The trailers for Cowboys & Aliens has been getting movie fans all jazzed up, but lets just hope it’s a lot different than the comic book it’s based on.

I had heard of the Cowboys & Aliens comic, but passed on reading it when it was first released.  Now that I’ve seen the trailer for the film, I was far more intrigued.  I ordered up a copy of the hardcover re-release of the comic created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and gave it a read through.

I’ll save you having to read the rest of the review:  It’s horrible and should be avoided at all costs.

While the concept is intriguing, it’s obvious that Mr. Rosenberg has no clue what to do with it once he had the name.  The characters are extremely flat and lack any sense of motivation to their actions.  The plot, what there is of it, is extremely predictable and feels more like a paint-by-numbers work than anything approximating originality.  This may be the fault of co-writers Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley than of Rosenberg himself, but whomever is responsible should feel shame at their name being attached to this piece of drek.

Luciano Lima’s art also leaves a lot to be desired.  His anatomy is very loose, and his designs for aliens, their technology and what they wear borders on the sophomoric.  His work looks like what you submit to an art school in hopes of going to get some training to improve what talents you have, and not the polished work one would expect from a published work.  It’s extremely flat, lacking in details and has no real sense of motion.

There have been some rumors that the book was put together more as a pitch to movie studios than as any sort of serious work, and, if true,  it shows.  There is no passion here for the project, it is a culmination of people coming in, punching a clock and leaving when their shift is over.  This is not “art”, it’s filler.

The good news is that the footage shown in the trailer for the films bears little to no resemblance of the story in the comic.  The main character in the comic doesn’t have amnesia, nor does he wake up with alien tech on his wrist that he doesn’t know where it came from.  The Harrison Ford character isn’t in the comic at all.  And while there is a female that shares what looks to share one scene with the portrayal by Olivia Wilde, there are no other similarities thus far.  In short, the film looks to share only the concept in common with the comic, and, for once, that is an extremely good thing.

While I normally berate Hollywood for deviating from source material, this is one time I can honestly tell you that they are doing us a favor.  The original comic borders on being unreadable, it is just that bad.  While I am known for a harsh critic, my father actually picked up my copy one day without my knowledge and read it.  He is known for not having the most discriminating of tastes, and when he told me he had read it, I dreaded hearing what he would have to say about it.  His review was just six words, “What the hell was that mess?”

I’d say go for the movies, folks, but just the one time I would suggest you stay as far away from the original as you can.