Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns Read online

  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 near
by 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.

  Mike Hoffman, “The Most Outspoken Man in Comics,” is a prolific illustrator who has created more than 1500 comics pages, 700 paintings and thousands of drawings and watercolors. He has illustrated the work of Dennis Etchison, William F. Nolan, Neil Gaiman and Richard Matheson, among others.

  Preface

  This book covers the history of the Weird Western in dime novels, pulp magazines, comic books, novels, film, animation, television and games. The beginnings of the genre date back over 150 years. Some might argue the Weird Western is merely an umbrella term for stories involving the supernatural and science fiction. But there can be no doubt that the Weird Western has its own distinct style within the broader genre of the Western. The quality of work ranges from top-class and innovative to repetitive and formulaic. From work that lifts the spirit to work that revels in the sewer of human actions and emotions. The purpose of any encyclopedia is to document the subject and not to exclude a work because it might be considered in bad taste or offensive. The weird by definition attracts the weird.

  The main body of this book uses a simple A–Z encyclopedia format. Cross-referenced subjects are in bold type within an individual entry. An appendix lists the entries under their respective subheadings. The entries are divided into various sub-genres according to their subject matter. In the case of comic book series, radio shows and television series, only the specific issues or episodes that can be classified as Weird Westerns are listed.

  Weird Western [WW]

  A Western story incorporating horror, supernatural or fantasy elements and themes and usually including one or more of the following subjects: vampires, werewolves, mummies, man-made monsters, mythological beings, mutants, zombies, ghosts, haunted buildings, demons, witchcraft, Satanism, possession, demonic or possessed animals, mentalists, shamans, visions, restless or wandering spirits, damned souls, enchantment, shape-shifters, angels, goblins, faeries, sirens, flying horses, psychopathic killers, torture, psychological terror, dismembered moving body parts, spirit guides, the occult, hexes and curses, rising from the dead, talking animals, superhuman abilities and magical potions.

  Weird Menace Western [WM]

  Popular in 1930s Western films and serials and crime pulp fiction, the Weird Menace story explores supernatural and horror themes but always concludes with a rational explanation for events.

  Science Fiction Western [SFW]

  A traditional Western setting with science fiction elements or themes, often involving future technology or extra-terrestrials. The Science Fiction Western can sometimes be a clumsy mix of genres given the fact that modern technology didn’t exist in the Old West. This is usually solved with plot devices including time travel, aliens from outer space and alternate histories.

  The sub-genre also incorporates the post-apocalyptic Western with its back story elements of lawlessness, gang warfare, survival in a hostile environment and the alienated lone hero attempting to make sense out of the chaos. The post-apocalyptic Western often includes Cyberpunk elements with surviving technology being a factor in many stories.

  Space Western [SW]

  A science fiction story set in outer space that contains Western genre elements or themes. These are usually disguised within a space opera or science fiction format. The hero can at times be little more than a cowboy with a ray gun. Early science fiction pulp magazine cover art sometimes emphasized the similarity in genres by adopting the same poses it used for its Western titles.

  Space Westerns became more sophisticated with age but some still blatantly pay homage to their source of inspiration with thinly disguised Western genre plots.

  Steampunk Western [SPW]

  Steampunk Westerns are tales set in the Old West that incorporate Victorian technology and invention, often placing characters at odds with the Old West culture and forcing them to either expand their horizons, shrink in fear or react with violence.

  Steampunk has its roots in Cyberpunk with the transforming and corrupting influence of a rampant technology that erodes society. The viewpoint is usually dystopian. While Steampunk often incorporates actual historic events, its world is mainly alternative history involving fantastic machines that might have existed in another timeline.

  Weird Western Romance [WWR]

  The Weird Western Romance is a traditional romance novel set in the modern day or the Old West that involves time travel or supernatural elements including ghosts, spirit guides, demons, vampires or guardian angels. The romantic male lead character is usually an outlaw, rancher, cowboy or American Indian.

  Introduction

  While the Weird Western is a comparatively recent label for a genre that incorporates supernatural, fantasy and science fiction elements in a Western frontier theme, the supernatural tale finds its origins in the religions and mythology of antiquity. When life was interpreted as a continual balancing act between personal survival and the will of capricious spirits, the supernatural was part of everyday life for the earliest humans. Menacing spirits had to be appeased by a mixture of ritual and sacrifice to keep famine, flood, disease and death at a distance.

  The earliest mention of the supernatural in literature can be found in the oldest epic poem known to exist. The Epic of Gilgamesh, based around the historical figure of King Gilgamesh of Uruk in Babylonia, was originally written by the Sumerians using cuneiform script on twelve clay tablets dating to approximately 2,000 B.C. The oldest version known to exist is written in the Akkadian language. Themes include gods and goddesses, demons, immortality and the afterlife. The shadow (spirit) of Enkidu talks to Gilgamesh in Tablet Twelve.

  “Listen, Nergal, warrior, hero!

  Open up now a hole to the underworld

  that the ghost of Enkidu may issue from the darkness

  and tell all the ways of the underworld to his brother.”

  Nergal, bold hero, listened to Ea’s words.

  He immediately opened up a hole now to the underworld.

  The ghost of Enkidu issued from the darkness like a dream.

  They tried to embrace, to kiss one another.

  They traded words, groaning at one another.*

  Other early ghostly encounters are told by Homer in the Odyssey and the Iliad, Virgil in the Aeneid, Ovid in Metamorphoses and the Younger Pliny in his Letter to Sura. Although Pliny’s short story was written in A.D. 62, portions of it point to the future Gothic novel.

  In Athens there was a large and spacious mansion with the bad reputation of being dangerous to its occupants. At dead of night the clanking of iron and, if you listened carefully, the rattle of chains could be heard, some way off at first, and then close at hand. Then there appeared the spectre of an old man, emaciated and filthy with a long flowing beard, and hair on end, wearing fetters on his legs and shaking the chains on his wrists. The wretched occupants would spend fearful nights awake in terror; lack of sleep led to illness and then death as their dread increased, for even during the day, when the apparition had vanished, the memory of it was in their mind’s eye, so that their terror remained after the cause of it had gone. The house was therefore deserted, condemned to stand empty, and wholly abandoned to the spectre;
but it was advertised as being to let or for sale in case someone was found who knew nothing of its evil reputation.†

  Animals in ancient times were often granted mystical powers in mythology and their interaction with humans could be complex. Inter-species mating and morphing into human or animal form was a common aspect of many stories. The ancient Greek myth of Lycaon provides one of the first examples of the werewolf legend. Lycaon is king of the Arkadians. After angering Zeus with a meal that includes roasted meat from a human sacrifice, Lycaon is transformed into a wolf. Ovid retold the myth in Metamorphoses.

  Not long before, but in a luckless hour,

  Some legates, sent from the Molossian state,

  Were on a peaceful errand come to treat:

  Of these he murders one, he boils the flesh;

  And lays the mangled morsels in a dish:

  Some part he roasts; then serves it up, so dressed,

  And bids me welcome to this humane feast.

  Moved with disdain, the table I o’er-turned;