The New Western Comics Renaissance

Jonah Hex, The Lone Ranger, Batlash and Zorro have been successful new...well, renewed western titles. With the addition of the Man with No Name to the Dynamite Entertainment lineup, how many other companies will add western comics to their monthly offerings.

The western comics are a sub-genre of comics with its origins reaching as far back as the late 1930s. The western comics had its heyday in the 1950s, during the infancy of television. It wasn't just a passing fancy. In fact, in the book the 100 Greatest Comic Books by Jerry Weist, there are western titles on the list: Gene Autry Comics No. 1 (1941) at number 50 and the extremely rare Lone Ranger Comics No. 1 (1939, although 1938 is printed on the cover) at number 25.

According to The Comic Book by Paul Sassienie, "By 1948, Fawcett's Western Title Hopalong Cassidy was selling more than eight million copies." The Two-Gun Kid was the first Marvel western in March 1948. In January of 1948, DC released Western Comics. At the time another genre was becoming popular...Romance Comics. And in 1949, Prize Comics decided to combine romance and western with the release of Real Western Romance No. 1. Even when the 3-D Comics were the rage, western comics joined in also. Star Comics published Western Fighters 3-D in December 1953.

Westerns were brought to the forefront of American pop culture because of television. What is amazing, long after westerns disappeared from the prime time lineups of television, western comics kept coming back time and time again. For example, The Rawhide Kid had several lives starting as an Atlas (early Marvel) Comic in March 1955. With that 16-issue run ending September 1957, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers got "the Kid" going again in August 1960 (Issue No. 17). This run lasted until May 1979 but, Marvel ran mostly reprints before the cancellation as the last Marvel western. The Rawhide Kid later returned as a four-issue limited series in 1985, 2000 and again in 2002. Then the Rawhide Kid became a Marvel Max imprint five-issue limited series with the controversial "Slap Leather" storyline in 2003.

With the popularity of the new Lone Ranger, other publishers are trying western themed titles such as Moonstone's The Cisco Kid vs Wyatt Earp. Even, Dynamite Entertainment has struck gold twice with the new Lone Ranger and Tonto series. Now another generation will get to read western comics. And who knows, with the New Western Comics Renaissance maybe a western title will become the next comic book movie sensation.