Weird West

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This article is about the narrative term. For the video game, see Weird West (video game).

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Weird West (aka Weird Western) is a term used for the hybrid genres of

movie serials and pulp magazines.[1] Individually, the hybrid genres combine elements of the Western genre with those of fantasy, horror and science fiction respectively.[2]

Media

Literature

Two early examples of Western fantasy are the short story "The Horror from the Mound" by

novelette "Spud and Cochise" by anthropologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oliver La Farge, published in the non-genre magazine The Forum in January 1936.[4]

One of the earliest novels to introduce fantasy into a Western setting was

mythology. It was later adapted into the film version 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1963).[6]

Later novels include those by

H.P. Lovecraft
.

Comics

The Ghost Rider, number 3, Magazine Enterprises, 1951. Cover art: Frank Frazetta.
Space Western number 44, Charlton Comics, June 1952. Artist: Stan Campbell.

From the 1940s, many Western comics published stories in which heroes would sometimes encounter monsters, aliens, supervillains, etc. Marvel Comics featured Kid Colt, the longest-running Western character in American comic books, from 1948 to 1979. He became a time traveller, and ultimately, a mutant.[13] The Rawhide Kid, another Marvel time traveller, debuted in a 16-issue series, from March 1955 to September 1957, from Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics.[14]

DC Comics added a horror element to their Western stories by introducing Weird Western Tales in 1972. The title of this series gave rise to the term "Weird West". It ran for eight years and 59 issues. The main character was Jonah Hex, whose popularity secured his own eponymous series.[15][16]

In the mid-to-late 1990s,

WildStorm Productions, returned weird Western comics to the stands at a time when none of the major publishers had Western comics in their line-ups.[17]

Preacher Special: Saint of Killers, a 4-issue mini-series, was a spin-off from Preacher by Garth Ennis. While the origin of the Saint of Killers in the Old West is the only true Western element in the comic book Preacher, the series has been described as a "Splatterpunk Western" or a mix of the Western with the Gothic.[18]

Films

In film, The Phantom Empire (1935) is sometimes considered the first fantasy Western. Gene Autry, in his first starring role as a singing cowboy, ventures down a mineshaft and discovers a futuristic lost kingdom of the type depicted in Flash Gordon.[19] Sci-fi and horror Westerns began in the 1950s with the vampire Western Curse of the Undead, and the science fiction Western, The Beast of Hollow Mountain about a prehistoric dinosaur in a turn-of-the-century Mexican village, and continued in the 1960s with films like Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966), which depicted the real-life outlaw fighting against the fictional vampire,[20][1] and The Valley of Gwangi (1969), in which Ray Harryhausen's special effects were used to pit cowboys against dinosaurs again.[19][1] Other Westerns with elements of fantasy, horror or science fiction are 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964),[6] Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966), Bang Bang Kid (1967), High Plains Drifter (1973),[21] Get Mean (1975), The White Buffalo (1977),[22] Pale Rider (1985),[21] Ghost Town (1988),[20] Back to the Future Part III (1990), Wild Wild West (1999),[23][24] Purgatory (1999), Jonah Hex (2010),[25] and Bone Tomahawk (2015).[26]

Television series

In the 1960s, the television series The Wild Wild West brought elements of pulp espionage and science fiction to its Old West setting.[27][28] The animated adventures of The Lone Ranger followed suit, with the famous Western hero encountering mad scientists and other villains not often found in the Western genre.[29] Additionally, Rod Serling's supernatural anthology series The Twilight Zone featured a handful of Western episodes, such as "Showdown with Rance McGrew".[30] Later series include The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993–1994), which featured steampunk elements;[31] Wynonna Earp (2016), a horror Western about a present-day woman with a magic Colt Buntline revolver who fights reincarnations of outlaws killed by her ancestor, Wyatt Earp;[32] and Preacher (2016), based on the comic book series of the same name.

Games

gothic horror conventions and old Native American lore to derive its sense of the supernatural. Characters can get involved in situations ranging from bank heists to shoot-outs involving vampires and zombies over the course of their adventures.[33]

The Japanese RPG series Wild Arms, although set in a world of its own, distinctively draws notable inspiration from the Wild West imagery and combines it with magical and fantasy elements which are typical to the genre.

Damnation (2009) is set in alternate universe where the American Civil War was prolonged indefinitely due to advanced steam technology, with the player being tasked with stopping the army of a mad inventor bent on taking over the country.

UFOs and the remains of a giant hominid.[34]

Weird West (2022) is a top-down action role-playing game with elements of the immersive sim genre, with randomized elements through each playthrough.

Hard West (2015) is a turn-based tactical and strategic video game, as well as its sequel, Hard West 2 (2022).

Hunt: Showdown is a multiplayer PvPvE FPS video game.

Evil West (2022) is a third-person shooter with hack and slash and role-playing game elements.

Variants

Less-common hybrid genres may include the

shaman is possessed by an evil spirit.[36][20] A gothic Western example is Ghost Town (1988), about the quest of a sheriff to defeat a zombie gunfighter by using his star-shaped badge as a shuriken.[20]

The steampunk Western, a variant of the

retrofuturistic technology and aesthetic of the steampunk subgenre, typically depicts an alternative history of the Old West but emphasizes society's reliance on steam power, as in the 1960s TV series The Wild Wild West.[23][24] Another variant of the science-fiction Western is the space Western, which applies Western themes to a science-fiction frontier setting. As such, these works are usually set on other worlds, such as in the series Firefly, but the action sometimes takes place in the Old West, as in Cowboys & Aliens (2011), in which an alien spacecraft lands in 1870s New Mexico Territory.[37]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Bogutskaya, Anna (March 27, 2020). "Where to begin with the Weird West". British Film Institute (BFI). Retrieved July 31, 2021.
  2. ^ Newman 1990, pp. 176–189.
  3. ^ "The Horror from the Mound". gutenberg.net.au. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  4. ^ Spud and Cochise title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  5. ^ "Books and Authors". The New York Times. April 12, 1936. p. BR12.
  6. ^ a b Thompson, Howard (July 23, 1964). "The 7 Faces of Dr Lao (1963)". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
  7. Austin Chronicle
    . Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  8. ^ Slater, Maggie (May 7, 2013). "Interview with Joe R. Lansdale". Apex Magazine. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  9. ^ "Dead in the West". Goodreads, Inc. August 1, 2005. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  10. ^ "Dead in the West". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  11. ^ Barron, James (June 13, 1988). "Louis L'Amour, Writer, Is Dead; Famed Chronicler of West Was 80". The New York Times.
  12. ^ Thorpe, Valarie (2003). "Hanging Out in the Weird West with Jack Ketchum". Studies in Modern Horror. 1 (1): 22–31.
  13. ^ Markstein, Do. "Kid Colt, Outlaw". Toonopedia. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  14. ^ Markstein, Don. "The Rawhide Kid". Toonopedia. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  15. ^ Weird Western Tales at the Grand Comics Database
  16. ISBN 978-16-03602-33-4
    .
  17. ^ Furey, Emmett (October 30, 2006). "How the West was Weird: Mariotte talks "Desperadoes" Return". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  18. ^ Kitson, Niall (2007). "Rebel Yells: Genre Hybridity and Irishness in Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon's Preacher". Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies. 2.
  19. ^ a b Newman 1990, p. 186.
  20. ^ a b c d e Newman 1990, p. 177.
  21. ^ a b Newman 1990, p. 179.
  22. ^ Brenner, Paul (2008). "The White Buffalo". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  23. ^ a b Newman 1990, p. 187.
  24. ^ a b "The Wild Wild West TV Show". Steampunkary. May 26, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  25. ^ "Jonah Hex". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  26. ^ "Film of the week: Bone Tomahawk". BFI. February 19, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  27. ^ "The Wild Wild West (1969)". TV.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  28. ^ Magers, Boyd. "The Wild Wild West". Western Clippings. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  29. ISBN 978-15-38103-73-9
    .
  30. ^ Amory, C. (January 15–21, 1966). "Review: The Loner". TV Guide: 2. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  31. ISBN 978-18-92391-75-9
    .
  32. ^ Logan, Megan (June 3, 2016). "This is How You Carry A Show: Melanie Scrofano Dominates As Wynonna Earp". Inverse. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  33. ^ "Review: Deadlands". Shadis (30). Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). 1996.
  34. ^ Steimer, Kristine (October 27, 2010). "Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare Review". IGN. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  35. ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (June 26, 1996). "Acid Western: Dead Man". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  36. ISBN 978-14-76631-32-5
    .
  37. ^ "Cowboys & Aliens". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 3, 2021.

Bibliography

Further reading
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