3 out of 5

This is likely a tough title to join mid-stream, so consider the rating as tempered by an outsider’s point of view.

A summary page at the start of each issue of Postal spells out the gist: Eden, Wyoming is a town run by and for criminals in hiding.  A bogeyman by the name of Isaac used to run things, but now – in his absence – its his wife, Laura, who’s in charge, and who rules with some strict limitations.  After some recent trials and tribulations, she’s training her son, Mark – who has Asperger’s and who’s Eden’s postmaster – to take over the mantle of leadership.  We can assume from the name of the series that the focus is likely on Mark.

Indeed, the majority of this arc focuses on Mark determining, via interactions with other town members, how we feels about potentially taking over a leadership role.

Postal has been considered for a TV, and it’s very much a series where you can easily see it happen: the reality-based dramatics, with plenty of intertwined characters and occasional splashes of violence, are primo drama material.  And actually, at a glance, it doesn’t offer much in print format: Isaac Goodheart’s art offers solid acting, but the camera is very “conversational” in its staging, and colorist K. Michael Russell chooses general color washes to differentiate certain scenes, in lieu of writer Brian Hill not doing much to pace out effective page or issue breaks.  That all being said, no one has enforced a rule that says spandex dudes have to punch each other X times in any given comic, so if you read Postal as-is – as a drama – without any expectation of The Fantastic, it’s quite interesting.  Each character’s voice and mannerisms come clearly through the script and art, and conversations have a very purposeful feel to them.  I can imagine that knowing these characters from previous issues would make the dramatics much more gripping.

At the same time, this does feel relatively low stakes.  There are some gunshots and some back stabbing, but this seems like a lull between storyline storms, more arranging chess pieces / characters than anything else.  I’m glad to have finally sampled something from ‘the Hawkinsverse’ – Matt Hawkins created the title – but it seems like the type of place you’ve got to approach from its beginnings to really buy in.