Friday night Tina and I went with several other couples to see the first of a series of films featuring Leo Carrillo, of whom I have blogged about here a few times...

The film is part of a five week Friday nights Film Festival featuring Leo Carrillo, who is best known today as portraying 'Pancho' in 'The Cisco Kid' TV Western Show of the 1950's.   Before the feature film is played, a half hour episode is played first of 'The Cicso Kid'.  All this under the stars, in the same area where Leo and his wife used to entertain all the Hollywood Stars that would come down to their ranch to stay and 'rough it'!

So this morning, thinking about the above fun we had last night reminded me that in the package that Jim Main, Publisher of Main Enterprises, had sent me recently, was a modern Western Comic Book with a HoRRoR twist to it. 

I recently reviewed a fanzine on Doc Savage that Jim also publishes, (see here for that blog).  That zine and this Western HoRRoR Comic Book are just 2 of the 48 publications that he has published that are currently listed for sale in his online store!

However, this post is on the Western HoRRoR Comic Book  titled Boot Hill #1... The comic book itself is an anthology with three stories written by Sam Gafford, and illustrated by three different artists in black & white interior pages format.   Here are the stories that this issue covers per Jim's advertising blurb:

Do you like westerns? Are you a fan of horror stories? Well here's a new comic anthology that pairs them both togerther! Issue #1 features 3 tales of sagebrush terror, as narrated by your host, The Gunslinger : "Do Not Forsake Me"(illustrated by Dave Farley), "The Horseshoes" (illustrated by Jack Bertram) and "The Battle of Perkin's Feed (illustrated by John Lambert) all penned by horror writer Sam Gafford! And take a gander at that creepy cover by Scott McClung! If that's not enough to give you the willies...  

OK, I'll take it from there...

As you can tell by this blog's opening paragraph, I like western comic books.  I have since I first started reading comics and watching TV western shows!  I found the process of taking a TV show and printing it as sequential art to be something I enjoyed.

However, this comic book doesn't come from a TV Show.  It takes a genre of comic books that has recently been having a revival and inserting the HoRRoR theme into it.  Very similar to what I have seen by others do in recent years.  I have even blogged about a couple of them here, that included either HoRRoR or Supernatural themes into the western background of the story, (i.e. Jonah Hex upcoming film, and Desperadoes Omnibus by Jeff Mariotte.)

That doesn't mean I don't like this hybrid genre.  It just better be done good to rate my taking the time to blog about it! 

The cover to this comic book is one that made me put it near the top of my 'to read' stack of comics and mags that have come in for me to possibly review.  That says something right there!  Good job by illustrator Scott McClung!

The stories use a 'host' narrator to introduce you to the storyline. His name is 'The Gunslinger'.  Similar to the old EC HoRRoR Comics.

The first story 'Do Not Forsake Me!' is well written by Sam Gafford. The art is by Dave Farley.  I can't figure out the style here, it has a little 'underground' flavor to it, but since it was his comic book premiere, I don't really know his background.  The artwork meshed pretty well with the storyline.

The second story 'The Horsehoes!' was well written.  Reminded of the style of earlier EC Comics... The lettering didn't mesh as well with the art in this second story after the splash page.  The splash page lettering looked like an effort to tell the story in an EC lettering style. But turning the page, it lost that flavor.  I don't see the credits for that effort.  However the art by Jack Bertram told the story well in the sequential art format.

The third story 'The Battle of Perkin's Feed' was done right all the way through!  The storyline, the dialogue, the lettering and the art all blended well together!  And the ending?  Well done!

OKay... as I've said before here in my Blog...  Reviewing an anthology is one of the hardest things to do.  In this case, because the writer of each story was the same person, it was just a tad easier.  Plus there is a different 'tone' for comics that have black and white interior pages instead of color pages... 

For those that like Westerns with a HoRRoR or Supernatural bent,  then this issue should be down the right path to Boot Hill for you to read pardner!   I would appreciate seeing a 2nd issue to this series.

Details on this issue as follows:

Cost of this issue is: $2.95 plus 1.50 shipping.
$4.45 per issue postpaid in the USA.  Personal checks only, with checks made out to Jim Main.  Jim's web site to order is at:   http://mainenterprises.ecrater.com/

Unfortunately we don't have back issues of Jim's comics or magazines in our own online store at this time... However, Please check out our other new listings of comics, graphic novels, Comic Con exclusives and more pop culture items for sale in our online eBay Featured Store that our blogs are based on! 

Thanks again to all of YOU reading our current and archived blog posts!  We do blog daily on comic book creators, comic book reviews, and other pop culture news and events including some TV shows and theatrical films!