One of the wildest comics of the ’50s is back, as Space Western Comics: Cowboys vs. Aliens, Commies, Dinosaurs, and Nazis! saddles up for a new collected edition, courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
A classic Martian adventure story, Space Western Comics sees rancher Spurs Jackson abducted by aliens, leading to a series of adventures on the Red Planet which include battling Adolf Hitler. The comics come from the era just prior to the restrictive Comics Code Authority, which put heavy restrictions on cursing and violence, horror elements, and any apparent disrespect for authority – the Wild West of classic comics.
Space Western Comics: Cowboys vs. Aliens, Commies, Dinosaurs, and Nazis! (2024) | |
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Release Date: | September 18, 2024 |
Writer: | Walter Gibson |
Artists: | John Belfi, Stan Campbell, and Lou Morales |
Editor: | Craig Yoe |
Welcome to the wild, WILD West! Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes bravely defended the frontier against commies from Mars, Venusian spies, Meteor Men, moon bats, and of course, Hitler and his space Nazis. Oh, and dinosaurs! With stories by Walter Gibson, famed creator/writer of The Shadow pulps, and art by John Belfi, Stan Campbell, and Lou Morales, Space Western Comics was one of the weirdest, most fun comic series of the ’50s. Now, all the space western tales are collected and restored in this volume, including a “lost” story. This edition includes an illustrated intro, including revelations about the strange parallels between Star Trek and Space Western Comics by multiple-Eisner Award-winning designer and comics historian Craig Yoe. To Arizona… and beyond! | |
With a foreword from comic historian Craig Yoe (The Great Anti-War Cartoons, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster), Dark Horse has confirmed the 208-page collection will include a lost story from Gibson (most famous for essentially creating the iconic vigilante known as the Shadow, who went on to inspire Batman.) Yoe tells Dark Horse “these bat-poop crazy stories are a devoted cult fave series. Make that ‘moon bat-poop crazy’ stories.”
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Space Western Comics offers a fascinating glimpse at the comic business shortly before it went through a transformative era of censorship which redefined the medium in America. Dark Horse’s solicitation info even notes that the book was cited in Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent – an influential book which accused comics of causing criminal and anti-social behavior in children (indeed, Wertham’s influence on comics is explored in Dark Horse’s Dr. Werthless.) Dark Horse notes that Wertham reported Space Western Comics to be the favorite of a “juvenile delinquent arsonist,” and the publisher warns, “DON’T READ SPACE WESTERN COMICS AND PLAY WITH MATCHES!”
Space Western Comics: Cowboys vs. Aliens, Commies, Dinosaurs, and Nazis! is an unsung chapter in comics history, as wildly influential creators worked without restriction for one of the final times in twentieth-century comics – however, it also promises enough inventive, ’50s-flavored sci-fi pulp to be a must-read just to find out what threat Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes face next.
Space Western Comics: Cowboys vs. Aliens, Commies, Dinosaurs, and Nazis! is coming from Dark Horse Comics September 18, 2024.
