Back Issue #42 Preview

“ WI L D W E ST ” I SS U E !

AUGUST

2010

N$o7..4925

MICHAEL FLEISHER DISCUSSES ®

1

Tim Truman’s SCOUT [ Herb Trimpe’s RAWHIDE KID [ TWO-GUN KID joins THE AVENGERS Plus: VIGILANTE [ DC’s WEIRD WESTERNS [ RED WOLF [ CALEB HAMMER [ NIGHT RIDER

82658 27762

8

07

Jonah Hex TM & © DC Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

IN A RARE INTERVIEW!

Volume 1, Number 42 August 2010 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, and Beyond!

The Retro Comics Experience!

EDITOR Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich J. Fowlks

BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

COVER ARTIST Tony DeZuniga

INTERVIEW: Michael Fleisher and Jonah Hex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 The celebrated writer from the Bronze Age recalls his controversial comics stories

COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg

FLASHBACK: The Failed Comeback Cowboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 The brief, brutal, and brilliant adventures of Earth-One’s Vigilante

SPECIAL THANKS Michael Ambrose Roger Ash Michael Aushenker Dick Ayers Michael Browning John Byrne DC Comics Chuck Dixon Luis Dominguez Scott Edelman Steve Englehart Michael Fleisher Dennis Fujitake Peter B. Gillis Mike Gold Grand Comic-Book Database Ed Hannigan Brian Heiler Flint Henry Heritage Comics Auctions Tony Isabella Dan Johnson James Kingman Bill Kunkel Gary Kwapisz Tom Mandrake Mego Museum

Ian Millsted Fabian Nicieza Dennis O’Neil Don Perlin Greg Sanders Peter Sanderson John Schwirian Jim Shooter Beau Smith Anthony Snyder Roger Stern Tom Taggart Roy Thomas Herb Trimpe Timothy Truman John Wells

FLASHBACK: Two-Gun Kid: Right Between the Eons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 The story behind the time-traveling cowboy and his days as an Avenger FLASHBACK: The All-Star Weird Western Heroes of DC Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Bat Lash, Firehair, El Diablo, Scalphunter, and more—DC’s new breed of Westerns ART GALLERY: Jonah Hex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 The gruesome gunslinger stars in a full-color gallery of gut-grabbing images ART GALLERY: Mego Western Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 From the Mego Museum, Gray Morrow’s package art from the “Heroes of the American West” toy line FLASHBACK: Red Wolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 A man torn between two worlds, with comments from Roy Thomas and Fabian Nicieza ROUGH STUFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Pistol-packin’ pencil art from the Tom Ziuko archives BEYOND CAPES: A Night To Remember: The Original Ghost Rider . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Marvel’s sinister cyclist has his roots in Dick Ayers’ Old West incarnation of Ghost Rider FLASHBACK: Charlton 1970s Western Roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 From Apache Red to Yang, Bronze Age cowboy comics from that house in Derby, Connecticut INTERVIEW: Rawhide Kid: The Last Gunfight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 Artist Herb Trimpe remembers the 1985 Rawhide Kid miniseries FLASHBACK: The Coming of Caleb Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 The story of Marvel’s attempt to create a new Western hero BEYOND CAPES: The Savage Future of Timothy Truman’s Scout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70 Apache warrior Emanuel Santana’s struggles to survive in post-apocalyptic America BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Reader feedback on “Cat People” issue #40 and more BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 Surface International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Tony DeZuniga.

Jonah Hex TM & © DC Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2010 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing.

ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Wild West Issue

•

BACK ISSUE • 1

Josh Brolin in a promotional image from the movie Jonah Hex. © 2010 Warner Bros. Pictures.

PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington

by

Michael Browning

Michael Fleisher wrote nearly 700 comic-book stories in his 20-year career. But it’s his Jonah Hex stories that are his best remembered.

Jonah Hex is a scarred, Western bounty hunter who first appeared in All-Star Western #10 (Feb.-Mar. 1972) and has arguably been DC Comics’ most popular Western hero for nearly four decades.

Fleisher was a new writer at DC Comics when he got the assignment. He’d written three volumes of the Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes before scripting the Spectre series in Adventure Comics for a run of very controversial stories with artist Jim Aparo.

Fleisher took over Jonah Hex after the character’s co-creator John Albano and writer Arnold Drake both walked away from the Western series.

Albano, who co-created Jonah Hex with artist Tony DeZuniga, wrote Jonah Hex stories for the last three issues of All-Star Western and then wrote Hex stories for Weird Western Tales #14, 16-19, and finally, Weird Western Tales #21.

Drake, who said he never liked writing Westerns, wrote only one issue, Weird Western Tales #20, and Albano returned to write one last story before he handed the writing reins to Fleisher.

Fleisher started writing Jonah Hex stories with Weird Western Tales #22 (May-June 1974), a tale called “Showdown at Hard Times,” and continued as the sole scribe of the character’s adventures in the Old West and beyond all throughout the 1970s and into the late 1980s. For 92 straight issues of the Jonah Hex series and 18 of the futuristic Hex, Fleisher guided his favorite character from bounty to bounty, leaving a trail of bloodshed and terror in his wake.

While Albano’s and Drake’s stories were gritty and realistic, they added little to the character.

Fleisher gave Jonah an origin story, a villain from his past, and introduced Jonah to his only love interest, Mei Ling, who would soon become Hex’s wife— but only for a short time. Along the way, Hex was

Fleisher Favorites Writer Michael Fleisher’s two most popular DC characters, the Spectre and Jonah Hex, in a terrific commissioned illustration by Tom Mandrake. From the collection of Michael Browning.

TM & © DC Entertainment.

Wild West Issue

•

BACK ISSUE • 3

Beginnings:

Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes

Milestones:

House of Mystery / House of Secrets / The Spectre in Adventure Comics / Weird Western Tales / Jonah Hex / The Brute / The Grim Ghost / Ironjaw / Morlock 2001 / Weird Suspense featuring the Tarantula / Shade the Changing Man / Spider-Woman / Ghost Rider / Creepy / Man-Thing / Conan the Barbarian / The Savage Sword of Conan / Hex / Little Shop of Horrors / Haywire / Advanced Dungeons and Dragons / 2000 AD / Chasing Hairy

Work in Progress: Shambler

Michael Fleisher

nearly killed by scores of bad guys, all of whom met their fate at the hands of a man whose name was spoken in whispers.

Fleisher worked with several different artists on the book, including Tony DeZuniga, José Luis García-López, Ernie Chan, Luis Dominguez, Dick Ayers, Mark Texeira, Doug Wildey, Noly Panaligan, George Moliterni, Ron Wagner, Gerald Forton, Ross Andru, Rich Buckler, Keith Giffen, and Russ Heath.

Fleisher and Heath crafted what many consider one of the Jonah Hex classics: DC Special Series #16, also known as the “Jonah Hex Spectacular,” published in the fall of 1978, which featured the death of the title character at the age of 66.

Killing off a character while his book was still very popular was something unheard of at the time and was controversial, but well received. In the Jonah Hex Spectacular, Hex dies at the hands of George Barrow, who is then shot down by a lawman. Jonah’s corpse is then bought by a circus owner, stuffed, and dressed up and paraded around so people could see the famous gunfighter—after they paid their admission fee, of course.

When Jonah Hex’s sales declined in the mid-1980s, DC canceled his series with issue #92 (Aug. 1985), but Fleisher wasn’t finished with the charcter. A fan of the Mad Max/Road Warrior movies, Fleisher took Jonah into the future for an 18-issue run of postapocalyptic adventures in a series simply entitled Hex. At the end of the series, Jonah meets up with his stuffed corpse in a closet.

Fleisher worked for Marvel and DC and then Fleetwood Publishing on 2000 AD before abruptly leaving comics behind to pursue other interests, mainly going back to school at the University of Michigan. His last work in comics was written for 2000 AD in 1991. Since then, he’s written another novel (his first, Chasing Hairy, was published in the early 1980s) and is living with his wife in Oregon.

Fleisher has been largely absent from the comics scene for almost as long as he was a part of it. In his first interview in two decades, Fleisher opens up about working on Jonah Hex and touches on his early Spectre stories and what he thinks about superheroes.

- Michael Browning MICHAEL BROWNING: You had written three volumes of The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes and a series of controversial Spectre stories for Adventure Comics, then you took over the writing of Jonah Hex in Weird Western Tales #22. How did you get the writing assignment on that series?

MICHAEL FLEISHER: I had gotten permission from DC Comics [to work on the encyclopedias]. DC had a small library containing every comic DC had ever published and, as a matter of fact, I remember there was a sort of open metal container on a shelf

“Poisen” Pen An unused version of the Jonah Hex cover to Weird Western Tales #19 (Sept.-Oct. 1973), by illustrator Tony DeZuniga. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

TM & © DC Entertainment.

4 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

that contained about a half-dozen Action Comics #1s. No one ever dreamed at the time that they’d sell for half a million dollars, something utterly absurd. [Editor’s note: A copy of Action #1 sold for 1.5 million in late March 2010!] I spent a lot of time in that library making notes for the Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes.

What happened at DC was that John Albano was writing Jonah Hex and fairly early in the game, [he] quit it. John Albano quit Jonah Hex after a very brief run, and I begged Joe Orlando to let me write the series. I don’t remember how many issues [Albano] did, but it wasn’t many. I was very eager to do it.

Joe Orlando was my favorite editor there and the person with whom I mostly worked, and he turned the series over to me. I was ecstatic to get it.

BROWNING: After the Spectre and having done so much research for your Encyclopedias, did you have to make a big change to write a Western comic, which is very different from writing superheroes?

FLEISHER: It wasn’t tough writing a Western. My parents divorced when I was four. Divorce was actually quite infrequent in 1946 or 1947 and I remember in all of my elementary school, I only met one other student whose parents were divorced. So it was very unusual being the child of parents who were divorced.

Every Saturday, my father would pick me up at my mother’s home where I lived and we would go to a double-feature Western. I saw two Westerns every Saturday for years. So it wasn’t very hard to write at all.

I really thought the Jonah Hex character had huge potential and I begged Joe Orlando to give it to me and I was thrilled to get it.

I read the Albano issues and the idea of the character was somehow exciting to me, and when Albano dropped out of it I was overjoyed. There was something about it that struck home for me, and I wanted to do it very much.

I never thought it out in very great detail before I took the job. And also, it came very, very easy for me.

I lived in New York City at the time and I can remember being in my apartment and, on a single afternoon, I plotted four Jonah Hex stories in a row. It was effortless for me. I always had ideas for it. It was a dream job.

I never had any doubts and never paced the floor thinking about ideas. Sometimes, I had an idea for a story, a sort-of kernel of an idea for a story, and it took a while to work it out, but I always had ideas for it and they always came easily.

The stories went very quickly. It was really a lot of fun—of very great contrast, by the way, to my very great difficulty in writing about superheroes.

BROWNING: You found it difficult to write superheroes?

FLEISHER: I think it’s safe to say that I was a bad superhero writer. I worked mostly for DC, but I worked for Marvel, also, and I worked for a fair number of comic-book companies, but I always felt awkward with superheroes.

Wild West Issue

Trailblazing Tony DeZuniga (left) A Jonah Hex sketch by the bounty hunter’s co-creator, Tony DeZuniga, from the Michael Browning collection. (below) A DeZuniga Hex commission, courtesy of Jerry Boyd.

TM & © DC Entertainment.

•

BACK ISSUE • 5

As the relevancy era of comics, a time of social activism for most DC superheroes, kicked into high gear at the dawn of the 1970s, writer Denny O’Neil introduced the Earth-One version of the Vigilante in Justice League of America #78 (Feb. 1970). Right at the beginning of “The Coming of the Doomsters,” Vig, as he was known for short, came out guns blazing in his civilian identity of Greg Sanders, lowly night watchman for a smoke-belching industrial factory outside of Green Arrow’s home turf, Star City.

Though similar to his Earth-Two counterpart—both were popular Country/Western singing stars known as the “Prairie Troubadour” and both had fought crime as the Vigilante for years—the Earth-One Sanders had long ago retired as a crimefighter. Those crimefighting instincts still served him well, for in his job as a night watchman Sanders had stumbled onto a diabolical plot to destroy the Earth through pollution. As he and the Justice League would soon discover, the men he was shooting at were not human at all, but extraterrestrial androids ordered to kill him for learning too much. Shortly after surviving that incident and with the aid of Green Arrow, Sanders donned his blue-and-red Vigilante garb, holster and six-guns, and red bandana and cowboy hat to conceal his identity, and joined forces with the JLA on the case. However, his comeback appeared in dire straits at issue’s end as he, Batman, Black Canary, and the Atom were lowered into a vat of acid by the aliens.

Fortunately, Green Arrow rescued them all in the next issue (Justice League of America #79, Mar. 1970). But between O’Neil packing so much explanation for the aliens—revealed to the Justice League as the Doomsters from the planet Monsan (led by the aptly named Chokh)—and the Vigilante and JLA’s action-packed defeat of them, Vig’s future prospects were left by the wayside. The Vigilante’s plans could have been acknowledged on the last page, but instead it was hogged by the budding romance between Green Arrow and Black Canary and the Arrow’s despair over how mankind itself was ruining the planet. Still, for all intent and purpose, the Vigilante had made a successful comeback.

TM

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN “The Vigilante was a childhood favorite,” recalls Denny O’Neil, “so I probably suggested using him to editor Julius Schwartz. It didn’t bother me that there was a pre-existing Earth-Two Vigilante. And I had no plans to include him as a member of the JLA.” Mysteriously, however, the comeback stumbled and the Vigilante would not be seen again for two years, appearing next as a backup feature beginning in Adventure Comics #417 (Mar. 1972).

It was not a very consistent comeback within a comeback as Vig would appear in only three more issues over the course of a year: Adventure Comics #422 (Aug. 1972), 426 (Feb.-Mar. 1973), and 427 (Apr.-May, 1973).

Adventure #417’s “The Cop Killer,” written by Marv Wolfman and Steve Skeates and illustrated by Gray Morrow, was, as far as good

The Prairie Troubadour From the original Who’s Who series, Gray Morrow artwork for the Vigilante entry.

TM & © DC Entertainment.

16 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

by

Jim Kingman

comics storytelling goes, a solid return to solo action for the crimefighting cowboy. However, it was not a solid return in the personal sense, as Greg Sanders was a little rusty in the crimefighting department.

Encouraged by the JLA, Sanders had stuck to his revival as the Vigilante. He had bought himself a motorcycle and traveled throughout America, arriving on the streets of San Francisco just as two plainclothes policemen were on the verge of apprehending a cop killer.

Unfortunately, the Vigilante mistook the policemen for criminals themselves and hauled them down, allowing the killer to get away. Chastised and embarrassed, the Vigilante vowed to bring in the killer himself. Even then he came up short; during his battle with the crazed killer Vig was on the verge of defeat.

Only the timely assistance of a gun-wielding, with the African-American kids. I dug “their” music sure-shot Chinese woman prevented Vigilante from (Temptations, Four Tops, Jackson 5) and Afros, becoming a victim. and many of them became good friends. I remember Five months later, the Vigilante returned in inviting some of my new “colored” pals to our Adventure #422. “Rodeo of Death,” written by family home down the street from school, the virtually unknown Bill Meredith and and for some reason this didn’t sit well illustrated by Morrow, is a gut-and-heartwith my neighborhood friends (while wrenching, sadly overlooked episode, my parents didn’t seem to mind). that alongside Green Lantern/Green Arrow These friends didn’t say anything #89’s “…And Through Him Save a out loud, but there was an odd World” stands as the best the relevancy feeling I was picking up from them, era had to offer. a colder look in their expressions, Please bear with me a few moments like I was doing something wrong. while I get personal. When I was a That’s how matters stood for the kid in 1972, all of ten years old, rest of third grade, through fourth, just starting collecting DC comics, I didn’t and well into fifth.

GRAY MORROW understand bigotry.

Four months into collecting School busing to achieve desegrecomics, in late June of 1972, I read gation started in Pasadena, California, the Vigilante story in the back of Adventure Comics #422. as I entered the third grade of elementary school in Then I understood bigotry. What the neighborhood 1969. I soon found myself getting along splendidly kids were feeling, what I was feeling in reaction to

Wild West Issue

Have Cycle, Will Motor (left) The Earth-One Vig guest-stars in Justice League of America #78 (Feb. 1970). Cover by Gil Kane. (above) A Vigilante cover appearance on Adventure Comics #426 (Feb.-Mar. 1976).

Art by Dick Giordano.

TM & © DC Entertainment.

•

BACK ISSUE • 17

by

Jarrod Buttery

Not all cowboys remain in the Wild West. From Westerns to superheroes, Marvel Comics’ first cowboy has had more time-travel experiences than most sci-fi characters.

The Two-Gun Kid was Marvel’s first Western character. A singing cowboy, Clay Harder wandered the Wild West thwarting evildoers. First appearing in Two-Gun Kid #1 (Mar. 1948), the axe fell on his series with issue #59 (Apr. 1961).

Two-Gun Kid returned to the spinner racks in November 1962 with the numbering continuing with issue #60. However, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had built a new character around an old title: a Western with a superhero motif. Tombstone lawyer Matt Hawk decides to fight injustice outside the courtroom as well as in, adopting the masked identity of “a fictitious gun-fighter named the Two-Gun Kid” in a nod to the previous incarnation. In this issue we meet (don’t mix them up) his trusty steed, Thunder, and his true love, schoolmarm Nancy Carter.

Subsequent issues feature local law enforcer—and regular ally—Sheriff Brett Barton. Adept at disarming (but rarely killing) rustlers and robbers, the superheroinspired cowboy also encountered costumed foes such as the Purple Phantom (issue #68, Mar. 1964) and the Rattler (issue #88, July 1967); not to mention Roaring Bear, the Apache chief who drinks a growth potion to become a giant (issue #65, Sept. 1963)—two months before Hank Pym tried the same trick in Tales to Astonish #49 (Nov. 1963).

The novelty of a cowboy with a secret identity lasted until issue #92 (Mar. 1968). However, Two-Gun resurfaced again, with issue #93 (July 1970), as a reprint book. Most of these comics reprinted (in random order) Matt Hawk stories, except issues #99104 (July 1971-May 1972), which reprinted Clay Harder stories—with retouched artwork to dress Clay in Matt Hawk’s distinctive outfit.

A Marvel Hero Bonanza Two-Gun Kid and his posse ride into the pages of The Avengers #142. Cover art by Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia, and John Romita, Sr. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Wild West Issue

•

BACK ISSUE • 23

TIME BANDITS

Cowboy Avenger A time-displaced Two-Gun Kid as one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Page 1 (left) and original art (right) to page 6 of The Avengers #142 (Dec. 1975), written by Steve Englehart, penciled

by George Pérez, and inked by Vince Colletta. Courtesy of Anthony Snyder (www.anthonysnyder.com). © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

nearby town of Tombstone, and the office of Matthew Until the mid-’70s, Marvel’s cowboys existed in their own J. Hawk, where they are reunited with Hawkeye. continuity. However, in late 1975, Avengers scribe The cowboys explain that Two-Gun brought them all Steve Englehart wrote a story that unequivocally integrated together because the Avengers’ time-traveling foe, Kang the Conqueror, has enslaved the town. Immortus the Western characters into the Marvel Universe.

Diana Schutz interviewed Englehart for Fantaco’s explains, “To conquer the 20th century, he will first conquer the 19th!” The second half of the issue is pure Chronicles #4 (June 1982), wherein Englehart stated that Western, gorgeously illustrated by George Pérez he believed in Marvel continuity and in tying the in only his second issue on the title, as the Marvel Universe together: “I thought it would group foil an attempted train robbery by be nice to tie the Western characters, Kang’s collaborators. another aspect of Marvel, back into “Right Between the Eons” in things—exactly as I’d done with Avengers #143 (Jan. 1976) is a pivotal Patsy Walker (Amazing Adventures issue in Avengers history. During his #13, July 1972). And as with Patsy run, Englehart had revitalized Kang Walker, it wasn’t just for shtick; I thought and turned him into the Avengers’ to myself, ‘Let’s bring one of them most implacable foe, but issue #143 into the future and play with that.’” featured Kang’s final defeat (for [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #40 for almost ten years—an eternity in a history of Patsy Walker, Hellcat.] comics). Two-Gun insists on joining In previous Avengers issues, STEVE ENGLEHART the fight: “Tombstone is my town Hawkeye, searching for a time-lost and that means the Two-Gun Kid colleague (the Black Knight), became lost himself. Seeking their friend, fellow plays this hand through.” He, Hawkeye, and Avengers Thor and Moondragon enlist the aid of Moondragon face Kang’s monster while Kang overloads Immortus, Master of Limbo, to traverse the his energy suit during his battle with Thor: “His very atoms timestream. The threesome emerge in 1873 in split and spread throughout all time.” This could’ve Avengers #141 (Nov. 1975). “Go West Young Gods” concluded the tale but one last twist came in the (Avengers #142, Dec. 1975) opens with our modern-day following issue. During farewells, Two-Gun asks a favor: heroes meeting Marvel’s Western heroes: Kid Colt, “Take me with you. I’ve always been more of an Phantom Rider, Rawhide Kid, Ringo Kid, and the Two-Gun adventurer than a simple lawman, and there are more Kid. Two-Gun leads the cowboys and Avengers to the adventures to be found with y’all than in my own time.”

24 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

by

John Wells

In 1961, the last of DC Comics’ Old West heroes rode off into the sunset. For the longest time, it seemed like they’d never return.

With TV Westerns at the height of their popularity, DC’s abandonment of the genre seemed counterintuitive.

That same popularity could be seen as a glut, though, and sales on Western Comics and All Star Western were falling. Editor Julius Schwartz and star creators Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, and Carmine Infantino worked to boost sales, introducing John Waynelookalike Matt Savage and a full-fledged NativeAmerican superhero called Super-Chief (really!), while revamping the Western line’s flagship hero Johnny Thunder with an updated origin and recurring outlaw love interest Madame .44.

In contrast to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s more successful reboots of Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid at Marvel, Schwartz’s efforts failed. Modernized superheroes were clearly DC’s growth industry. Better to direct Schwartz and company toward that genre than persist in having them shore up dying books.

DC’s long-running Tomahawk comic survived although technically speaking it wasn’t a Western, with its eastern seaboard Revolutionary War setting.

Still, the title character’s buckskin clothing and the regular presence of Indians made it at least a kissin’ cousin of the genre. However esthetically displeasing it may have been to purists, Tomahawk survived as a melting pot of genres—whether as a frontier comic or war or superheroes or monsters—through the end of 1967.

WILL THEY SAVE THE WEST …

OR RUIN IT? The year 1967 famously saw the long-running TV series Gunsmoke spared from cancellation and shifted to a new time slot on Monday nights that resulted in a sustained ratings surge. Whether this influenced DC’s editorial team is unknown, but the company rushed a stand-alone Western to the stands near year’s end. Sporting a Russ Heath-illustrated cover and a “Top Gun” logo, issue #72 of the tryout series Showcase featured reprints of the Trigger Twins, Johnny Thunder, and “Epics of the Texas Rangers” as selected by editor Robert Kanigher.

DC’s newly installed editorial director Carmine Infantino recognized the void in his company’s lineup.

Unable to articulate precisely what was needed, he was clear on what he didn’t want: the strait-laced, upright Western hero of the 1950s. Under Infantino’s direction, newly arrived editor Joe Orlando sketched a cryptic house ad with a shadowed scraggly cowboy holding a rifle alongside this tagline: “Will our new Western hero save the West? Or ruin it?”

Somewhere between that ad and Showcase #76 (Aug. 1968), a character echoing Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name from Sergio Leone’s 1960s

His Name Isn’t Savage An unfinished Scalphunter page by George Evans, featuring the series’ intended title.

Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions.

TM & © DC Entertainment.

Wild West Issue

•

BACK ISSUE • 31

Handsome Rogue (right) Among the prototypes for DC’s Bat Lash, Don and Maggie Thompson once remarked, was James Coburn’s character in the 1967 Western film Waterhole #3. Movie poster art

by Jack Davis. Art courtesy of Heritage Hollywood Auctions (www.ha.com). (above) Compare it to Nick Cardy’s roguish Bat Lash from the cover of the character’s first issue (Oct.-Nov. 1968), and you’ll agree the Thompsons may have been right!

Waterhole #3 © 1967 Paramount Pictures.

Bat Lash TM & © DC Entertainment.

“spaghetti Westerns” turned into someone more akin to James Garner’s Bret Maverick. Named after real-life cowboy star Lash Larue and Old West lawman Bat Masterson, Bat Lash was a Robert Redford lookalike who loved women, good food, and beautiful flowers. “I just cain’t tolerate violence,” he’d declare, but repeatedly found himself drawn into fights and gunplay thanks to his eye for ladies with jealous boyfriends and the temptation of riches. Batton A. Lash (later changed to Bartholomew Aloysius in 1985’s Who’s Who #2) was more of an anti-hero than anything else, but too charming not to like. (Beyond the Maverick parallel, comics journalists Don and Maggie Thompson once observed Bat’s resemblance to James Coburn’s character Lewton Cole from Blake Edwards’ 1967 film Waterhole #3 including a detail in which he put a flower in his hat.)

The particulars of Bat Lash’s creation may never be properly sorted out, but the character began with a script presentation from industry veteran Sheldon Mayer that was deemed unsatisfactory and significantly reshaped into the series that debuted in Showcase and Bat Lash #1 (Oct.-Nov. 1968).

Undeniably, artist Nick Cardy was key to the book’s creative success with a lush pen-line, expressive faces, and versatile straddling between cartoony and realistic styles. Orlando would sometimes feel that Cardy overdid the humorous approach.

Humor came naturally to Bat Lash plotter Sergio Aragonés, whose stories were subsequently dialogued

by Denny O’Neil. When Bat himself and a Mexican bandit that Cardy modeled after Aragonés resorted to armed robbery in issue #5, the Comics Code cried foul and the series abruptly became more somber with issue #6. The tonal shift didn’t appreciably impact sales and Infantino pulled the plug with #7 (Oct.-Nov. 1969).

32 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

As Bat Lash was dying, Infantino worked with groundbreaking cartoonist Joe Kubert on another Western that incorporated elements of race relations and pacifism that had become part of the national dialogue. Introduced in Showcase #85-87 (Sept.-Dec. 1969), “Firehair” was a white boy who’d been taken in

by Chief Grey Cloud of the Blackfoot Indians after his parents and their expedition were slain by the tribe.

Named for his long, red hair, the young man was a pariah to Indians and whites alike. At the end of the first issue, Firehair left the tribe on a quixotic quest for understanding among cultures.

Kubert’s art was eye-popping, enhanced through boundary-pushing layouts and the texture and shading created by a grease pencil. Although his passion for the feature failed to translate into strong sales, the cartoonist wasn’t going to give up on his creation.

DC could be forgiven for hedging its bets on the cover of late 1969’s DC Special #6. The reprint Giant’s theme was “The Wild Frontier” and Neal Adams’ cover image was certainly wild enough in its depiction of a battle between a cowboy and Indians being interrupted by the touchdown of a spacecraft.

The comparatively more sedate interiors consisted of 1950s reprints intermingled with a present-day framing sequence (by Len Wein, Gil Kane, and Vince Colletta) involving an old man and his grandsons that culminated with their meeting Indians from Outer Space. Honest!

Sales on the Dick Giordano-edited special encouraged two simultaneously released follow-ups in the summer of 1970 with more reprints in Super DC Giant #S-14 and S-15 (“Top Guns of the West” and “Western Comics”). A second “Top Guns” collection (Super DC Giant #S-22) appeared at the end of the year.

collection of featuring images frim the

g Michael Brownin

Dennis Fujitake’s proposed cover for an early-1980s issue of The Comics Journal.

All images TM & © DC Entertainment.

Wild West Issue

•

BACK ISSUE • 41

Toy manufacturer Mego was basking in the glow of its successful eight-inch “World’s Greatest Superheroes” line in 1974, and in an effort to dominate the market began a two-year product expansion featuring figures based upon publicdomain characters. Among its offerings were the “Heroes of the American West” figures. Courtesy of the Mego Museum (www.megomuseum.com), we are pleased to share with you the original artwork for the Western figures, with eye-popping painted artwork by the legendary Gray Morrow! (The original artwork for a seventh figure in the line, Shadow the Super Horse (opposite page), has yet to resurface in the collectors market.)

44 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

®

by

John Schwirian

Red Wolf and Lobo Marvel’s Native-American “superhero” and his wolf companion, by Timothy Truman.

(And don’t miss our coverage of Truman’s Scout, beginning on page 70.) © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Sundown on the prairie, sittin’ around the campfire with the boys.

As I prepare to rattle ’em with a few good ghost stories, I’m interrupted by the distant howl of a wolf. The boys look frightened, but I laugh.

“That’s just old Lobo you’re hearing,” I tell ’em. “He’s partners with the Western superhero Red Wolf.” Curious, they bombard me with questions about Red Wolf. Is he a cowboy? Where’d he come from?

How’d he get his powers? Who does he fight? I start to tell ’em more, but I realize that I don’t even know that much myself. Heck, I’m confused as to what his real name is and if he’s full-blooded Indian or not. So I promise the boys I’d learn the full story of Red Wolf and tell ’em all about him the next time we camp out. And if I’m goin’ to be able to do that, I’d better start with the master of Marvel Comics lore himself, Roy Thomas.

46 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

CALL OF THE WOLF It all began back in 1970, when newspaper headlines told of conflict between Native Americans and white American culture.

“Native Americans’ rights and protests were in the news,” Roy Thomas explains, “so I thought it was time [to do an Indian superhero].”

After reading magazine articles and other sources on Amerindians, Thomas spoke with artist John Buscema about how the character should look. “I instructed him that I’d like Red Wolf to be bare-chested, wearing Indian leggings and the like, with a wolf head used as a mask,” Thomas says. “John, of course, executed those instructions beautifully.”

While developing Red Wolf’s origin, Thomas wanted to keep the character “from being just a stereotype, [making] the character more realistic, more in tune with what was going on in the world at the

Across the (Marvel) Universe

time.” With the concept now in place, Roy Thomas took Red Wolf for a killer. The Vision escorted Red Wolf introduced Red Wolf in the pages of Avengers #80-81 to Avengers mansion, where the Cheyenne told his (Sept.-Oct. 1970). “I was the writer of The Avengers,” story. Even though the Avengers were in the midst of Thomas says, “and it seemed a more likely place to tracking down the members of the criminal group introduce him than most.”

Zodiac, the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Goliath split In this two-part tale, William Talltrees is a Cheyenne from the team to help Red Wolf find his family’s killers.

Indian whose family was murdered by Cornelius van The Avengers accompanied Red Wolf back to his Lunt (also known as Taurus of the criminal cartel homeland and together they drove van Lunt’s Zodiac) after they refused to sell their men off the property, but not before both property. As van Lunt seemed untouchable Red Wolf and van Lunt apparently by local law, Talltrees sought justice perished in the destruction of van another way. Donning the ceremonial Lunt’s dam. As the Avengers prepared garb of the legendary protector of his to leave, Will Talltrees appeared and people, Talltrees performed a sacred greeted his uncle, offering to help ceremony and was visited by the spirit his people build again. being Owayodata. The mighty spirit A LEGACY BEGINS being said that not only had the While Red Wolf did not become an Cheyenne’s ancient protector returned, overnight sensation, his debut did but that Talltrees would be that receive fan support. “I don’t recall how protector—he was now Red Wolf!

ROY THOMAS strong it was,” observes Thomas, As Talltrees came down from the “but fairly [strong], I believe … and sacred place up on the mountain, he was quite positive.

Perhaps a couple of people objected to forced to slay a she-wolf that attacked him. He then found her orphaned cub, which he adopted and raised something-or-other, perhaps because of the elemental nature of the story, but most reaction was good.” to be his companion, his spirit guide, Lobo.

Tracking van Lunt’s men to New York, he hunted So good, in fact, that [publisher] Stan Lee decided down the killer of his people, only to be stopped by to use Red Wolf to launch a new tryout title, the Avengers’ android member, the Vision, who mis- Marvel Spotlight. [Editor’s note: Marvel Spotlight #1 Wild West Issue

(left) Red Wolf and Lobo’s first appearance, written

by Roy Thomas, in The Avengers #80 (Sept. 1970).

Cover by John Buscema and Tom Palmer. (right) Red Wolf becomes a legacy character in his tryout issue, Marvel Spotlight #1 (Nov. 1971). Cover

by Neal Adams. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

•

BACK ISSUE • 47

by

To m Z i u k o

Yeee-HAW!!! Howdy, pardners! Time to grab a plate of beans, have a sit-down, and join me here ’round the ol’ wagon train campfire, as we pull back the veils of time and revisit the Wild, Wild West— ROUGH STUFF style!

We open with two gorgeous commission pieces. The first is my personal favorite Western comic-book character—that heartbreakin’, love-makin’, money-takin’ rascal Bat Lash, as drawn by his definitive artist, the one and only Nick Cardy (from 2004).

The second is the OG Swashbuckler himself, Zorro, masterfully captured by the versatile Tom Yeates (from 2008).

Bat Lash TM & © DC Entertainment.

Zorro © 2010 Zorro Productions, Inc.

54 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

Don’t be deceived by his long, flaxen hair, or boyish appearance— stare deep into those deadset eyes, and you know this gunslinger means business! It’s Angel, from that 1950s classic, The Kid Cowboys of Boys’ Ranch, taken from Jack Kirby’s Valentine’s Day sketchbook for his wife, Roz, from the early to mid-’70s. © Harvey Entertainment.

Wild West Issue

•

BACK ISSUE • 55

He was the original Ghost Rider. A cowboy character with many aliases: Carter Slade, Phantom Rider, Galloping Ghost, Haunted Horseman, He Who Rides the Night Winds. He will forever be associated with co-creator/artist Dick Ayers. He was even portrayed in film by Sam Elliott. But who exactly was the Night Rider?

In order to understand the history of this Old West vigilante, who enjoyed a brief run in the dawn of the Bronze Age, one must time-travel back to the Golden Age, when the original version of Night Rider, called the Ghost Rider, was born.

Just as the horse and buggy, at the turn of the 20th century, gave way to the automobile, so too did the original horseback version of Ghost Rider give way to the hellfire-blazing, motorcycle-riding, supernatural superhero in the leap from the Golden Age to the 1970s.

But as the Silver Age sun faded into Bronze at Marvel, the original’s history was soon affected and obscured by the popularity of the modern version.

Magazine Enterprises debuted the original Ghost Rider, written by Ray Krank, in Tim Holt #11 (1949). Publisher Vince Sullivan had seen budding artist Ayers’ Funnyman work.

“I worked on two issues of Jimmy Durante,” Ayers says.

“They didn’t sell. The whole humor thing [in comics] had died.”

So Sullivan assigned Ayers Westerns.

“Westerns were very popular,” explains Ayers, who was advised by Sullivan’s secretary that, in order to make a decent living as a comic-book artist, he should keep three accounts with different companies, in case one gig went under.

“When I got my three accounts, it was hard to keep up with,” he says. A friend of Superman’s co-creator, artist Joe Shuster, helped Ayers out. “[Inker] Ernie Bache and I, we were a darn good team,” Ayers says. “Ray Krank, my editor, told me, ‘Dick, Vin wants the art very simple. He doesn’t want DICK all that hay.’” The goal was to emulate clean art styles found in such crowd-pleasers as Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, and Popeye.

Inspired by Vaughn Moore’s 1939 hit song “Riders in the Sky,” Ghost Rider, by design, seemed to “glow in the dark,” Ayers says.

He was essentially a supernatural superhero, fighting crime in a phosphorescent white costume with full-face mask, cape, and hat.

“He was actually the Calico Kid, a Federal marshal who went around acting like a merchant,” explains Ayers. “He was attacked and thrown into a whirlpool. He supposedly died but ended up in a purgatory, where he met Billy the Kid, Calamity Jane, and other legends and learned from them.”

The character appeared in various horror-themed Western comics, on which Ayers collaborated with such scribes as Gardner Fox. His favorite Ghost writer: children’s book author Carl Memling.

“He was very prolific,” Ayers recalls. “He lived in Long Island and kept a file with a synopsis of every story he created so he could resell them.”

A young Frank Frazetta drew several covers. “He had a girl on each arm,” Ayers laughs. “I thought his covers were terrific. But I was the only one who worked on [the interior art].”

The series apparently sold well.

“Vince had us all at a big dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria,” Ayers recalls, “and he told us that Ghost Rider sold 65 percent [of its print run].”

®

AYERS

by

Haunting Horseman Detail from the cover of Ghost Rider #1 (Feb. 1967), featuring the Wild West hero whose name was later borrowed for a flame-headed cyclist. Art by Dick Ayers. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

60 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

Michael Aushenker

by

Michael Ambrose

Charlton Comics was no stranger to Westerns. Of its more than 3700 comics issued between 1944 and 1970, fully 20 percent fell into that category.

Charlton had its own brand of gunfighters, owlhoots, maverick sheriffs, intelligent horses, and “friendly Indians”: Cowboy Western Comics, Six-Gun Heroes, Space Western (a bizarre melding of the Western with SF), Black Fury, Kid Montana, and Young Eagle crowded the racks along with comics featuring B-movie stars Sunset Carson, Lash LaRue, Monte Hale, and Tex Ritter and historical figures Annie Oakley, Wild Bill Hickock, Jim Bowie, and Wyatt Earp.

Most offered simple plots and undistinguished art, but some creators stood out from the herd, including Steve Ditko, Pete Morisi, Dick Giordano, Rocke Mastroserio, John Severin, Sam Glanzman, Gene Colan, and Al Williamson.

The rise of superheroes to the top of the spinner racks in the 1960s saw the decline of Westerns across all companies, and Charlton’s output dwindled.

By 1970, just four Westerns appeared under the Charlton logo: Billy the Kid, Cheyenne Kid, Outlaws of the West, and Texas Rangers in Action. Only two survived past that year. But Charlton wasn’t ready to hang up its six-shooters for good. Editor George Wildman experimented with new titles and backup features, keeping Westerns in his stable of ghost, war, romance, and animated kiddie titles.

Charlton imploded in 1976, and its output shrank to a handful of mostly reprint books. Billy the Kid’s last ride was #153 (Mar. 1983), and the final Charlton Western was Gunfighters #85 (July 1984).

But Charlton’s 1970s Westerns are well worth a retrospective.

Western Wanderer Original cover art, by Tony Tallarico and Jose Delbo, to the unpublished Geronimo Jones #10. Courtesy of Michael Browning. © 1973 Charlton Comics Group.

Wild West Issue

•

BACK ISSUE • 63

By late 1979, all of Marvel Comics’ Western titles had ceased publication, and even before their cancellation, these comics had become reprint books. As the 1980s dawned, it seemed that Marvel had all but forgotten its Western stars. Then, in 1985, Marvel Comics released a four-issue miniseries (cover-dated Aug.-Nov. 1985) devoted to one of the House of Ideas’ most popular Western stars of yesteryear, Johnny Bart, a.k.a. the Rawhide Kid. This miniseries is not only one of the few acknowledgements of Marvel’s Wild West during the early 1980s, but it also stands as the publisher’s last great push during the Bronze Age to feature one of its Western characters in a comic all their own.

“It’s hard to say which of the Western characters was the bestselling, but my bet is it would be Rawhide Kid,” says Herb Trimpe, the miniseries’ penciler.

“In publishing comics, no character gets the spotlight unless the Powers-That-Be think it will do well— and that is usually based on past performance.”

The Rawhide Kid miniseries was written by one of Marvel’s most prolific writers during the decade, Bill Mantlo. “Bill was a sweetheart, and a pleasure to work with,” recalls Trimpe. “You can’t say that about every writer—or, in all fairness, anyone for that matter— but he was the best.”

Considering the fact that it had been almost six years since the last issue of Rawhide Kid came out, the other thing that makes the miniseries unique is the way Mantlo handled the character and the story he relayed. Instead of focusing on the Kid’s exploits as a young man in the Wild West, Mantlo presents Johnny Bart as a middle-aged man who is travelling a West that is on the verge of being tamed. “I didn’t think much about [that idea] at that time,” says Trimpe.

“I was young myself. Now, not so young, older with more experience, [so] the concept of the aging gunfighter has a greater significance.”

As the story unfolds, we learn that many who knew of the Kid’s rep back in the day believe he is past his prime, but there is still a need for the kind of justice only he can deliver. This was a hook that would be used to even greater effect just a year later with the release of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. “The lesson is, it’s never too late,” says Trimpe.

“Young people don’t get that.”

This particular project was like coming home for Trimpe, who started out at Marvel illustrating Western features in the 1960s. “[The] Westerns were my entry-level opportunity,” recalls Trimpe.

“They cemented my relationship with Marvel.

Those titles were the ones that established confidence with Stan [Lee] that I was useful and could do the job. This, in turn, led to bigger things. Since I was just starting out, I was thrilled to get the work.

On top of that, it was fun. Very low pressure.

I recently finished a ‘Kid’ commission, with Rawhide [Kid], [Kid] Colt, and Ringo [Kid], and it was a very nostalgic trip. I thought it would be great to do some of those stories again.”

Past His Prime?

The Rawhide Kid was no kid in his miniseries of 1985. Art by Herb Trimpe and John Severin, from issue #1. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

66 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

TM

by

Dan Johnson

In early 1980, DC Comics had two regular Western series running in Jonah Hex and Weird Western Tales, while Marvel had none.

Where Westerns had once been a large proportion of Timely/Marvel’s output, they had long been a low priority in the editorial offices. The last new Western material had appeared in the mid 1970s and the ongoing reprint titles of Kid Colt Outlaw and Rawhide Kid were finally canceled with issues #229 (Apr. 1979) and 151 (May 1979), respectively.

(This decline in the quantity of Westerns was reflected in other media as well. On television, the final episode of Bonanza aired in January 1973 and the last Gunsmoke in March 1975. More recent series such as Kung Fu also ended about the same time, and subsequent Western series were usually alone in the schedules. Similarly, in movies, the retirement of John Wayne and the cessation of regular Western appearances by Clint Eastwood after The Outlaw Josey Wales were just part of the decline in the number of Western movies made. However, I would suggest that although the quantity is now low, the quality of such Westerns as are produced, be it in comics, television, or movies, is high. Look at the recent remake of 3:10 to Yuma in the movies or Deadwood on television.)

Caleb Hammer was a new Western character that debuted in #54 (June 1980) of Marvel Premiere, the book used by the company to try out new ideas and concepts. That issue was written by Peter B. Gillis, with art by the team of Gene Day and Tony DeZuniga.

The team of young-gun Day and experienced pro DeZuniga was an interesting one. Day had already worked on Master of Kung Fu and shown he could draw in genres beyond superheroes, while DeZuniga had worked on DC’s Jonah Hex. “The Coming of Caleb Hammer” in Marvel Premiere #54 was clearly an attempt to do something new in the Western genre from the Marvel perspective. Writer Peter B. Gillis “was pestering [then-editor] Roger Stern for work in general, and he turned to me and said, ‘Write me a Western character without the word Kid in it.’

That was it—the rest was me.

“There has always been that fascination with Westerns and comics,” Gillis continues. “There’s an awful lot of people who like Westerns, but can we reach them? That may have been part of the idea in Roger’s head, but I can’t quite be certain. Jonah Hex showed that Westerns could survive, if not flourish. I loved the Albano/DeZuniga Hex, but as a character, Hammer was almost the anti-Jonah Hex.” As shown in this single issue, Caleb Hammer is a Pinkerton agent weighed down by religious conflicts and family tragedy in the past.

The introductory panel describes the Western setting as one “where a man with nothing to lose could lose still more.” In the main story, Hammer is on the trail of wanted men in Wyoming. Interspersed are flashback scenes showing the murder of Hammer’s pretty young wife some years earlier, a time when Caleb had been training for the ministry. Hammer’s younger brother is also seen to have been killed.

Both deaths, and a third caused by Hammer himself, are due to misunderstanding or accident and have consequently challenged Caleb’s Christian beliefs, causing him to suffer a loss of faith.

Hammer is aware of his own troubled state. At one point, a town sheriff offers him a drink. “Warms the old carcass” the sheriff says.

“The carcass, yes,” Hammer replies, “but what warms the soul?”

Later, a gunslinger bested by Hammer accuses him of not being human. “That would be a blessing” is Hammer’s response. This is a man who no longer has any joy in living, although he continues to seek justice for others. He is not beyond redemption, but doesn’t find it in the main story here either, which also ends in tragedy.

This story has an atmosphere of brooding violence throughout its 17 pages, although much of that violence happens off-panel.

Tortured Soul Detail from the cover of Marvel Premiere #54 (June 1980), the first appearance of Caleb Hammer.

Art by Tony DeZuniga and Frank Miller. © 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.

68 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

TM

by

Ian Millsted

TM

“The bombs never fell. They didn’t have to. Russia’s pact with Japan, Africa, and South America kept her fat and cozy. To America, half the world became closed. Her few remaining friends bled the frightened giant dry, while her spoiled children ate well.

“As ever, America pretended it wasn’t happening.

She wanted more, and found the cupboards bare.”

(Scout #1, Sept. 1985) With those words, the stage was set for Scout, creator Timothy Truman’s story of the adventures of an Apache warrior named Emanuel Santana and his attempts to survive in the post-apocalyptic landscape that is America in the future.

Truman was doing quite well illustrating the adventures of GrimJack for First Comics with writer John Ostrander. So why break away from a successful book to pursue Scout?

“I was enjoying working with TIMOTHY John Ostrander on GrimJack— we’re like brothers,” says Truman.

“However, my wife Beth and I had just had a son, Ben, and First Comics had fallen woefully behind in their payments to me. I’d met cat yronwode and Dean Mullaney of Eclipse Comics while visiting my friend Tom Yeates in California, and they asked me if I waned to do a creator-owned project. I was itching to write and draw my own stuff at the time, so I leaped at the chance. It seemed like a good time to move on.”

Truman’s inspirations for Scout are quite varied. “Scout was a synthesis of just about everything I had an interest in at the time—Native-American history, motorcycle flicks, post-apocalyptic fiction, stuff like that,” Truman says. “I wanted to use the story as a springboard for venting some of my frustrations concerning the Reagan-era politics of the time, but do it in the context of a big adventure story.”

Timothy Truman’s Scout Detail from the cover of Scout: War Shaman #1 (Mar. 1988). Unless otherwise noted, art scans in this article are courtesy of Roger Ash. TM & © Timothy Truman.

70 • BACK ISSUE • Wild West Issue

by

TRUMAN

Roger Ash

GONNA PARTY LIKE IT’S 1999 Surprisingly, the story did not take place in the far future, but 1999, a mere 14 years after the first issue was published. Why set it so close? “It seemed a long way off at the time!” Truman recalls. “I was only in my late 20s, after all. I suppose I would have handled things differently today. I remember seeing a review a few years ago, after the first [Scout] graphic-novel reprint came out. They mentioned the fact that, in the timeline of the book, the world was ruined in only about 12-15 years. When I saw it, I realized I wasn’t too far off the mark—it only took the Clinton and Bush administrations a little longer than that!”

Once at Eclipse, Truman worked with editor cat yronwode on Scout. “We got along great,” Truman says. “Looking back on my career, I’ve always worked best with women editors and art directors. In a work situation, I’ve found that women always seem more direct. They get things done.”

The story begins with Scout searching for something.

Trouble is, he’s not sure what he’s searching for.

Traveling the desolate American Southwest on his motorcycle, Emanuel encounters a Gahn, an Apache spirit guide, who tells him that four monsters of Apache legend have returned: Owl-man Giant, Buffalo, Eagle, and Antelope. They were summoned by US President Jerry Grail. The first six issues feature Scout’s attempts to destroy these monsters and confront the President in the nation’s new provisional capital— the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.

The Gahn most often appeared as a gopher and had quite an attitude. “He’s a big favorite with everyone.

Unexpectedly so,” says Truman. “He gives voice to Scout’s conscience. Instead of giving him stereotypical pseudo-mystic ‘Indian’ dialogue, I wrote him with this wry, wise-cracking, ‘modern’ voice—like real folks talk.

That’s one of the things that makes him work.”

The first monster Scout faces is the Owl-man Giant, who is disguised as Al Bonanza, a pornographer who has high-level connections. After Scout defeats him in battle, one of Al’s girls, a teenage runaway named Missy, becomes Scout’s traveling companion. At the end of the story, Scout learns that the Buffalo monster is the Secretary of Agriculture, “Chippy” Waltz.

In Houston, Scout’s attack has not gone unnoticed.

Presidential advisor Bill Loper—a televangelist—brings in two Rangers, Rosanna (Rosa) Winter and Raymond Vaughn, to go after Scout. These two are former classmates of Scout’s and Rosa is also his former lover.

Vice President Carver is kept out of the loop, but that’s par for the course. She was an idealistic politician who was added to the ticket only to get the women’s vote and is now kept in a constant drug-induced stupor.

If the names of the Rangers (Scout included) sound familiar, that’s not a surprise. “I’m a music fanboy— more so than a comics fanboy, in every way,” reveals Truman. “So it was a shout-out to some of my heroes— Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn (whom no one had heard about at the time), and Johnny Winter (Rosa Winter’s last name was a tribute to him).”

Scout defeats the Buffalo Monster at a governmentrun farm and continues on the road to Houston.

In Houston, Scout and Missy hook up with a band of refugees including the preacher Reverend Deluxe, his simple follower, Doody, and Guitar Man and his multi-ethnic blues band. However, Rosa and Ray also find them and attack. Rosa has Scout in her sights, but for some reason, does not fire.

Scout and his friends intend to break into the President’s TV studio to broadcast a message of revolution instead of the usual propaganda that the President and Loper send out over the airwaves. On the way to do this, Scout kills the Eagle Monster, who is disguised as Senior Energy Advisor Vince Eagre. In the control room, Scout faces the Antelope monster— a bank of video equipment come to life. Finally, Scout assassinates President Grail and goes on the run.

Rosa kills Ray when he attempts to kill Vice President Carver, who takes over as president, although Loper is still running things behind the scenes.

A Few of His Favorite Things Native-American lore, motorcycle movies, and post-apocalyptic ficion were blended by Truman into his Eclipse Comics series.

Cover to Scout #1 (Sept. 1985).

TAKING AIM ON SCOUT Since Native-American lore is a big part of this storyline, and both Scout series, was that a subject that interested Truman? “Very much so,” replies Truman. “At the time I was particularly interested in Southwestern NativeAmerican culture and history. However, my great grandmother, Belle Truman, was a full-blooded Cherokee. An uncle told me that her Cherokee name Wild West Issue

TM & © Timothy Truman.

•

BACK ISSUE • 71