Review by Ian Keogh
Sheriff Grissom Callahan has a problem with the previous Sheriff Grissom Callahan. His father won’t settle down in the old folks home where he’s been placed after burning down his own house, and is on the verge of being evicted. That’s revealed before the younger Grissom’s day job intervenes via a double homicide.
Quinton Peeples presents a small Texan town as a microcosm of rural America in 1978 coming to terms with changes that swept through cities a decade before. The job of Sheriff has changed, and Grissom can’t be as cavalier and violent in dealing with situations in the way his father used to. Some locals feel that treatment produced better results, and Grissom’s father certainly has no regrets about his methods.
Crime stories are generally dark, but Denis Calero’s art emphasises light. So many outdoor moments are seen through a bright haze with minimal contrast. The art is otherwise defined by a desire for realism with the visual reference used often making a character stiff and posed, while neatness is a secondary characteristic. Locations are always pristine, never looking as if anyone uses them, the apex of that reached when it’s noted a bed’s been slept in, yet that doesn’t look the case at all.
Although the Sheriff is the primary voice, the narrative also encompasses the killer, and the killer’s daughter Taylor, whose comments come in hindsight. Considering how her story progresses you’ll be glad of the comfort of knowing she survives. Too much else though is just surface deep. Peeples keeps introducing interesting complications, but so few actually build toward anything of substance, an example being Callahan senior. He’s an interesting character, yet underused, while the points he’s there to make could have been made by someone else. A journalist drifts in and out, and Grissom’s girlfriend is there to be little other than a sounding board and a victim when running her own bar indicates greater strength. It’s a pity as the primary set-up and motivations have weight, but The Big Country never fulfils the promise.
