Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Films, Television and Games

624 Pages·2009·21.33 MB·English

by  Paul Green

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Mike Hoffman

Preface

Introduction

The Weird Westerns

Appendix

Bibliography

Index of Terms
Encyclopedia of
Weird Westerns
ALSO BY PAUL GREEN
AND FROM MCFARLAND
_____________________________________________
Pete Duel: A Biography
(2007; softcover 2009; large print, 2009)
A History of Television’s The Virginian, 1962–1971
(2006; softcover 2009)
Encyclopedia of
Weird Westerns
Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels,
Pulps, Comics, Films, Television
and Games
PAUL GREEN
Foreword by Mike Hoffman
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
Green, Paul, 1955–
Encyclopedia of weird westerns : supernatural and science fiction elements in
novels, pulps, comics, films, television and games / Paul Green ;
foreword by Mike Hoffman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4390-1
1. Western films–Encyclopedias.
2. Western stories–Encyclopedias.
3. Western comic books, strips, etc.-Encyclopedias.
4. West (U.S.)–In motion pictures–Encyclopedias.
5. West (U.S.)–In literature–Encyclopedias.
6.  West (U.S.)–In popular culture–Encyclopedias. 
I. Title
PN1995.9.W4G74 2009 791.43'65878–dc22 2009025457
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 Paul Green. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.
On the cover: Madame Tarantula artwork by Mike Hoffman
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank many people for their kind cooperation in the research
for my book. Certain comic book artists, writers and publishers were particularly
helpful in supplying me with their work and granting permission to publish it.
Jean-Marc Lofficier, editor of Hexagon Comics, for providing me with a
history of various Weird Western strips from France. Bill Black, editor, writer,
artist and publisher of AC Comics, who kindly contributed comic books and
extensive information on Magazine Enterprises and AC Comics Western
characters. Artist and writer Mike Hoffman for sending me a large box of his
artwork and comic books for research and answering my questions. Italian writer
Enrico Teodarani for sharing his knowledge of Italian Weird Westerns and comic
book strips plus information on his own work. Russian-born artist Alex
Sheikman and Italian artist Walter Venturi for providing artwork of their Weird
Western strips.
Producer Clément Calvet at Gaumont-Alphanim for providing artwork of
their animated series Cosmic Cowboys. Amy Huey from Dark Horse Comics
Inc. Jackie Smith, senior public relations manager from FUNimation
Productions Ltd. Chris Ryall, publisher and editor-in-chief of IDW Publishing.
Dan Forcey, vice president of Content Development at Platinum Studios Inc.
Scott Bieser, director of Big Head Press. Bill McLoughlin from Dundee,
Scotland, for granting permission to publish artwork on behalf of D.C. Thomson.
Paul Guinan for supplying vintage Frank Reade Jr. dime novel artwork. Fred
Berney and his wife Ellen for taking the time to scan Captain Z-Ro photos and
giving me the opportunity to watch vintage footage and to speak with Captain Z-
Ro actor Roy Steffensen. And to my final contributor, best-selling Weird
Western Romance author Madeline Baker—thanks for her kind cooperation.
Foreword
BY MIKE HOFFMAN
I never cared much for Westerns until something hit me one day. Maybe it
was old age or senility, but soon enough I was starting on solid food—old pulp
Western magazines from the 1940s. I also discovered the “dime novel” format
magazines from even earlier, from the days when youthful adventure in the great
out-of-doors meant something to a kid, whether as a make-believe Arizonian
cowboy or one of the Canadian Mounted. Whatever it was, the bug had bitten
me.
I soon moved into paperback territory, exploring plots and locales among the
myriad titles offered in the 1960s. Who read this stuff? Science fiction novels
had their scientists and engineers, I figured Western readers were the
outdoorsmen. I wasn’t—much, so I decided to move “out West” and soak it up
for myself. I spent six years in New Mexico as a result of a love affair with the
Western.
I saw bullet holes in the bar at Tombstone, haunted ghost towns, hung out in
the mining town of Bisbee’s “Copper Queen” hotel, and nearly croaked from the
heat when the radiator blew outside Kingman, Arizona. A friend of mine had
gone there, so enamored with the idea of going Western that he arrived with six-
guns and an all-black horse. The natives overlooked his enthusiasm until he got
it under control.
Death, sun, and mating tarantulas all over the roads; skies so clear at night
that meteor showers lit it all up in an eerie green. Rattlesnakes and old furrows
from wagon wheels headed westward; mesas, cacti of all kinds—I saw it all and
it burned deeply into my mind and heart. But what then?
I was approached by comics writer Barry Buchanan when I still appeared at
conventions, and we soon agreed to collaborate on his “Gothic” Western The
Ballad of Utopia. Eight issues over about three years and it was done. It had
weird elements, all right—not just madness, drugs and prostitution but also the
supernatural in the form of Indian magic. Was it just a Western, or was it more?
I knew the traditional Western novel had long since waned, but the American
psyche still needed its vast frontiers, though intermittently. A long, steady stream
of Hollywood Westerns had petered out to a mere ebb; spaghettis rejuvenated it
all for a while, then sank into the sands as well.
What did it all mean, and more importantly, as an artist, writer and publisher,
what the heck was I going to do about it?
Ideas pop up all the time and I often don’t know from where. I didn’t
question that when Madame Tarantula rode up, not did I falter when I learned
she was from 4,000 years in the future! Man, if he lasts long enough, should
repeat every idea eventually, and even if not perfectly, maybe enough to be
recognizable, as in an SF Western?
America had been split by rising sea levels, and the West was now the
“New” Old West; robot vaqueros tended herds of synthetic cows that left
droppings of precious radiumite; a whole economy plus flora and fauna
suggested itself to me. Heckfire, I had such fun making travelogues that I almost
forgot about the stories—at least for a while.
Now I’m back in the saddle, and just as history finds ways of repeating itself,
I have resurrected Madame T. once again and begun new some new tales. Not
surprisingly, she’s one of my most popular characters. Some small cosmetic
changes were made, but still she was true to her SF-Western origins.
Sure, I had been aware of many of the hybrid genres, like the “Acid
Western” film El Topo or the more recent Oblivion 2: Backlash, but I had no clue
as to the depth and breadth of “Weird Westerns” until reading this manuscript. Its
sheer scope and comprehensiveness make it invaluable to this old space trail-
rider, and it reaffirms my faith that the Western genre can survive and even
flourish in any desert, especially with imaginative infusions of plasma from
other nearby genres.
Westerns aren’t dead; though pocked with bullet holes, they’ll probably live
on as long as we can keep them new and interesting with near-infinite variations
on their central themes. I think that’s better than good.
And my new friend Paul Green has proved equal to the Herculean task of
assembling and categorizing all of this. Some of you may already know him
from his excellent Pete Duel biography, which by a mammoth stroke of
coincidence, I learned about mere days before being contacted about this book.
Small world, today.
Now you’ve finished up here at the watering hole. Keeping one eye open for
outlaw robots or vampire posses, you hope the fire will keep going as you drop
off to sleep; the electric guitar is quiet now and you’ve picked up a book from
the saddlebag. You don’t know it now, but you may just read it cover to cover.
I envy you, pardner.