“Quote From Deadwood” – David Milch, Western Comic Recommendations

A reader requested more Western Comic Book recommendations. I’m honestly a little lacking in that area, but here goes:

Scalped by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra. I’ve only read the first volume of this series, and it may be better to classify in as a modern western noir than a straight up western, but it’s damn good. A Native American FBI agent is sent undercover, back to the life on the reservation he left behind. Sex, murder, and intrigue ensue.

All Star Westernby Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Moritat. You ever see that episode of Batman: The Animated Series where they made an AWESOME episode with only 60 seconds of Batman? It was the one with Jonah Hex in it. Jonah Hex is pretty much your typical Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Charles Bronson, Western badass, but horribly disfigured, thus upping his awesomeness. What I’ve read of All Star Western so far also seems to dip the Western genre into a little bit of noir, with Hex teaming up with an awkward doctor to solve a series of murders eerily similar to Jack the Ripper. Moritat’s art is colored by Gabriel Bautista, Jr who gives the book an overall muted, gray tone that matches Hex’s Confederate uniform.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller by…oh wait, this doesn’t exist as a comic. It’s a Robert Altman film, and it’s spectacular. If you want to get all film schooly, it’s Altman deconstructing Western myths and heroes. It’s a beautiful film, with dark, muddy colors except in perhaps the final act of the film, which is brightened by snowfall and blood. I also love The Searchers and Once Upon a Time in the West.

Also, Deadwood, a television show and not a comic, is amazing, and you should watch it. You will be better for having done so.

But back to comics. I’ve also previously recommended The Sixth Gun, American Vampire, and Dead West, all of which could fall under horror, or supernatural westerns. So it turns out, I’m not too well versed in the Western genre as far as comic books go.

Anyone who’d care to make some further recommendations, jump on in!