One of my favorite under-represented genres in comics is the western. One of my absolute favorite popcorn movies is Soderbergh's Ocean's 11. What Johnston and Barreto have served up here is the perfect combination of both, and it just might be my favorite thing that Johnston has written so far. There's a terrific sense of fun throughout, seven well-realized characters who make up the heist team and some very imaginative and well-executed action and heist sequences. The creators capture the feel of the period, but they have matched it with strong storytelling that is timeless, and whether you're a western fan or not, The Long Haul is definitely worth a look.
Writing a good heist comic, or indeed a good western comic, is often an exercise in the right massage of the formula. Introducing the cast in a variety of vignettes where we see what they're good at and what they're up to, showing how dangerous the target is and some of how the protagonists are going to overcome it, introducing a complication into the mix, etc., etc. Johnston's script hits all the familiar notes of a good heist story. Where a heist story goes from good to great, though, is in making you forget that you've seen this kind of thing before. Johnston has taken some of the modern day heist elements, including interrupting communications and dealing with high-tech security, and looked at what might happen if you tried to handle those elements in the 1870s, when communications were telegraph wires instead of wireless and high-tech security was a safe that couldn't be cracked with nitroglycerine.
At the heart of The Long Haul, though, is not just the highly entertaining heist sequences, but the characters. Johnston devotes a chapter to introducing each character, and in that short time, I feel like I get to know each of them pretty well. Cody Plummer is the most fleshed out, the mastermind who has all the smarts and charm of George Clooney's Daniel Ocean, but a lot of what we learn about him also tells us about the characters he is talking to. There's a nicely understated romance with Betsy, the prostitute/con woman, and an interesting history and friendship with the others, especially Long Foot, whose split loyalty (between his people and his old friend) makes for some interesting drama as well. Johnston and Barreto introduce these characters in a series of rapid-fire vignettes that are entertaining all on their own, but which together help to establish the fast pace and light touch that is key to the tone of the series.
Barreto has always been a solid storyteller, but he does some of his best work ever on these pages. There are some great storytelling choices that may have come from him or may have come from Johnston, but either way, he carries them off beautifully. Little things like showing the entirety of Plummer's conversation with Virgil from underneath the train car, or mostly fading out the backgrounds during the early conversation between Plummer and Betsy, indicating that the two of them share a very private connection, are as important as his perfect timing and subtlety on the heist sequence itself. Barreto doesn't really get to draw big gunfights or things like that in this book, instead he's got to show someone palming an object or sneaking past someone, and he pulls those sequences off beautifully.
The Long Haul is the perfect blend of the outlaw hero sensibility of western and crime stories. It also has a sense of being a well-researched look into the old west, and that touch of verisimilitude helps to sell the more outrageous notions of an impenetrable train or a gang of clever thieves pulling off an elaborate plan to rip it off. The Long Haul has light fun in its heart, but like the movie it reminds me so much of, it never underestimates the intelligence of its audience while having that fun. 10/10
