Jubal Sacket’s Multishot Flintlock

As I have said in an earlier post, I wasn’t a fan of Louis L’Amour until I got around to checking out Jubal Sacket, the story of the mystic wanderer of the far traveling Sacket clan.  One of the side items in that fascinating book that postulated a number of crazy ideas (like a much larger European influence on 16^th & 17^th century America than previously known and the continued existence of mastodons into that time) was the occasional availability to multi-shot flintlocks and wheel locks, forerunners of the iconic wild west sixgun.  Today I found a neat YouTube video that shows a similar piece, the Lorenzoni repeating flintlock.  Watch, enjoy, and dream of running the wilderness with Jubal, the “Ghost in the Woods”.

Lone Ranger Lost in the Wilderness

Somewhere along the line the Lone Ranger comic from Dynamite has gotten way off track.  The original 25 issue series by Brett Matthews was perhaps my favorite comic book of the last decade.  True to the source material yet totally modern in feel, it set a new standard for telling decompressed western comics. The series wrapped up and moved to a brief but fun Zorro / Lone Ranger crossover before restarting under the writing of Ande Parks.

I am not familiar with Parks, who seems to have spent most of his time in comics as an inker (contrary to popular belief, an important job that is not just tracing).  Writing, I have to say, may not be his strong suit.  The plots of the two story arcs so far are fair, but there is a real lack of connection to the original Lone Ranger material that keeps creeping in and annoying me.  For example, about five minutes of research on-line will turn up the writers’ bible for the original Lone Ranger radio program.  Among the points the producers held to was that, to maintain credibility in the story that the Lone Ranger’s identity remains a secret, he should never be captured and held long enough for someone to unmask him.  It is unrealistic that a villain would knock out a masked gunman and NOT take off his mask.  Yet there it is, in the first story line, the Lone Ranger captured, held in a cell, finally strung up on a gallows awaiting a dramatic rescue, with no one ever wondering just who is that masked man.  A seemingly minor point, but it makes the writing feel sloppy.

The second story arc in the series kicks off with Tonto getting shot and the Lone Ranger taking him back to his tribe to be healed.  Right, because western medicine is totally incapable, right?  Anyway, most of the story is then a long series of flashbacks to when evil white men killed Tonto’s family.  America is evil, white-eyes destroyed an idyllic paradise on earth, my country is forever tainted in blood, yes, yes, I’ve seen that before (but see my review of Copper for my thoughts on the alternative we pale faces were left with in Europe).  As the flashback continues we eventually see in issue #9 Tonto stalking, torturing, and killing the soldiers responsible.  Again, a quick look at the old Lone Ranger’s writers bible shows that the best plots don’t distinguish villains and heroes by race, and that the partnership of the Lone Ranger and Tonto sets an example that American of any creed or color can work together for the common good. 

I get the drive to make a darker and edgier comic- I did most of my comics reading in the 1990’s, when darker and edgier was all the rage.  But as the first Dynamite series shows (plus practically any Captain America comic in the last decade) you can still make a dark and edgy comic book with noble and heroic leads.  Let’s hope the editors at Dynamite figure that out soon.

Having said all that, Chuck Dixon’s concurrently published Lone Ranger: Snake of Iron series rocks.

UPDATE: That list of rules from the old radio program's writers' bible?  It's right on the Dynamite Comics web site.  Enjoy.

Copper; or On US Maps Manhattan is in the West

So there’s a new show on BBC America called Copper that is getting a lot of attention on the Western blogs and web sites.  Interesting that, in that it takes place entirely in New York City.  It does take place in the 1860’s, and being set in the 19^th century seems to be enough to make something a western to most people (I’m looking at you, All-Star Western).   Having a lawman carrying a sixgun doesn’t make you a western, though.  Without even the idea that there is freedom over the horizon, where is the draw to move on, grow, expand?  

I’m watching the show now and looking at the fetid squalor of the immigrant tenements, lingering in the shadows of privilege.  A good part of my family ended up in the Philadelphia versions of places like that in the 19^th century, many others ended up working in coal mines not too far away.  I’m not sure which would be preferable.  They are still better than poverty, pograms, and political oppression in the homelands, but not much.

So how is the show?  Not bad.  Ain’t no western, that’s for sure. The acting is good, though, the plot is interesting, and the anachronisms not too bad.  It manages to have an Irish character without Irish nostalgia, a rare feat indeed.  If anything, an hour of watching the vile corruption in a place where the taint of aristocracy won’t die and capitalism stomps the downtrodden unchecked sure makes you respect the purity of a Utah canyonland.

Star Wars as Spaghetti Western

A clever artist named Timothy Anders has recreated posters for the original Star Wars trilogy as spaghetti westerns.  You can purchase them here.

 

 

Leather Holsters to Become Modern Accessory

Just watch where you pull out your hogleg.  

See product link here.

Slap Gone Missing and the Best of Crazy A. Crocket

Good old Slap Bookleather seems to be taking a break from blogging for a while, the reason which will become evident when I eventually get around to writing Part 5 of Who Put a Cowboy in My Dungeons and Dragons Game? In the mean time, let me leave you with a couple of quotes from my favorite character in Boomtown, the Facebook western game.  Crazy A. Crockett is one of the villains, with the look of Davy Crockett mixed with the attitude of Mike Fink.  He says the craziest shit when you fight, for example:

Yer face or yer ass, what’s the difference?

How’s that whoopass tasting?

I’m about to open up a can of whoopass!

Happy trails to me!

Here I go, laughing and scratching!  Say Goodnight!

That first line gives me the willies.  He may be talking about where he's going to open up the can of whoopass.  He may be talking romance.  Maybe "Whoopass" is his name for his long gun?

Some of the lines are in the very fun promotional video below, although weirdly Mr. Crockett himself doesn't make an appearance.  

Hmm... maybe Crazy A Crockett would make a good druid in my next D&D game?  Via con Dios!

God Bless America