Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns
Page 14
Devil's Tower
[Novel; WW]
Author: Mark Sumner; First publication: New York: Ballantine Books, 1996.
The end of the American Civil War unleashes magical powers in the Old West. Sheriff Jake Bird must confront his past and conquer the magic of General George Armstrong Custer.
Followed by Devil's Engine.
Diamond Gulch
[RPG game; WW]
Author: David Garrett; First publication: 2006; Setting: Otherwhere; Publisher: Amalara.
Dinosaur-powered trains once crossed the plains of the Old West but in the new era of steamtech only one train remains. Grumbeard Silvertongue wants to kill all the surviving dinosaurs so his steam locomotives can rule the plains and bring renewed prosperity to the town of Diamond Gulch.
Dick Demon
[Comic book character; France; WMW]
First appearance: Zembla #110 (1972); Story: Franco Frescura; Art: Ivo Pavone; Publisher: Editions Lug.
1. A western avenger with a secret twin brother, Sebastian, enabling him to maintain a double identity and confuse his foes. His friends include life insurance peddler Baratini and undertaker Balmore.
2. First appearance: Mustang #309 (2003); Publisher: Semic.
A modern-day version of Dick Demon as a Los Angeles-based private investigator with a demon-like twin brother, and a female cat-like partner who is a descendent of Jed Puma.
Page from the comic strip Dick Demon (1972). Story: Franco Frescura; Art: Ivo Pavone. © Mosaic Multimedia. Used with permission.
Django il Bastardo
(1969) [Film; Italy; WW]
Premiere: 1969; Main Cast: Anthony Steffen as Django, Paolo Gozlino as Rod Murdok, Lu Kanante [Luciano Rossi] as Luke/Jack Murdok, Teodoro Corra as Williams; Producers: Herman Cohen, Anthony Steffen; Story: Sergio Garrone, Antonio De Teffè [Anthony Steffen]; Producers: Pino De Martino, Tigielle; Director: Sergio Garrone; 107 min.; Italy; SEPAC, Tigielle 33; Color.
Italian gothic horror spaghetti Western in which Django seeks revenge on traitors who were responsible for the death of his Confederate regiment. Django appears on the day oftheir deaths and places their named cross in the street. Is the stranger man or ghost? Considered by many critics to be the inspiration for Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider.
See: The Stranger's Gundown
Django Kill-If You Live, Shoot!
(1967) [Film; Italy; WW]
DVD release title (USA) for Se sei vivo spara.
Django Rides Again
(1976) [Film; Italy; WW]
Alternate release title (USA) for Keoma.
Djustine: Tales from the Twisted West
[Comic book; Italy; WW]
First appearance: 1997; Creator: Enrico Teodorani; Publishers: EF Edizioni, Coniglio Editore, Carnal Comics.
The sexually graphic adventures of the large-breasted female gunslinger Djustine and her fight with the supernatural including zombies, vampires and Diabla, daughter of Satan.
Creator Enrico Teodarani explains the evolution of Djustine:
Djustine first appeared in the Italian fanzines Fatece Largo, Psychotic Reaction and Darkness Attack from 1997 to 1999. In 2000 I started to collect her short stories in Xeroxed comic books, mostly sold by mail. Her first appearance in a “printed” comic book was in the comic-convention giveaway Djustine-speciale Fumettopoli published in November 2003. Then in 2004 the character began to be published on a regular basis by various Italian and American publishers.
My favorite movies are spaghetti Westerns, gothic horrors and sexploitation films such as Russ Meyer's. I just tried to unify everything in one comic. Also, in the late Sixties and early Seventies in Italy there were some adult Western comic books featuring sexy heroines in the main role and from time to time they had stories dealing with supernatural themes. The first story of Djustine I came up with was a spaghetti Western version of Marquis De Sade's Justine. The name “Djustine” is a mixture of Sergio Corbucci's Django and Marquis De Sade's Justine.
Cover of Djustine Collection Vol. 2 (March 2008). Cover art: Beniamino Delvecchio. Publisher: Edizioni-Milano. Djustine and all related characters © Enrico Teodorani. Used with permission.
Djustine in “The Gates of Hades,” page 2. Story: Enrico Teodorani; Art: Tim Tyler. Djustine and all related characters © Enrico Teodorani. Used with permission.
“Do Not Hasten to Bid Me Adieu”
[Short story; WW]
Author: Norman Partridge; First publication: New York: HarperPrism, 1994.
Quincey P. Morris returns to Texas from Whitby, Yorkshire, with a coffin containing the staked body of his beloved Miss Lucy. A vampire Western partially based on characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula.
See: Love in Vein: Twenty Original Tales of Vampiric Erotica.
Doc Frankenstein
[Comic book; SFW]
First appearance: 2004; Creators: Geoffrey Darrow, Steve Skroce; Story: The Wachowski Brothers; Publisher: Burlyman Entertainment.
The Frankenstein Monster's journey through different eras in world history including his time as a Wild West bounty hunter. This reinvention of Mary Shelley's creation sees an articulate but angry creature at odds with conservative politics and organized religion.
Doctor Saturn
[Comic book character; SFW]
First appearance: Ringo Kid Western #8 (October 1955); Creator: John Severin; Publisher: Marvel Comics.
A mad scientist works out of his laboratory in Conquistador Castle in the Old West. His claim to fame is his alleged connection to British scientist Michael Faraday and Saturn's Black Sunset invention that temporarily blinded his opponents with a highly concentrated flash of light. Ringo Kid was able to defeat Doctor Saturn thanks to an Indian potion that counteracted the blinding effects of the Black Sunset device.
Doctor Who
(1963) [TV series; UK]
Adventures of a Time Lord and his companions as they travel through time and space in a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space) posing as a British police phone box.
“The Gunfighters” (3:25) [SFW]: Four-part story; “A Holiday for the Doctor”: Air date: April 30, 1966; “Don't Shoot the Pianist”: Air date: May 7, 1966; Johnny Ringo: Air date: May 14, 1966; “The OK Corral”: Air date: May 21, 1966.
Main Cast: William Hartnell as Doctor Who, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet; Guest Stars: John Alderson as Wyatt Earp, Laurence Payne as Johnny Ringo, Anthony Jacobs as Doc Holliday, Richard Beale as Bat Masterson, William Hurndall as Ike Clanton, Maurice Good as Phineas Clanton, David Cole as Billy Clanton, Shane Rimmer as Seth Harper; Producer: Innes Lloyd; Story: Donald Cotton; Director: Rex Tucker; BBC Television; B/W.
The Doctor's desperate need to relieve his toothache takes him to Tombstone in the Old West and a date with Doc Holliday. But a case of mistaken identity leads to his companions Steven and Dodo being sentenced to death. The Doctor must search for a way of saving them and avoiding the gunfight at the OK Corral.
This BBC-TV–produced science fiction Western set in Tombstone pre-dated the Star Trek episode #Spectre of the Gun.” A Western street was built in the BBC-TV Centre for the four-part episode. Producer Innes Lloyd dismissed the episode's Old West concept for not being in tune with the spirit of the series.
Doctor Who : The Gunfighters
[Book adaptation; SFW]
Author: Donald Cotton; First publication: W.H. Allen, 1985.
Novelization of the 1966 Doctor Who storyline from the BBC-TV series.
Dogs o' War: All's Fair
[RPG book; WW]
Authors: John Hopler and Shane Lacy Hensley; First publication: 1998; Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
Expansion for The Great Rail Wars.
Don Simpson's Bizarre Heroes
[Comic book]
First publication: May 1994; Creator-Story-Art: Don Simpson; B/W; Publisher: Fiasco Comics.
Short-lived rebirth of Megaton Man and Cowboy Gorilla.
&
nbsp; Don't Touch the White Woman
(1974) [Film; France-Italy; WW]
Video release title (USA) for Touche pas à la Femme Blanche.
Doomtown or Bust!
[RPG book; WW]
Author: Rob Vaux; First publication: 1999; Deadlands: The Weird West; Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
Location book for Gomorra, California, the setting for the Doomtown card game.
Dorn, Edward
(1929-1999) [Author-poet]
Born in Villa Grove, Illinois, Dorn studied with Charles Olson at Black Mountain College, North Carolina, graduating in 1955. He taught at Idaho State University at Pocatello (1961-1965), the University of Essex, Great Britain (1965-1970), Northeastern Illinois University at Chicago (1970-1971), Kent State University, Ohio (1973-1974), and the University of Colorado (1977-1999).
Dorn was fascinated by the landscape and history of the American West, which he explored in his poetry. His most enduring work is a series of four poems (published between 1969 and 1974) collectively known as “Gunslinger.” Dorn died of pancreatic cancer in December 1999 at the age of 70.
Selected works: The Shoshoneans: The People of the Basin Plateau (1966), Gunslinger Book I (1968), Gunslinger Book II (1969), The Cycle (1971), Gunslinger Book III (1972), Slinger (1974), Recollections of Gran Apacheria (1974), Views (1980), Yellow Lola (1981), and Abhorrences (1990).
Dove si spara di più
(1967) [Film; Italy-Spain; WW]
Premiere: March 2, 1967; Main Cast: Peter Lee Lawrence as Johnny Monter, Cristina Galbó as Giulietta Campos, Andrés Mejuto as Lefty, Executive Producer: Sergio Newman; Story: Maria Del Carmen Martinez; Director: Gianni Puccini; 84 min.; Framer Films, P.C. Hispamer Films; Color.
A traditional Western storyline of the warring Monter and Campos ranch families reaches a Weird Western conclusion when a man dressed in black wanders through the dead and the dying shooting the survivors. He turns to the audience revealing a skull face and his identity as the Grim Reaper.
The stars of the film, German actor Peter Lee Lawrence and Spanish actress Cristina Galbó, became husband and wife in 1969. Lawrence committed suicide in 1974 at the age of 29. He was suffering from a brain tumor at the time.
See: Fury of Johnny the Kid
Dracula Lives
[Comic book]
Black & white magazine format title based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
“BOUNTY FOR A VAMPIRE” [WW]
First publication: #13 (July 1975); Story: Tony Isabella: Art: Tony DeZuniga; Publisher: Curtis Magazines [Marvel Comics].
An aging former US Marshal working out of the Dakotas in the late 19th century tracks Dracula to his castle and kills him with silver buckshot.
Drago
[Comic book character; France; WW]
First appearance: Dago #1, July 1966; Art: Carlo Cedroni; Publisher: Editions Lug.
Initiated by Indian shaman Kee-Oh-Kuk, Charles Malden has the power to create illusions by changing his appearance and confusing a person's mind. The blonde and effeminate Malden changes into the dark-haired, dashing Drago to fight crime on the Texas-New Mexico border in the year 1844, with the help of exiled French sailor Tartarin.
Drago. Art: Carlo Cedroni. © Mosaic Multimedia. Used with permission.
The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas
[Novel; WW]
Author: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough; First publication: New York: Bantam, 1986.
A young woman befriends a fire-breathing dragon who has been terrorizing the Texas countryside and the Old West townsfolk of Draco.
Duckula
(1990) [Animated TV series; UK]
Voice Cast: David Jason as Count Duckula, Jack May as Egor, Brian Trueman as Nanny, Jimmy Hibbert as Dr. Von Goosewing; Producers; Brian Cosgrove, Mark Hall; Directors: Chris Randle, Keith Soble; 30 min.; Cosgrove Hall Productions, Thames Television, Color.
Adventures of a vegetarian vampire duck with a dislike of blood and a taste for tomato ketchup. His castle is a time machine activated by Count Duckula in an upright coffin.
“GHOSTLY GOLD” (2:01)
Air date: September 12, 1989; Story: Peter Richard Reeves.
Duckula, Nanny and Egor visit an Old West ghost town and discover it is full of ghosts who don't like vampires.
“DEAD EYE DUCK” (3:08) [WW]
Air date: December 10, 1990; Story: Peter Richard Reeves
Wanting to escape the bitter cold of his castle, Count Duckula travels in time to the Old West of Colorado.
The Durango Kid
[Comic book]
Based on Columbia Pictures' film series starring Charles Starrett. Steve Brand, Secret Service government agent, is the masked Durango Kid, enemy of villains and outlaws in the American West. The majority of stories were standard Western adventures with one standout Weird Western adventure involving the Bakala monster and a science fiction Western involving the “First Atomic Weapon.”
“THE RAY OF HORROR” [SFW]
First publication: #7 (October 1950); Art: Joe Certa; Publisher: Magazine Enterprises.
A mad scientist invents an atomic death ray.
'THE CURSE OF THE BAKALA!” [WW]
First publication: #15 (February 1952); Art: Joe Certa, John Belfi; Publisher: Magazine Enterprises.
The Durango Kid encounters the Bakala, an 18-foot-tall Native American “monster of the living dead” with the strength of twenty men.
“THE PHANTOM BADHAT” [WMW]
First publication: #33 (February 1955); Art: Fred Guardineer; Publisher: Magazine Enterprises.
The twin brother of a deceased outlaw fools people into thinking the latter has returned from the grave.
The Durango Kid, “The Curse of the Bakala,” page 1. Art: Joe Certa, John Belfi. © 2009 AC Comics/Nightveil Media, Inc. Used with permission.
Dust Devil
(1992) [Film; South Africa-UK; WW]
Premiere: August 8, 1992; Main Cast: Robert Burke as Dust Devil, Chelsea Field as Wendy Robinson, William Hootkins as Capt. Beyman; Executive Producers: Paul Trijbits, Stephen Woolley; Story-Director: Richard Stanley; 87 min. [original release], 103 min. [director's cut]; British Screen Productions, Channel Four, Palace Pictures, Shadow Theatre Films; Color.
This contemporary horror Western set in South Africa shows influences of the Italian spaghetti Western in a story centered on the mysterious hitchhiker known as Dust Devil who kills women to feed on their souls.
See: Demoniaca
“Dust of Gods”
[Pulp Fiction; WW]
Author: C. L. Moore; First publication: Weird Tales (August 1934).
Eons have passed since three gods from the Lost Planet situated between Jupiter and Mars ruled on Mars. Northwest Smith and his Venusian friend Yarol travel to the Polar Mountains of Mars to recover the remains of the god of the darkness Pharol. But when they encounter his power, they have serious doubts about returning the mound of dust that was once the Great Pharol.
Dusty Star
[Comic book; SFW]
First appearance: Negative Burn #28, October 1995; First issue: December 2005; Story: Andrew Robinson, Joe Pruett; Art: Andrew Robinson; Publisher: Image/Desperado.
A blend of western, science fiction, adventure and humor that features robot cowboys, flying ships, tattooed horses and Dusty Star as a gunslinger with attitude.
Dynamite Warrior
(2006) [Film; Thailand; WW]
U.S. release title for Khon fai bin.
...e così divennero i 3 supermen del West
(1973) [Film; Italy; SFW]
Main Cast: George Martin as George, Sal Borgese as Sal, Frank Brana as Brad, Pedro Sanchez [Ignazio Spalla] as Navajo Joe; Screenplay: Italo Martinenghi, George Martin; Directors: Anthony Blond [Anthony Blod], Italo Martinenghi, George Martin; 95 min.; Cinesecolo, Rofilm, Roma Film S.p.a., Transcontinental; Color.
On a mission to find a time machine the 3 Supermen accidentally set the machine in operation and travel through time and space to th
e American Old West of 1867. An entry in the long-running 3 Supermen series of comedy films.
See: The Three Supermen of the West
Earth 2
(1994) [TV series; SW]
Air date: November 6, 1994; Main Cast: Debrah Farentino as Devon Adair, Clancy Brown as John Danziger, Sullivan Walker as Yale, Jessica Steen as Julia Heller, M.D.,
Rebecca Gayheart as Bess Martin, John Gegenhuber as Morgan Martin, Joey Zimmerman as Ulysses Adair, J. Madison Wright as True Danziger, Antonio Sabato Jr. as Alonzo Solace; Executive Producers: Michael Duggan, Carol Flint, Mark Levin; 45 × 22; Amblin Entertainment, Universal TV; Color.
The theme of the frontier settlement of the American West is paralleled in this one-season series about a group of colonists from a dead Earth who attempt to make a new life on a planet with hostile inhabitants.
The Earth Remembers
[Novel; SFW]