to flesh out certain characters than to tell compelling stories about Dorman’s universe–and some prose short stories written in the pulp novel style.  One of these was written by Dorman himself, and one was written by collaborator Del Stone Jr.

The artwork was better than the writing.  The first graphic novel was beautiful and grand.  One would expect a place called Wasted Lands, with locations like Mortal City, described as a city filled with radioactive waste and random towers built for no reason, and Promontory, considered the edge of civilization, to appear bleak and dead.  Instead, the art shows a beautiful desert, filled with giant machines, usually train engines.  This is not natural beauty, but the beauty of industrialization.  The spot illustrations and the cover art in the book is worthy of being made into framed prints.  These are gorgeous, full color pictures of the main characters and some of their mortal enemies.

The Omnibus itself is one of the most gorgeous collector’s items that I have seen from a modern press.  My hardcover edition has a beautiful die-cut dust cover and a ribbon book marker.  Slipped inside the front cover was a card stock print of the three main characters.  This is an impressive edition to any graphic collection, and will be one that I display with pride.  The presentation alone bumped my rating of this book up from three stars to four.

I’m left wanting more from this collection.  There are other stories set in Wasted Lands that did not appear in this edition, and I will seek them out.  Why was Edge chosen by the Lady of the Lake, and what happened with his quest?  Why does Iguana hate the Doctor so much?  Is there something special going on between the Iguana and M. D’cease, the Mortal City coroner?  I have so many questions.

Four out of five Death Stars.