Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns

by Paul Green

  The Sign of the Wolf

  (1931) [Film serial; WW]

  Premiere: May 1, 1931; Main Cast: Rex Lease as Tom, Virginia Brown Faire as Ruth Farnum, Harry Todd as John Farnum, Jack Mower as Butch Kohler, Al Ferguson as Winslow, Josephine Hill as Pearl, Edmund Cobb as Prince Kuva; Producers: Harry Webb, Flora E. Douglas; Story: Carl Krusada, Elizabeth Burbridge; Directors: Harry Webb, Forrest Sheldon; 10 chapters, 194 min.; Metropolitan Pictures Corp.; B/W.

  An explorer in India discovers radioactive chains that transform sand into jewels. On his return to the American West, he and his daughter become the target of criminals and a religious sect that considers the chains as sacred.

  Contemporary Western featuring Indian fakirs, automobiles and cowboys on horses.

  Chapter Titles: 1. Drums of Doom; 2. The Dog of Destiny; 3. The Wolf's Fangs; 4. The Fatal Shot; 5. The Well of Terror; 6. The Wolf Dogs; 7. Trapped; 8. The Secret Mark; 9. Tongues of Flame; 10. The Lost Secret

  Silent Tongue

  (1994) [Film; WW]

  Premiere: February 25, 1994; Main Cast: Richard Harris as Prescott Roe, Alan Bates as Dr. Eamon McCree, Dermot Mulroney as Reeves McCree, River Phoenix as Talbot Roe, Sheila Tousey as Awbonnie, Jeri Arredondo as Velada McCree; Producers: Ludi Boeken, Carolyn Pfeifer; Story-Director: Sam Shepard; 102 min.; Belbo Films; Color.

  When Talbot Roe's half-breed wife Awbonnie dies in childbirth, he refuses to leave her corpse. Awbonnie appears to Roe as a ghost urging him to release her spirit by destroying her dead body but in his grief he ignores her plea.

  Silver Deer

  [Comic book character; WW]

  First appearance: Fury of Firestorm #27 (September 1984); Story: Gerry Conway; Art: Rafael Kayanan, Rodin Rodriguez; Publisher: DC Comics.

  Native American shaman Silver Deer and Black Bison entrance Firehawk's father, Senator Walter Reilly, to return the land to her people. But Firestorm and Firehawk have plans to thwart them.

  Silverload

  [Video game; WW]

  Release date: 1995; Third-person perspective (POV); Developer: Millennium Interactive Ltd.; Publisher: Psygnosis Limited.

  Silverload, once a booming mining town, has become a storm-ridden ghost town. Some claim the town is cursed because the mine was built on sacred Indian tribal land. Local children are going missing in the town and a bounty hunter has been hired to track them down. If he succeeds, the secret of Silverload will be revealed.

  The Simpsons

  (1989) [Animated TV series]

  “TREEHOUSE OF HORROR XIII”—“THE FRIGHT TO CREEP AND SCARE HARMS” (14:01) [WW]

  Air date: November 3, 2002; Creator: Matt Groening; Executive Producers: James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Sam Simon; Story: Brian Kelley; Director: David Silverman; 30 min.; 20th Century-Fox Television, Gracie Films; Color.

  In the second Halloween episode, a visit to the cemetery prompts Lisa Simpson to start a campaign to ban guns in Springfield. But a gun-free Springfield encourages Billy the Kid and his zombie Hole-in-the-Ground gang to rise from their graves and create havoc with their gunslinging ways.

  Sinbuck

  [Comic book; WW]

  First publication: 2005; Story: David Barbour, Joe Vigil; Art: Tim Vigil, Joe Vigil; Publisher: Broken Halos.

  Sequel to Gunfighters in Hell featuring Anna Sinbuck as the only surviving member of The Maleficent Seven. After discovering that the damned souls of her former partners are now imprisoned in the Cartagra Soul Cage, she decides to find the key to release them.

  Sioux Me

  (1939) [Animated theatrical short; WW]

  Premiere: September 9, 1939; Story: Melvin Millar; Animation: Herman Cohen; Supervision: Ben Hardaway, Cal Dalton; 7 min.; Leon Schlesinger Studios; Color.

  An Indian chief asks a rain dancer to help end a drought. Meanwhile the chief's son buys weather pills which results in chaos.

  Merrie Melodies short adapted from Porky the Rain Maker (1936) where the story centered around a farm.

  The Sioux Spaceman

  [Novel; SW]

  Author: Andre Norton; First publication: New York: Ace Books, 1960.

  Kade Whitehawk, Amerindian of the Northwest Terran Confederation, is sent to a planetary trading post on Klor where the native Ikkinni are enslaved with collars that can kill. Whitehawk is touched by the plight of the Ikinni and has a plan to win their freedom from the tyrant Styor race.

  Six-Gun Gorilla

  [Pulp fiction character; UK; WW]

  First appearance: The Wizard (1930s); UK; Publisher: D.C. Thomson.

  A gorilla named O'Neil is brought from Africa to Old West USA as a baby and sold to a kindly prospector named Johnson. Johnson teaches the gorilla to dig for gold, haul wood and water and to shoot a gun. When Johnson is killed for failing to reveal the location of a huge vein of gold, O'Neil goes after the villains. The gorilla tracks the killers across Colorado, killing them one at a time with his six-shooters.

  In addition to their strip titles, D.C. Thomson published boy's papers featuring illustrated text stories. Adventure, Wizard and Rover were later joined by Skipper and Hotspur in the 1930s to comprise the “Big Five.”

  Six-Gun Gorilla in The Wizard #850 (March 18, 1939). The Wizard © D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd., Dundee, Scotland.

  Six Gun Samurai

  [Comic book; WW]

  First publication: July 2005; Story: Sean J. Jordan, Mike S. Miller; Art: Harold Edge, Sean J. Jordan; Six-part mini-series; Publisher: Alias Enterprises, LLC.

  The disfigured Six-Gun Samurai and his mentor Tetsuya travel across the Old West to find the teenager's only living relative, his father. On their journey they meet Annabelle Rose, who is hunting for the Japanese gang who murdered her parents and left her for dead.

  Six Guns & Sorcery

  [RPG book; WW]

  First publication: 1996; Senior Editor: Mark Schumann; Setting: Castle Falkenstein; Publisher: R. Talsorian Games Inc.

  Tom Olam returns to America in 1876 and on the Great Plains finds four colossal men with narrow glowing eyes slaughtering the inhabitants of an Indian village. This is an alternate history America where the Great Plains is home to the Indian Twenty Nations Confederation, Sam Houston is in his seventh term as president of the Republic of Texas and the United States is run in secret by the Freemasons.

  The sourcebook for the world of Castle Falkenstein.

  Six Reasons Why

  (2008) [Film; Canada; SFW]

  Premiere: July 15, 2008; Main Cast: Dan Wooster as The Nomad, Colm Feore as The Preacher, Mads Koudal as The Sherpa, Jeff Campagna as The Criminal, Matthew Campagna as Milton Joyce; Executive Producers-Story-Directors: Jeff & Matthew Campagna; 88 min.; Campagna Brothers Independent Productions, Interflix; Color.

  A nomad, a criminal, an entrepreneur and his family servant wander the Badlands fighting for their territory in a future that has reverted to an Old West–style society.

  Skeleton Dancer

  [Novel; WW]

  Author: Alan R. Erwin; First publication: New York: Dell, 1989.

  Vampire Apache Indians haunt a West Texas cave.

  Skeleton Hand in Secrets of the Supernatural

  [Comic book]

  This short-lived supernatural and horror anthology title was one of American Comic Group's less successful efforts with a short run of only six issues.

  “BLACK DUST” [WW]

  First publication: #4 (March-April 1953); Editor: Richard E. Hughes; Art: S. Cooper; Publisher: American Comics Group (ACG).

  A cowboy and cowgirl are attacked by dust that has formed into an evil black dust creature.

  Skeleton Man

  (2004) [Telefilm; WW]

  Premiere: March 1, 2004; Main Cast: Casper Van Dien as Staff Sgt. Oberron, Michael Rooker as Captain Leary, Sarah Ann Schultz as Lt. Scott, Jackie Debatin as Sgt. Cordero; Story: Frederick Bailey; Director: Johnny Martin; 89 min.; Nu Image Films; Color.

  A Native American Indian from the past stalks a group of Special Forces agents.

&nbs
p; Skinners

  [RPG book; WW]

  Author: Lester Smith; First publication: 1999; Setting: Deadlands: The Weird West; Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

  A haunted Mississippi riverboat provides the setting for a tale featuring Ronan Lynch and a group of flesh skinners.

  Sliders

  (1995) [TV series]

  A group of companions travel through a portal to parallel universes with alternate realities and slide between worlds in an attempt to return home.

  Main Cast: Cleavant Derricks as Rembrandt “Crying Man” Brown, Jerry O'Connell as Quinn Mallory, Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles, John Rhys-Davies as Prof. Maximilian Arturo, Kari Wuhrer as Capt. Maggie Beckett; 88 × 60 min.; St. Clare Entertainment, Universal TV, Studios USA Television; Color.

  “THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEALTHY” (2:04) [SFW]

  Air date: March 22, 1996; Guest Stars: Jamie Denton as Jack Bullock; Story: Scott Miller; Director: Oscar L. Costo.

  The Sliders emerge in a world of gunslingers, poker games and gunfights in a modern corporate society.

  “WAY OUT WEST” (4:18) [SFW]

  Airdate: March 26, 1999; Guest Stars: Reiner Schone as Kolitar; Marshall R. Teague as Sheriff Redfield; Story: Jerry O'Connell; Director: David Peckinpah.

  Framed for murder by gunslinger “Mr. K” (Schone), Quinn and Rembrandt face the hangman's noose in an Old West–style Earth.

  Smith & Robards

  [RPG book; WW]

  Author: John Hopler; First publication: 1997; Setting: Deadlands: The Weird West; Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

  Book of mad science gear and technology. Includes the adventure “The Crucible.”

  Smoking Guns

  (1934) [Film; WMW]

  Premiere: June 11, 1934; Main Cast: Ken Maynard as Ken Masters, Gloria Shea as Alice Adams, Walter Miller as Dick Evans, Harold Goodwin as Hank Stone, Bob Kortman as Biff; Producer: Ken Maynard; Story: Nate Gatzert, Ken Maynard; Director: Alan James; 62 min.; Ken Maynard Productions Inc., Universal Pictures; B/W.

  Ken Masters escapes to the swamplands of Louisiana. Framed for murder, this unintentionally funny Western, which concludes in a haunted house, marked the end of Maynard's career at Universal.

  Solar Boy Django

  [Manga; Japan; WW]

  First appearance: September 2003; Story: Makoto Hijoka; Publisher: Shogakukan.

  Strip in CoroCoro Comic; Based on the Boktai game produced by Kojima Hideo.

  Django's search for his brother Sabata takes him to the Dark Castle where he defeats the vampire “The Count” and comes to believe that vampire Luna holds the clue to the fate of Sabata.

  Although this manga belongs to the vampire horror genre, the main characters are named after spaghetti Western gunslingers, thus giving this a Weird Western twist.

  Something About a Sword

  [RPG book; WW]

  Authors: Walter Hunt, Evan Jamieson, Richard Meyer; Setting: Deadlands: Hell on Earth the Wasted West; First publication: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

  The Posse must find the sword of a missing Templar in the ruins of western Wyoming.

  But to reach the sword they must survive attacks from mutants, rad-priests and hippies.

  “Song in a Minor Key”

  [Pulp fiction; SW]

  Author: C. L. Moore; First publication: Scienti-Snaps (February 1940).

  Northwest Smith reminisces about his lost youth on Earth and comes to the realization that his present exiled outlaw state was always his destiny.

  South o' the Border

  [RPG book; WW]

  Author: Steven Long; First publication: 1999; Setting: Deadlands: The Weird West; Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

  Location book for Mexico.

  Space Hawk: The Greatest of Interplanetary Adventures

  [Pulp fiction collection; SW]

  Author: Anthony Gilmore [Harry Bates]; Illustrations: Nettie Weber; First book publication: New York: Greenberg, 1952.

  First collection of three Hawk Carse stories in one volume: Hawk Carse (1931), The Bluff of the Hawk (1932), The Return of the Hawk (1942).

  Space Rage

  (1985) [Film; SW]

  Main Cast: Richard Farnsworth as Colonel, Lee Purcell as Maggie, John Laughlin as Walker, Michael Paré as Grange; Executive Producer: Peter McCarthy; Story: Morton Reed, Jim Lenahan; Director: Conrad E. Palmisano; 77 min.; Garwood Films; Vestron Entertainment; Color.

  Space Western set on the Botany Bay penal colony on the mining planet Proxima Centauri in the 22nd century. A former cop (Farnsworth) attempts to maintain law and order when a dangerous prisoner (Paré) arranges a mass breakout.

  Space Vulture

  [Novel; SW]

  Authors: Gary K. Wolf, John L. Myers; First publication: New York: Tor, 2008.

  On the planet Verlinap, galactic marshal Captain Victor Corsaire and colony administrator Cali Russell are captured by Space Vulture for auctioning to criminals with the highest bids.

  An effort to recapture the spirit of the science fiction pulps and an homage to Space Hawk by Roger Rabbit creator Gary K. Wolf and Roman Catholic archbishop John L. Myers.

  Space Western Comics

  [Comic book; SW]

  First issue: October 1952; Publisher: Charlton-Capitol Stories.

  The adventures of Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes as they tackle alien invaders attempting to conquer Earth and the universe.

  This title began life as Yellowjacket Comics in September 1944, followed by a change in title to Jack in the Box in October 1946. Under the editorship of Charlton Comics founders John Santangelo and Edward Levy, the title became Cowboy Western Comics in 1948 only to switch direction and become Space Western Comics in October 1952 starting at issue #40. The Shadow creator Walter B. Gibson provided scripts for the first issue under the new title. Six issues later, with declining sales, it returned to its original title and format and survived another eleven issues before its final incarnation as Wild Bill Hickok & Jingles in March 1958.

  The title was an interesting attempt at crossing the Western, military and science fiction genres and included a bizarre two-issue story involving Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes pursuing Adolf Hitler and his fellow Nazis to Mars and beyond.

  Space Western stories of interest included:

  “THE SAUCER MEN” #40 (OCTOBER 1952); STORY: WALTER GIBSON, ART: JOHN BELFI.

  When Spurs Jackson is invited to visit Mars by Martian prime minister Korok, he becomes a pawn in the overthrow of Queen Thula.

  “THE GREEN MEN OF VENUS” #41 (DECEMBER 1952); ART: STAN CAMPBELL.

  Vodor and his fellow Venusians threaten the Earth disguised as cactii thanks to their resemblance to the plant.

  “SPURS JACKSON AND HIS SPACE VIGILANTES MEET THE SUN MASTERS” #42 (FEBRUARY 1953); ART: STAN CAMPBELL.

  The Sun is the target of the Sun Masters who want to drain it of energy.

  “TRIP TO MERCURY” #43 (APRIL 1953)

  Strong Bow discovers that the ancient Aztecs fled the Spaniards in a rocket ship to Mercury and decides to follow.

  “THE BATTLE OF SPACEMEN'S GULCH FEATURING HANK ROPER” #43 (APRIL 1953)

  When the U.S. Army attempts to repel the Artopod invaders from Neptune, they are met with light beams that cause their tanks and planes to disappear. The members of the science fiction club “Dehyrates” save the day when they spray the insect Artopods with insecticide and kill them. Spurs Jackson completes the job by blasting their spaceship.

  “MADMAN OF MARS” (PART ONE) “TOMORROW THE UNIVERSE” (PART TWO), #44-45 (JUNE-AUGUST 1953)

  When hydrogen bombs from Mars hit Paris, Moscow, Honolulu, New York City and London, General Carpenter calls Spurs Jackson and his Vigilantes to Washington D. C. where they are assigned to go to Mars to track the source of the bombs.

  To their amazement Spurs, Strong Bow and Hank Roper come under attack from German Nazis when they arrive on the surface of Mars. They learn that Hitler and nine of his men
escaped to Mars at the end of World War II. Hoping to capture Hitler, Spurs is told he escaped in a rocket soon after his arrival. Jackson and the Space Vigilantes track Hitler to an asteroid where one of Hitler's own men turns against Hitler and kills him.

  “STRONG BOW MEETS THE STONE MEN FROM SPACE”

  First publication: #44 (June 1953); Art: John Belfi.

  When Queen Thula of Mars visits Strong Bow and his Indian tribe in the Rainbow Desert, Arizona, the stone men of the planet Canis stir from 10,000 years of rest with the intention of taking over the Earth. Spurs Jackson comes to the rescue by dropping an atomic bomb on the rampaging Stone Men.

  “SPURS JACKSON AND HIS VIGILANTES MEET THE MENACE OF COMET X” #44 (JUNE 1953); ART: JOHN BELFI.

  With a comet on a collision course with Earth Spurs, Jackson, prime minister in the cabinetof Queen Thula, is asked if he can help. Spursencounters old foes Vodor from Venus and Martian exile Korok who are controlling the comet and manages to save the Earth from destruction.

  Interior of Space Western Comics #43 (April 1953), “The Battle of Spaceman's Gulch featuring Hank Roper.”