Although probably most well known for crime and horror comics, EC also published some Westerns like Gunfighter, Saddle Justice, and some stories in the genre also appeared in the classic Two-Fisted Tales anthology. A proper all-star team of writers, artists, and colorists has convened to rekindle that tradition in Oni Press‘ Outlaw Showdown #1, which features macabre, subversive takes on horror/thriller stories in that setting.
Outlaw Showdown kicks off with “Cool, Cool Water”, a straightforward, yet supernatural horror tale of revenge as a lawman and a young Paiute girl ride into the Chihuahua desert to avenge her family’s murders. John Arcudi has a great ear for Old West prose, and he filters his script through a progressive, anti-imperialist lens, while not being preachy while Sebastian Cabrol and colorist extraordinaire Lee Loughridge capture the effect of slowly dying of thirst as the story progresses from a typical Western to something hazy and finally dark and spooky. Loughridge’s palette is basically what I see every time the sun is blazing, I’m driving, and I’ve left my sunglasses somewhere. I love the eerie whites he uses for the more ghostly scenes as the murderers get their just desserts, and these atmospheric elements, plus Arcudi’s heartfelt script, elevate the story.
Kentucky colonel and The Walking Dead co-creator Tony Moore and colorist Rico Renzi turn things up a notch in their West Virginia coal country yarn “Fire in the Hole” about a man named Artie, who was the lone survivor of a mine cave-in. Moore’s art style is reminiscent of EC horror comics, and he adds some authentic details like “Barboursville, West Virginia” on some boxes while still telling his story suspensefully. The non-linear plotting is a little jarring initially, but it ends up mirroring Artie’s guilty conscience and makes his comeuppance that much more devilishly satisfying. Tony Moore’s facial expressions are vivid, and his layouts are a hellish maze as Artie tries to run from his terrible actions. But he’s in an EC comic, and there’s no escape from that. My one small quibble with this issue is that the transition from page one to two is a little jarrin,g especially with the inclusion of the title lettering and horror host, but placing the proverbial camera at mid-distance establishes Artie as innocent while the rest of the story reveals his miserable existence as a downright dirty scab. (He looks like one, too.)
One of my favorite concepts period, is snake oil, and I love pointing out advertisements for when I teach students how to use music primary sources from the late 19th century. I think that it says a lot about the continued American tradition of charlatanism and hypercapitalism, and that Ann Nocenti, David Lapham, and Nick Filardi would agree in their story “The Cure” about a racist cure-all (Aka poison) peddler named Doc Boot and his put-upon Native American employee, Little Bear. Nocenti and Lapham give the Native American and Chinese characters agency, and I love the character Shen Li’s rejoinders about the Chinese inventing gunpowder and making actual oil from the fat of snakes. Also, the majority of the story is Doc Boot’s sales pitch featuring some delightful, “laying it on thick” dialogue from Nocenti that matches David Lapham’s outrageous facial expressions and Filardi’s beet red palette, which makes the quack’s comeuppance even more cathartic.
Outlaw Showdown‘s final original story, “Pony Express,” isn’t cathartic or a triumph of the marginalized over the oppressors like its predecessors, but it’s just a plain, sad comic from Christopher Cantwell, Dan McDaid, and Michael Atiyeh. It starts as a rousing story of the trials and tribulations of a Pony Express rider trying to get across country, but then it uses the Western genre and the protagonist’s profession to dig into themes of mental health and depression. The Old West was really a shitty place to live, and “Pony Express” doesn’t sugarcoat this at all. However, McDaid’s visuals create empathy for the poor characters in this comic with the help of plenty of close-ups to go with the weather-stricken landscapes and encounters with Native Americans and highwaymen. I needed a hug or maybe a shot of bourbon after reading this final story.
Outlaw Showdown concludes with a reprint of a classic EC comic from Two-Fisted Tales by Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis that tells a story from the POV of a Colt revolver and its six bullets. In a country where gun crime continues to be a sad reality, it’s a sobering, well-told story about the corrupting power of firearms and their ammunition. It also showcases the power of the comics medium and its ability to tell stories in creative ways. Unfortunately, it features some cringeworthy stereotypes of Latino characters that remind you that the comic came out in 1950, but it’s a master class in the marriage of art and writing that makes sequential art so magical and makes me want to dig into the old EC books even more.
If you’re a fan of classic comic book storytelling, the Western genre, or just want to see Tony Moore draw ghostly coal miners afflicting a member of the management class, then Outlaw Showdown is a must-buy and fits neatly into anti-colonial and postmodern readings of the genre while still having plenty of entertainment value, blood, and gore.
Story: John Arcudi, Tony Moore, Ann Nocenti, Christopher Cantwell, Harvey Kurtzman
Art: Sebastian Cabrol, Tony Moore, David Lapham, Dan McDaid, Jack Davis
Colors: Lee Loughridge, Rico Renzi, Nick Filardi, Michael Atiyeh, Inaki Azpiazu
Letters: Richard Starkings, Tyler Smith
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.6 Overall: 8.6 Recommendation: Buy
Oni Press provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
