Category Archives: Weird Westerns

Fatale # 13 : Black Bonnie

Story : Ed Brubaker
The main ongoing series features a beautiful woman named Josephine who has a magical power over the men she meets in her travels.
Issue #13 is a change of pace with ”Black Bonnie,” replacing Josephine in the old west of the 1880s. An effective mix of horror and noir in a spaghetti western setting.
Copyright Image Comics 2013.

Merkabah Rider: Once Upon A Time In The Weird West by Edward M. Erdelac

The final chapters in Ed Erdelac’s saga of the Hasidic gunslinger have just been published. Merkabah Rider 4: Once Upon A Time In The Weird West is available from Amazon.
FMerkabah-Rider-4-coveror years the Rider, one of the last of an ancient Jewish order of astral travelers, has sought his renegade teacher Adon across the demon haunted American west.
Now it is 1882. The Hour Of Incursion is here. The Great Old Ones, beings of immeasurable power from the roiling chaos before the dawn of Creation, are stirring in their ancient slumber. It is high noon for the entire universe. Seeking to rouse the Old Ones, Adon has gathered together the Creed – an army of fallen Hasidic mystics – and a host of dark allies including skinwalkers, necromancers, an undead master gunslinger, Lilith the Queen of Demons, and the Angel of Death himself.
The Rider and Kabede, in a last bid to stop Adon, recruit their own band, including an unstoppable preacher more steam engine than man, an alien entity from the dawn of time, a young witch, and the enigmatic Faustus Montague, an angelic being from another universe. But Lucifer the master of hell watches from his capitol city, ready to commit his legions to the winning side. And he has an agent among the Rider’s companions….
“Riding out of the Old West comes the Merkabah Rider, a Hasidic gunfighter who owes his provenance as much to the nasty inhabitants of Elmore Leonard’s westerns as he does his piousness to Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane. This highly original episodic series breathes new life into the overworked western with tight action, inglorious heroes, and unpredictable plots.” – Weston Ochse, award-winning author of SEAL Team 666 and Scarecrow Gods.

Eerie Exploits of Ranger Company X: The Official Series Bible

109239“The Official Series Bible for the weird Western setting, inspired by the pulps of the 1930’s as well as radio and television shows as diverse as The Lone Ranger and The X Files. Take on the role of a Texas Ranger doing battle with the forces of the supernatural.” – Hank Harwell

The Official Series Bible™ is a format for roleplaying game campaigns. Each setting is called a Pilot, like the first episode of a television series, providing enough information to get started and offering hooks for future adventures, be leaving things open enough for gamemasters to take things in their own direction. All information is presented without rules system information, so you can adapt it to the system of your choice.”

Fan communities can be found at Facebook and Google+.

Pariah, Missouri Graphic Novel

photo-full1857. Pariah, Missouri is a riverboat boom-town and a haven for the unscrupulous. The charismatic Hy Buchanan works undercover as a foppish cheat, and creates a rag-tag team to ferret out evil, both the corruption of man and the supernatural. His first challenge is the arrival of a duo of thespians, whose intentions are not to entertain.

Pariah Missouri is a western with a supernatural twist that leans on mysticism and folk-magic.

“Our first story will be four 22-page issues. This Kickstarter campaign focuses on the production of the first two issues printed as one double-sized issue (~50 pages). Currently issue one is completed and we are in the middle of finishing issue two, which is on schedule for the end of December. After this campaign, the team is scheduled to complete issues three and four by spring of 2013 and begin additional story lines in Pariah. This is more than one story, this is the beginning of a rich world that is being created, and YOU get to be a part of it!” – Creator and writer Andres Salazar.

Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology that are brought to life through the direct support of others.

Free 20 page PREVIEW available by clicking on this link.

Weird Weird West Bizzarro Magazine Vol. 2

Weird Weird West (Bizzarro Magazine Vol. 2) explores Weird Westerns in the latest volume. The 128 page illustrated magazine has the look and feel of a softcover book complete with titled spine.

The focus is primarily on cinema with features on Kaspar Hauser, Sam Peckinpah, Monte Hellman, theDjango films and Jodorowsky’s cult film El Topo plus The Sex Appeal of the Weird Western by Eric Teodorani, Spaghetti Western influences, Billy the Kid, Trigun vs Cowboy Bebop, The fumetti Weird Western, Red Dead Redemption, Weird TV Westerns, Ambrose Bierce and my (Paul Green) personal recommendation of 15 Weird Westerns. Editor Daniele ‘Danno’ Silipo provides an “Essential Dictionary of the Weird Western in Cinema” including a few European titles that are new to me.

Weird Weird West is recommended for all fans of the Weird Western. Meanwhile English only readers will require an Italian-English dictionary or if you prefer you can just look at the pictures. :)

Johnny Depp a.k.a Mah Woo May

As Johnny Depp continues filming on The Lone Ranger the budget is increasing daily to preciptous levels that according to some reports border on $250 million. The film is definitely a gamble for Disney following Depp’s recent box-office under performers and the John Carter fiasco.

Meanwhile Depp immerses himself in the Indian culture of Tonto and no doubt looks to his own real-life ancestry for inspiration. His first tattoo dating back to the 1980s was of a Cherokee Chief in full headdress. It was a reminder of his ancestral heritage through Minnie, his Cherokee great-great grandmother. Depp took his heritage one step further recently after becoming an honorary member of the Comanche Nation and adopting the name of Mah Woo May which translates as shape-shifter. The private ceremony took place at the home of LaDonna Harris, president and founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity.

LaDonna Harris with Johnny Depp

Gold Rush

“Gold Rush” will begin shooting at the end of June on 40 acres in the heart of Gold Rush Country near Grass Valley, CA. The location is a private property that has preserved artifacts from the Gold Rush era.

“There’s no need for us to create props and sets because everything you’ll see is a remnant of history,“ said director Debbie Bledsoe. “Whether it’s the antique six-shooter Merwin-Hulbert revolver or the old poker table and other wild west artifacts from the Gold Rush era, everything is a genuine piece of a forgotten time.”

Written by Jon Mac, the premise of “Gold Rush” surrounds a modern day team of paranormal experts that goes missing one by one while investigating an evil presence at an estate filled with antiques from a gold mining ghost town. In real life, the Travel Channel show “Ghost Adventurers” recently covered how locals believe the ghosts of deceased gold miners haunt the entire Gold Country area.

“When you step inside, you literally feel like you’re stepping back in time. It certainly has a haunting feel,” said Bledsoe. “We’ll also be sleeping here every night, so it will be a unique experience, that’s for sure.”

Director: Debbie Bledsoe

The cast and crew plan to shoot the majority of the film in one weekend using inventive techniques that will increase efficiency and elevate production values. “Most films shoot with a single camera, but we’re shooting with four, which will complete the shoot four times as fast without compromising quality,” said Bledsoe.

The cast of fresh faces on the rise includes Angel Oquendo (“Dexter,” “House MD”,
“Oceans 13″), Kristin DeLuca (“Femme Fatales”, “House MD”), William Mark
McCullough (“The Trials of Cate McCall”), Lydia Castro (“Private Practice”, “Lie to
Me”), Desmon Heck (“Criminal Minds”), Michael John Lane, (“Victorious”) Valerie
Lucas (“iCarly”), Julia Milova (“Scandal,” “Chuck”), Caroline Bielskis (“Two and a Half
Men,” “Criminal Minds”), Debbie Bledsoe, Maria Picaso, Shelly Insheiwat, Richard
Scott and Michael Buonomo (“The Trials of Cate McCall”).

Johnny Depp and Tonto’s Spirit Guide

Johnny Depp recently talked about the controversial Tonto make-up in Entertainment Weekly.

“I’d actually seen a painting by an artist named Kirby Sattler, and looked at the face of this warrior and thought: That’s it. The stripes down the face and across the eyes … it seemed to me like you could almost see the separate sections of the individual, if you know what I mean. There’s this very wise quarter, a very tortured and hurt section, an angry and rageful section, and a very understanding and unique side. I saw these parts, almost like dissecting a brain, these slivers of the individual. That makeup inspired me.”

Kirby Sattler licensed his work to be adapted in the upcoming film. Depp’s interpretation of the bird in Sattler’s painting definitely lends a Weird Western angle to Tonto.

“It just so happened Sattler had painted a bird flying directly behind the warrior’s head. It looked to me like it was sitting on top. I thought: Tonto’s got a bird on his head. It’s his spirit guide in a way. It’s dead to others, but it’s not dead to him. It’s very much alive.”

Interview copyright © 2012 Entertainment Weekly Inc. All rights reserved.

Depp meets Navajos on location in Monument Valley

Johhny Depp meets the Surgeon General of the Navajo Nation, Dr. Gayle Dine’ Chacon on location in Monument Valley on Aprl 12. She presented Depp with a traditional leather warrior pouch, decorated with an arrowhead to symbolise protection. 

“He is a very charming man, very gracious and very concerned as well,” she said. “He probably spent a good hour with us. Everybody else left the set, but he was still there. … You feel that you are the only one there – that he’s just focusing on you.”

Source: People.com

Johnny Depp’s Tonto and Kirby Sattler

Art by Kirby SattlerIf you think Johnny Depp’s Tonto is over-the-top and is more suited to the next Pirates Of the Caribbean movie think again. Artist Kirby Sattler specializes in Native American art. Check out his painting against Depp’s Tonto. The designer Penny Rose may owe a debt to Sattler and his particulary vision of the Crow Indian. Or maybe they both accessed the same source material from their research. It certainly isn’t the Tonto we’ve all come to know from the Jay Silverheels version back in the 1950s.

You can view Kirby Sattler’s Native American portfolio at : Kirby Sattler