Mike Cox – author of THE TEXAS RANGERS: WEARING THE CINCO PESO, 1821-1900 – spent 15 years as spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, which means he got to talk to the press about, among other things, the Texas Rangers. How cool is that? Not talking to the press – no one in his right mind wants to do that. And I don’t mean the Texas Rangers baseball team, either. We’re talking about the real deal here: the Cinco Peso.

If you’ve never seen a Texas Rangers’ badge, where have you been all your life? They’re circular, not pointy like the badges you see in Western movies. The five-pointed Texas star is in the center. The badges were originally carved out of pesos, so the first Rangers to wear them were said to be wearing the “cinco peso.”

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Quick takes and capsule reviews from the dark suspense master himself, Ed Gorman!

Haffner Press’ THE WORLDS OF JACK WILLIAMSON is a massive, handsomely made book that is a centennial tribute to the writer Arthur C. Clarke put on a level with both Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. The book is also a tribute to science fiction and fantasy as well, because by the time he passed away at age 98 in 2006, Williamson’s history was the field’s history.

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As the third mystery novel in Steve Hockensmith’s HOLMES ON THE RANGE series, THE BLACK DOVE once again centers around two good-natured cowpoke siblings who go about “deducifying” just what happened. Now, before you think I’m poking fun at our commander in chief and get your knickers in a bunch (or get a smile on your face and a noddin’ to your head), don’t. This is how my boys Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer “commence to conversating.”

The two brothers are second-generation German immigrants raised on the plains of Kansas, working as cattle drovers before being introduced to the literary wonders of Sherlock Holmes. Gustav – aka “Old Red” – and Otto – aka “Big Red” – decide to leave the range, head west and do some detecting work of their own.

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Brian Azzarello’s EL DIABLO has nothing to do with the El Diablo of DC Comics past. But it has everything to do with that writer’s reputation for dark, violent work. Over four issues in 2001, the 100 BULLETS creator told a weird Western tale that’s just now making its trade paperback debut. Is it worth the wait? You bet your guns.

Moses Stone serves as sheriff of a two-bit town named Bollas Raton. When he’s not keeping the peace, he’s chatting up the local bounty hunters, executing Apaches and trying to get his wife pregnant. But one day, the peace becomes much harder to keep.

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Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

Having already issued collections of Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn, Del Rey turns to a hodgepodge of here-and-there again for THE BEST OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, VOLUME 2: GRIM LANDS. Yes, you get various tales featuring the above characters – including my favorite Conan story, “The Tower of the Elephant” – but you also get lesser-known and non-series numbers of swordplay and sorcery, of pirates, knights and even boxers. Throw Red Sonya in there for good measure, and Howard’s bent for the weird Western tale is in full force as well. It’s nice to see these stories here rather than in overpriced editions, plus accompanied by beautiful little illustrations from Jim and Ruth Keegan. For me, though, the real find here is “Pigeons from Hell”; it may carry a trite title, but it’s a chilling horror tale. Cheers to Del Rey for putting Howard’s work back into widespread existence these past few years; all eight in the collection are worth owning.

If you’ve ever wanted to see characters from the Bible with big doe eyes, let there be light! Siku’s THE MANGA BIBLE transforms ye olde bestseller into a full-fledged graphic novel, moving quickly – too quickly, some will say – from the creation story to Jesus’ revelations in a tidy 200 pages. No doubt this will hold massive appeal to today’s manga-hungry teens, as it is true manga (except it doesn’t have to be read backwards, thankfully). The script by Akin Akinsiku updates dry text with present-day lingo; witness Cain and Able (”Whassup, bro? I’ve got something I wanna show you in my farm.” “Sounds interesting … what is it?” “Your death, you smug *$&%*!”) It’s not without humor – Jonah’s story is presented as a two-page “comedy short” – and works in present-day framing scenes to make the story relevant.

No allegations of Scientology tampering in this celebrity bio. Kathleen Tracy’s SACHA BARON COHEN – THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY: FROM CAMBRIDGE TO KAZAKHSTAN chronicles the maverick comedian’s rise from privileged scholar to British cult TV star to Oscar-nominated pop-culture tsunami. There’s nothing offensive about it, but nothing earth-shattering, either. It reads like Tracy just cherry-picked facts from People profiles and the like, which is both a blessing and a curse, meaning the read is an easy one, but also one that feels only skin-deep. The section on BORAT’s filming and subsequent lawsuit-ridden release proves the most interesting; even though you’ve read it all before in countless news articles, it’s handy to have them assembled in one spot.

The digest-sized MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN VOL. 5: MONSTERS ON THE PROWL pits Spider-Man against four monsters from Marvel’s stable of horror characters. In stories written by Peter David and drawn by Mike Norton, Spidey fights Werewolf by Night in a haunted house, spars with Man-Thing in the swamps, saves New York from a newly thawed Fin Fang Foom and rids his school’s Halloween dance of the presence of Frankenstein’s Monster. Hawkeye and Dr. Strange guest-star in these slight-on-plot but long-on-fun tales. Intended for all ages, they’re not exactly scary, but hey, monsters are monsters. Consider this a pint-sized version of the recent LEGION OF MONSTERS anthology. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

Saddle up, buckaroos, for the 90th installment of this column. We’re going back to the days when justice was served at the end of a six-shooter. So let’s hit the dusty trail and meet some good ol’ boys of the Old West.

ADAM STEELE #1: REBELS AND ASSASSINS DIE HARD by George G. Gilman – “Adam” appears on the cover in small letters, since he is mainly referred to as just “Steele” throughout this 1974 novel. Gilman also wrote the kick-ass series EDGE, which I’ve got nothing but love for. Unlike EDGE, the STEELE series is not some full-blown spaghetti Western in page form. It’s more of a slowed-down version of the genre, more in the vein of Sam Peckinpah.

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THE TRAIL OF WHITENED SKULLS is a collection of five stories that all star one of Tom W. Blackburn’s forgotten characters, Cole Lavery. I have to admit I was never familiar with the work of Blackburn, except for the theme song of DAVY CROCKETT that he wrote for Disney. After a lengthy forward detailing Blackburn’s pulp days and his process of getting published, we are treated to some old-school Western action and fun.

Blackburn’s is more of the straightforward type of storytelling, with no unexpected events or out-of-the-blue character changes. All five stories are pretty much black-and-white, where the good guys truly deserve to win in the end, and Cole is a likable character – an Everyman trying to make his way across to California. His tales pretty much build upon one another into one continuing storyline.

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Frank Leslie is really Peter Brandvold, one of the best writers of traditional action Westerns in the business right now. He’s very prolific — THE THUNDER RIDERS is the fourth or fifth book he’s published this year – and he may have concocted this pseudonym so he could saddle up with a new publisher.

I’d like to think he chose the name of an Old West gunman as an homage to Fred Glidden, who wrote under the byline Luke Short. “Buckskin” Frank Leslie is the man who shot Billy Claiborne – an OK Corral survivor – when Claiborne got pissed off because Leslie refused to refer to him as “Billy the Kid.”

End of lecture. Now close your books. There will be a test.

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Some 35 years after his debut, we finally learn about how Jonah Hex got to be the bitter bounty hunter we all know and love. Our questions – including the all-important “Just what is up with that scar?” – are answered in JONAH HEX: ORIGINS, collecting six more issues from DC Comics’ current revival series.

Spanish comics artist Jordi Bernet illustrates the three issues comprising the origins arc, and his ballsy, bloody drawings are a fitting and welcome addition to the title. Hex’s story is told in snatches and flashbacks, rather than chronologically.

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I like Westerns in which an old pro – be he cowboy or lawman – is called out of retirement to perform a job only he can do. There’s always something special about the situation that calls for his skill or experience. It’s like a good Howard Hawks Western movie: one that puts an emphasis on professionalism, and defines a man by what he does rather than by what he says he can do.

Johnny D. Boggs’ protagonist in WALK PROUD, STAND TALL is Lin Garrett, a forgotten lawman who, in old age, has fallen on hard times. He was once an Arizona legend – or nearly so –, but now that it’s 1913, hardly anyone remembers him.

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We used to come across the phrase “the irony of history” more often when we thought that at least parts of history made sense – there has to be some degree of sense to it or there can’t be irony – but now that we know history is just one big, unbelievable fucking mess of legend and self-deception, the only irony is that we ever believed it wasn’t.

The irony at the heart of Preston Darby’s debut novel THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN is that John Wilkes Booth never intended to kill President Abraham Lincoln. Kidnap him, yes; ransom the Southern cause with him, yes; murder him, no.

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For one of the most bizarre costume parties out there, we’re keeping tradition established by last Halloween’s column and covering nothing but short stories. This time, it’s three diverse collections, with some new takes on the Lovecraft mythos, Donald Hamilton picking a few Westerns and, finally, another one of those Alfred Hitchcock collections.

THE NEW LOVECRAFT CIRCLE edited By Robert M. Price – This 1996 collection is comprised of 25 short stories printed in various zines and chapbooks, most notably Crypt of Cthulhu. They run the full gamut from some truly good stuff to some utter dreck. Those who are expecting some carbon copies of H.P. Lovecraft’s writing, look elsewhere. These tales are in his vein – with some even referencing the man himself – more about taking some of his ideas and running with them.

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Scouring out the weekly singles scene … in comics!

SIMON DARK #1 (DC) Steve Niles is currently a one-man horror-comics powerhouse, and he’s bringing his terrifying sensibilities back to DC with the creation of Simon Dark, billed as “Gotham City’s Other Protector”. And while it’s too soon to see how it stacks up against Batman, this debut is quite a doozy.

Visually striking, Simon Dark wears a long purple coat and has a stitched-together mask, wandering the streets saving innocents and begging for money for food. He’s a homeless hero who seems to have a darker past than is let on, leaping from building to building with a garrote wire. I have a feeling that Dark just might be DC’s next big breakout hit. Niles’ writing is as crisp as ever, with beautifully haunting pencils by Scott Hampton. This is one to watch.

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In EAST OF THE BORDER, Johnny D. Boggs has delivered one of the funniest novels I’ve read since Adam was a pup, and yes, it is a legitimate Western. Well, sort of a legitimate Western.

It’s the story of the year Buffalo Bill Cody, Texas Jack Omohundro and Wild Bill Hickok traveled together in a stage play that seemed to have changed its name more often than its stars changed their underwear. Apparently, it didn’t matter what the damn thing was called, because none of the three leads – with the frequent exception of Texas Jack – bothered to learn their lines, so it was a different play at every performance anyway.

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In his rather humble introduction to THE BLOOD RIDER, Mark Tarrant seems to apologize for not being an English major. No need! I, for one, don’t want to read a vampire Western dressed up in flowery prose, laden with weighty metaphors and given – well, y’know – meaning. I just want it to ride; luckily, this one is meant to be nothing more than an escape from reality.

RIDER literally begins in motion and rarely lets up. Ezekiel Carson is traveling with his preacher father and the rest of their family in covered wagons toward a town called Bear Creek, where they hope to preach the word of the Lord. Those hopes are dashed when gunmen slaughter the entire party … except Ezekiel, who barely pulls through.

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It’s hard to resist the lure of the singing cowboy, as portrayed in Douglas B. Green’s SINGING COWBOYS. Okay, it’s not real hard, but in our post-modern age, the pure goofiness of action heroes who stop chasing the black hats in order to trot along strumming their gitfiddless and singing about their silver-haired daddies is borderline surreal.

And the first singing cowboy to star in his own series was – wait for it – John Wayne.

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Dynamite Entertainment’s new LONE RANGER title made an immediate splash upon its debut. Once you read the first six issues, collected in THE LONE RANGER VOLUME 1: NOW AND FOREVER, you’ll understand why: For the first time since … well, maybe ever, it makes the character stand strong and relevant, rather than a symbol of an era gone by.

If you only know the character from reruns of the old TV show – and, let’s face it, most of us do – you’re going to be surprised at how much of a badass this Ranger is. Cue the “William Tell Overture” – or, rather, don’t. The tune won’t ever cross your mind.

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James Reasoner’s latest is a mixed-genre novel that satisfies two ways, although it’s a little stronger as a mystery than it is as a Western. DEATH HEAD CROSSING opens with a tease prologue that hints at the horror to come, but the story proper begins with a bang: “The old man was going to keep screaming until Jackson rode down there and put a stop to it.”

No one is going to read that sentence and then toss the book away out of boredom.

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It’s a been a long time since we had some good old Westerns featured here. I could have taken the easy route with books by some great Western writers, but what’s the fun of that? So instead, I’m reviewing three books all under the house author names of Tabor Evans and Wesley Ellis. These are promoted as adult Westerns, so expect some sauciness!

LONGARM #19: IN THE FOUR CORNERS by Tabor Evans – When I picked up this 1980 book, what grabbed me was the man on the horse. It made me think of two things: 1) The cover artist is a big fan of old-school Iron Man. 2) Gee, I bet they are ripping off the true story of Ned Kelly, the Australian robber who made a suit of armor to protect himself.

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Along with my current obsession with all things Peckinpah, my current love of comics like JONAH HEX and THE LONE RANGER completely has reopened the doors to my passion for the Western. While it’s not an art form that’s dead, it’s definitely on life support in today’s pop culture, so anything to keep it alive is worth it in my book.

But the only way to do that is to take the same, tired, old Western clichés and punch them up enough to keep today’s audiences enthralled. Author Michael S. Katz does just that in his fresh and interesting take on the hunt-down-the-baddies story with Michael S. Katz’s SHALOM ON THE RANGE, which – if you’re smart enough to tell from the title – is Jewish-centric.

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