Sheriff's in town - WIP

I'm a little behind on the deadlines.... I worry what that might mean in the longrun, but just so you guys don't think I'm bailing out - here's a Character design I'm trying to hammer out. I think to make it simple. I might just design two characters - This is the evil Sheriff and I've got a hero vigilante as well.

The Sheriff: Yes, that is a pot-belly stove He's got as his belly. With smoke chimneying out the top of his hat, eye's that burn ashen red, and a red-hot grip in his left hand, This is one mean dude. The cigar really does nothing for him, since the breath he breaths out is hotter than any smoke he could breath in, and long since has his tongue lost the taste for a good blend (He's burning hickory after all). However, when he prefer's not to clean burning flesh off of his left hand, he likes to use the cigar as an alternative for sending messages to those he controls. And he controls everybody.  This kingping doesn't just let his posse fight for him. When things require a more personal touch, he'll throw a couple hunks of coal into his burner and you can bet he'll be swinging like a freight train. Oh, and that, in his right hand... yeah.... that's a 1.2 Caliber Jack-the-Giant-Killer.

The Vigilante: a couple years back, this guy was serving under the sheriff as his top Deputy. Those were better times. They never quite saw eye-to-eye, but at least they were on the same side - the good side. Or so our vigilante thought. The sheriff was doing dealings under the table with the Lock-Stock-and-Barrel Gang - a known group of mercenaries. At the same time, the sheriff was also blackmailing the mayor to build a giant casino in the middle of town. The deputy was suspicious that the Sheriff was laundering money for some time as well, but didn't know the extent of his corruption. The Sheriff's time had come He had the casino, he had the money, he had the posse, and he knew the deputy stood in his way. Ready to overthrow the city and control it with his abundance of wealth and power, the sheriff gave his deputy a single offer to join him as his right hand man. The Deputy was prepared to fight until the Sheriff, wavin' to the lock stock and barrel boys revealed that they were ready to kill his wife and kids. The deputy was bound, forced to watch the death of his family and drug out to the armpit of the desert where he was tortured and left for dead.

He was found by a few benevolent travelers and with their help, but mainly pure tenacity, he survived feuled by a vengeance  (cliche I know...).  Now he's back and ready to topple the kingdom of lies and deceit the sheriff has built with the endgoal of paying back the Sheriff. (where've I heard this story before? probably Punisher and a milllion other ones... Oh well.)

This is not going to be a run of the mill steampunk (at least I hope it won't be). I'm going to push a wider range of technology in the story that isn't yet apparent in the sheriff's design. I don't want this to become a remake of Wild Wild West.  Original plans were to include more fantasy (the sheriff was going to  be a battle mage, western style), and to also give it a more other-worldly, sci-fi feel to it (landscape would be very alien). I also want to include more species, both alien and fantasy ( like orcs, trolls, and the like) All these things I plan on doing still, but with only a handful of pages for a comic, and a limited time to work on the story, I think I'll be doing just a slice of the action when the two have their showdown. This way I can probably keep it to one or two environments and I can give the excuse that the posse are already dead and everyone else have fled, so that I only have to do the two characters.

That's where I'm at for now. I've got the beginnings of panels laid out in my mind, but doea anyone have any suggestions on story? Critiques?