iFanboy Video Podcast
Show Notes
This week iFanboy calls attention to the great American genre of western comics, in all their horse smelling glory. We’ve got lawmen and outlaws, gamblers and rustlers, and maybe even a no good, low-down, dirty robot army.
The last few years have seen a tremendous uptick in western comics, which used to be commonplace, but became very rare a few years back.
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One great OGN that you guys missed is Dead West by Rick Spears. It’s like Clint Eastwood Vs. Zombies. I don’t know anyone whose read it that doesn’t like it.
Oh, I started reading Loveless in trade and loved it. But it’s impossible to follow in issues.
my dog passed away this morning and i was pretty down but when ron made that face in the intro i totally cracked up. thanks a lot guys.
Gordon = fried comedy gold!
I picked up Jonah Hex after you guys recommended it on a podcast a while back, and I’m hooked. It’s fantastic, down n’ dirty, gritty western greatness.
Why wasn’t Josh wearing a hat???
I really like the Jonah Hex stuff Vertigo put out in the late 90s. It was writen by Joe R. Langdale, whose writen about a million novels and the movie Bubba Ho-tep. That stuff had alot of freaks and super-natural stuff that the current series doesn’t have. The Vertigo stuff isn’t as good as Palmiotti and Gray’s DC run, but the series has a really great tone.
We only had the two hats.
I hate this place but i love these chords.
I was disappointed that no one mentioned Desparados. It’s a Wildstorm western that uses mini’s and oneshot’s for each story arc. It’s been around for a long time. The first one has artwork by a Pre-Planetary Cassaday and a later one has Severin. It’s basically x-files meet spaghetti western.
I was disappointed that no one mentioned Desparados.
Well, we can’t be on top of all books, but that’s why we have a comment section like this. Good catch.
I love the casual cosplay moments at a con when you spot spandex Flash having a sandwich with a cardboard-winged Hawkman. This episode gave me a similar joy as Ron seriously debated the merits of comics, forgetting he had a birthday sombrero on his head.
Very nice show highlighting an “invisible” genre of comics out there. There’s another Western/scifi comic, Dusty Star by Andrew Robinson but those old issues are nearly impossible to find. Check out his site for examples. http://www.nextexitproductions.net/comics/comics.php
all I’m sayin is… Lone Ranger better be good, since I just ordered it
great show though, I love Western stuff, but unfortunately don’t getany (‘cept for Jonah Hex) at my local shop
I have to agree with Brandon – the Joe Lansdale stuff from 1994 was teh awesome. The biggest incentive: TIm Truman on art. If you like the Palmiotti/Grey stuff, snag a copy of “Riders of the Worm and Such.”
I’m catching up on “Lone Ranger” as we speak, and abandoned “Loveless” when it got (as y’all noticed) a little too confusing.
The teacher in me is wondering–how is the issue of race addressed in these books? I mean, if this is post-Civil War, and we’ve got our ‘heroes’ wandering around in Confederate uniforms…
I seem to remember there being African American characters in “Loveless” that were also portrayed as ‘heroes’, and Jason Aaron is doing a great job of presenting a fairly-balanced portrayal of modern Native American life in “Scalped”…
The teacher in me is wondering–how is the issue of race addressed in these books? I mean, if this is post-Civil War, and we’ve got our ‘heroes’ wandering around in Confederate uniforms…
Race is clearly a theme in Loveless, but since I’m no longer reading it, I’m not sure where it went. I think the basic idea is that the Union soldiers weren’t any less racist than the slave owners before them.
Jonah Hex is a different story, but they haven’t really gotten into it yet, except that Hex is basically colorblind, and he’ll kill anyone for money. The thing is, he’s not a hero. He’s not a good guy. He’s just the protagonist. He was raised by Apache, but he’s killed Indians. I don’t think they’ve really gotten into why he wears the uniform in much detail.
Oh man, Hex would make an incredible TV show, but only if shown on HBO or Showtime… kinda like a nastier Deadwood!
kinda like a nastier Deadwood!
I’m really not sure that’s possible.
Good point, maybe just using the same style as Deadwood (man, what an awesome show!)? But Jonah’s face is half melted off, which makes it a little nastier, doesn’t it?
Something occurred to me while I was watching this show. (I realize I am a little behind)
There are so many of those books that take place right after the Civil War. And I think you guys even commented that is kind of a “normal” scenario for these types of books. I really love the whole Civil War period and it’s history. I was curious if there are any books from the actual war period. Either fictional or true history.
That would be interesting to read I think.
Only western i’ve read was Just a Pilgrim. I’m going to have to check out the rest of those titles in the show