CW: violence, blood, gore, slavery, attempted rape of a minor, gun violence.

Thank you to Netgalley and Europe Comics who provided me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book a bit sceptical, as this is a story about five woven of different ethnicities written by a white man (that's at least what I take from the Goddreads image).

Now, I can report that I was pleasantly surprised. All main characters were full-fledged individuals with their own unique personality and history, and written with alot of nuance for such a short first volume (60pages). Given, we don't yet know everything about all main characters, but there's good groundwork to build on in future installments. And I personally am now intrigued to find more about them.

In terms of portrayel of ethnicities, I think the author found a good middle-ground of neither ignoring the obvious and harsh social gaps between these women nor preaching as a white author to the reader about racism. That said, I'm white myself and I highly encourage you to check out own-voices reviews to get more opinions on this topic.

The story itself was fun, despite the gore. This is very much a comic for adults and I would discourage you to give it to your children if they're younger than 16. I myself really enjoyed this comic and think it makes a good base for a hopefully great new comic series about five women fighting white male supremicy and making their own way in a world that doesn't want them.
I can also see these women growing even closer in the future to become a lovely found families that every now and then kills a few brutes.

The one little critique I have are all the times I had to dispense my disbelief. Theres the young slave girl who, the first time she uses a gun, shoots all the five men around her in the span of an eyeblink while they try to shoot her in turn. We also kill a man later on with a pie form, smashed pie-first in the man's face. I mean, it's creative but it just made me wonder...

Overall, a promising start to a new comic series that's quite badass while also being weirdly wholesome.

PS to the publisher: the translator (Tom Imber) deserves to be mentioned and not just as a note in the impressum.

I enjoyed the art and even the story to some extent. I just don't feel like it was properly developed and fleshed out. I like that the relationships with the women was the most important part of the story.... but I think that they didn't form organically in a way that made sense. And some parts of the story were just outright insensitive... Yeah it probably happened in history at some point or the other but it could've been handled better. Overall I did not hate it and would more of this if /when a follow-up is released.

While this is definitely an adventure with strong female characters at its core, it doesn't really spend a lot of time explaining who they actually are or why we should care about them. The doctor's wife, brought from overseas and set out to the west, loses her husband in the first couple of pages, and the men of the wagon train immediately try to take advantage of her. The slave girl spends most of her time locked in a cage, and while it's great to see her be released, I couldn't tell you her name or anything about her other than she ran away to freedom. The indigenous woman, I only know that she lost her brother and is a good shot with an arrow. Daisy, the only one I know the name of, is a former teacher who doesn't take crap from any man. Finally, you have the black woman who is a prostitute at the local tavern. The men of the area decide they don't like how these women are behaving, and it ends poorly for those involved. This is the first book, but there isn't much here to make me want to read the next book. The artwork is beautiful, although lots of violence and blood. The dialogue was stilted and left a lot out of the story. If you want a book about women kicking ass without having to care about the women who are doing it, this story is for you.

I would like to thank Olivier Bocquet and NetGallery for providing me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a quick book to read I read it in one sitting. The style of art in this book was beautiful and full of colour! The story was fast paced and action packed, especially the last few pages were really action-packed. I really liked the 5 girls as main characters and felt that most of the girls had a great personality and love how they all came together to help each other. The actual story isn't explained very in-depth, but I guess this will be in the second installment of the book, which I would love to read.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel about bad ass women coming together, despite their different backgrounds. I am looking forward to the next in this series, for sure.

Ladies With Guns is a new graphic novel from Europe Comics that takes readers to the wild west to follow the exploits of five women dealing with the evil that men do.

The story begins with Abigail, a teenage slave who is making her way through the countryside trapped inside a steel cage. Dragging and carrying her cage around her as she walks, Abigail has made a desperate bid for freedom, but runs into trouble when a pack of coyotes begin to attack her. Thankfully, help arrives in the form of Kathleen. Kathleen has recently moved to the West from her home in London as she and her husband attempt to build a new life for themselves. However, Kathleen's husband is killed when he's caught up in an accident, and when their caravan comes under attack from Native Americans she flees into the woods, where she finds Abigail.

Kathleen didn't flee the attack unnoticed, however, and is followed by Chumani, a young warrior woman who has followed Kathleen to exact revenge. Kathleen was forced to kill Chumani's brother in order to escape, and Chumani wants revenge. However, the two women put aside their differences in an attempt to help Abigail out of her cage. Unfortunately, the lock proves too hard to break, and so the two women carry Abigail, and the cage, to find help. Abigail falls sick along the journey, and when Kathleen tries to get help in a small town she's almost thrown into jail. Fortunately for her, Daisy, a retired school teacher comes to her aid. Daisy, and runaway sex worker Cassie, go with Kathleen to help Abigail, and the five women are forced to come together to fight for their lives when a posse of men come calling for their blood.

Ladies With Guns is something of a brutal book. The entire premise is about the evils that women are made to live with at the hands of men, and the book doesn't shy away from showing that. The women are hit, stabbed, shot, and beaten as they try to fight off the men who want to reclaim the small, scarred, and hurting slave girl who has already been a victim of abuse and sexual violence. Writer Bocquet Olivier puts the violence front and centre, but never revels in it, never makes it something to look forward to or find joy in. Even when the awful men are being hurt by the women there's no happiness in the act..

What is the source of happiness in this book is seeing these women come together and forming bonds with each other. Chumani, Kathleen, and Abigail are together the longest, and form the biggest bonds. At the start of the book Chumani wants to harm Abigail simply for having defended herself, blaming her for the death of her brother. But, by trying to work together to help Abigail they begin to see that the differences of their people, the animosity between the white invaders and the native people doesn't have to extend to them if they don't want to. A genuine friendship seems to form between them, and soon they begin risking their lives not just for Abigail, but each other too.

Daisy and Cassie are later additions to the story, and whilst we get a good sense of the type of person she is pretty quickly Cassie remains largely something of an enigma by the time the book comes to a close. She seems much more out for herself than the others, was less willing to get her hands dirty to help Abigail for example; but I expect that she will be expanded upon in the next volume, and that my thoughts on her could change.

Speaking of the next volume, I really enjoyed how this part ended, with a huge culmination of things that were building from the very beginning in a huge, brutal showdown that showed that these women are not meant to be messed with. Unfortunately for them, they're now in a position where they can't just claim self defence, that they've just been trying to do the right thing and don't know they've broken laws, as this volume ends with them wanted for multiple counts of murder. It's a great ending to this book, and sets up for some great stuff to come. I'm excited to find out what happens to them next, who could come hunting for the bounty on them, and if they can ever find a safe way to escape from the men pursuing them.

The art for the book is provided by Anlor, who does a great job throughout. All of the environments, from the open plains of the west, to the lush forests, to the old western style buildings all look brilliant and really put you into the setting. It feels like a bold and dynamic film at times, and the choices made for framing and action in the panels make things pop a lot. Speaking of action, Anlor does a fantastic job at making the violence in the book feel violent. There's no moment where it feels like larger than life characters hitting each other to little effect, and every slap, punch, and worse, feels like a huge impact. People get hurt in realistic and brutal ways, and it makes you uncomfortable to watch. Which is perhaps once of the best compliments for a book about the awful nature of violence.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Ladies With Guns when I picked it up, due to the almost exploitative and sensationalist title. But this isn't a story about over-the-top female characters going around shooting things up and being action heroes, it's a story about the violence that women face, the brutality they go through, and five incredibly strong women who stand up and refuse to take any more. This is definitely a series where I'm going to be eagerly looking forward to the next volume.

First of all thank you NetGalley for the arc.
Ladies with guns tells the story of 5 women of different ethnicities who run away from their lives and find themselves facing a common enemy.
The plot is very promising but the story is not deepened enough, you will practically only read about violence, shootings and fights.
Moreover, the ending was too sudden and unclear.
If the story had been told in more detail it would have been a beautiful graphic novel also because graphic style is great.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆-𝒂𝒓𝒄.
.

Another interesting premise fell flat.

I would have much more enjoyed this if we are given a little info about the characters as the story goes but the gn didn't give us even a bit of it.

Another thing is that it was way too fast that it didn't allow any room f breathing at all.

This. Was. So. Good! This is easily one of my top ten graphic novels for the year so far.

Five women band together to escape the various perils of their lives. A retired schoolteacher, an Indian who’s handy with a bow, a young, immigrant widow from London, a brothel worker who’s made off with the till and a fourteen-year-old slave who’s been put in a cage. These five women become unlikely allies as they fight for survival from the men they've escaped from. Will they survive? You'll have to read it and find out for yourself!

Overall, this was just fantastic and a great story. The artwork and coloring are amazing and I can't wait to read more.

*2.5 stars* Thank you Netgalley for the arc. If you go into this book looking for a PC version of the American West, you won't find it. The main characters are broken down into the most basic, stereotypical versions of themselves. The art style was good but that was about it.

This is most certainly an adult graphic novel and has lots of blood and cussing in it. I don't really mind those qualities in a comic book but not when that is almost the whole story. Most of this book was full of fighting with a little background on the characters built in. The comic book also ends pretty quickly and pretty abruptly. I think this comic book could have been a little longer. hence why I don't think it qualifies as a graphic novel. While I do think this series does hold some promise the author didn't give me enough of a story in this first installment to really get an idea of the direction this comic book is heading. I don't see myself continuing with the series in the future. This book does boast a good amount of diversity with almost every character in the main group coming from a different ethnicity. Read for your own pleasure if you have a spare ten minutes because that is all it will take to read this.

I got this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ladies with Guns, Part 1 is an adult graphic novel, full of blood, violence, and curses that tells the story of 5 badass women in the wild west. They are no fragile women in men's world.
Kathleen is a widow from London, Daisy is a retired schoolteacher, Abigail is a young slave in a cage, Chumani is an Indian with a bow and Cassie is a provider the pleasure!
Destiny brought them together and they watched each other back, united.

Thanks to Europe Comics via NetGalley for giving me the chance to read it, I have given my honest review.

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Ladies with Guns is a beautifully illustrated grim, dark look at the settling of the west from various viewpoints. A group of women come together after being separated from their various groups to help a wounded individual. We learn their back stories and their struggles to survive. The artwork in this comic is stunning paired with a well written script, it is a strong opener to a new comic series.

I liked this book, but not the format. I would've definitely preferred to read it physically (mostly because the NetGalley ebook format for graphic novels is flawed and glitches). But I think the art and the story were great! I loved the concept of these women escaping society together. And I especially loved how they helped one another. I want more of the characters! Where are they off to next?

Thanks for the early download, Net Galley!

Five women brought together by unexpected circumstances, a young woman from England, traveling to the West with her husband, a Native American who watched as her brother was killed, a retired schoolmarm who has seen it all and takes no bull, a brothel worker who had enough and took off with the bar's till, and a young slave girl on the run.

Needless to say, this unlikely crew runs into trouble fairly quickly when they come upon men who think they know who and what a woman is. Using all of their combined skills and whatever they get their hands on, including a gun or too, they fight for the right to simply live.

This is part 1 of the story and I hope I get to read the rest. The story is as compelling as the artwork, which pulls you in and keeps you in the time frame it all happens.

This is published by my new favorite publisher, Europe Comics on March 23, 2022. Highly recommended.
It's always interesting to see how Europeans see Americans, and Europe Comics sees and tells our history without the rose-colored glasses so many have chosen to wear. Very refreshing.

Thanks to @netgalley, Europe Comics, Oliver Bocquet, and Anlor for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I really enjoyed the concept of this graphic novel but not sure about the story. Having said this, I’m always in awe of the illustrations.

With thanks to Olivier Bocquet, Anlor and Europe Comics for an advanced readers copy of the GN.

4*

Totally surprised with how much i liked this one. First few pages i was thinking, right so black slave, native American and a ditsy white lady.... I have bad vibes about where this is going. I was so very wrong.

This story is action packed, funny and has a great cast of characters! A very strange start, I'm looking forward to volume 2.

I have to say I don’t know what to think of this graphic novel… It’s the story of 5 women, different under every aspect: culture, age, past and nowadays circumstances. They meet and join forces to survive in a male chauvinist world where they’re seen as fragile creatures. So this concept is worthy and interesting, characters are even well developed but anyway I couldn’t really enjoy the book. I suppose what made me uncomfortable were the constant violence throughout the story and the drawing style. I have to admit, in my own opinion only, that I didn’t like the illustrations.

unfortunately this graphic novel wasn't for me, i found that the story jumped around a lot and it felt like it was missing parts of the narrative. I often found myself checking to see if i had skipped pages because the dialog would stop abruptly or we would skip ahead in the story, I understand that as a graphic novel it's meant to be short but i just felt that it would benefit from being fleshed out a little more.
However I did appreciate that the illustration style really suited the story and the vibrant colours really brought it to life. the slightly rougher art style really added to the rough harsh feel of the setting and the story which I liked.
We start off with a scene of violence which lets you know exactly what you're in for and I loved the characters and the very strong group of women that at the time that this is set would have been a very unconventional group. There were definitely things that i liked about this and would recommend it to people that want a violent western that doesn't shy away from the brutality of the times and how dangerous it was to be a woman.

Who doesn't like a story where the ladies win the fight, and this graphic novel certainly delivered. Ladies with Guns, by Olivier Bocquet & Anlor, had great artwork and a great story and I can't wait for the next chapter in the story.