by Maurice Horn
Stoeger Publishing Co., January, 1978
Comics of the American West first was published in hardcover in 1977. This Stoeger Publishing Co. trade paperback version (224 pp) was published in 1978. It is one of a number of overviews, encyclopedias, and histories of comics and comic books that Maurice Horn authored during the 70s and 80s.
Now 88, the French-born Horn has retired from writing on comics. An argument could be made that he has never gotten the appreciation that he has deserved, appreciation and praise that has been liberally bestowed upon other critics or observers of comics and comic books, most notably Scott McCloud. In my opinion, Horn remains one of the more perceptive chroniclers of the topic, and his books - although necessarily dated - retain their value to the present day.
An informative overview of Horn's contributions to comics is available here.
Comics of the American West is divided into five chapters; Chapter One is an Introduction to the western comic strip; Chapter Two covers the Western comic book; Chapter Three, The West in Comics, is an overview of the depiction of the west in other genres of comics.
Chapter Four covers Westerns Around the World, while Chapter Five deals with Themes and Inspirations.
The book has copious black and white illustrations, although these are often low-res and not reproduced very well. There is a an eight-page color insert section.
It's no big revelation to say that the Western was the touchstone genre for the early days of both comic strips and comic books, all the way through the 50s and early 60s. Horn's first two chapters provide a good overview of chronicling the massive amount of cowboy and western material generated in these glory days, including the advent of franchises centered on real-life personalities like Hopalong Cassidy, Tom Mix, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers.
Baby Boomers who grew up with Marvel's Kid Colt, Two Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid and other heroes will see these characters covered as well.
Horn chronicles the slow but inexorable decline of the Western genre in U.S. comics and comic strips as the 70s unfolded, when Marvel began filling up its Western titles with reprints from the 50s and 60s.
During the early 70s both Marvel and DC made some half-hearted efforts to introduce new concepts to the genre, such as Marvel's Red Wolf, which featured an American Indian protagonist, but during the 70s and 80s the only established Western comic, for all practical purposes, was All Star Western and its spinoff, Jonah Hex.
In Europe and South America, of course, the Western remained a flourishing genre and Chapter Four, Westerns Around the World, does a good job of covering all of this material. Horn gives mention to all the major characters known to the European readership: Lucky Luke, Fort Navajo / Lieutenant Blueberry, Jerry Spring, Tex Willer, and Gun Law.
Reading through this chapter of the book, it's quite apparent that there is a substantial body of quality material that, sadly, has not been translated into English and presented to the American comic book readership.
Summing up, while inevitably dated, Comics of the American West remains the only overview of the topic, and thus continues to serve as a very useful resource for those interested in the genre. If you are a fan of Western comics, or just comics in general, it's worth picking up this book; used copies in good condition can be obtained for very reasonable prices.
