The Man with No Name: Saints and Sinners. Christos Gage(Writer), Wellington Dias (Art), Bruno Hang (Colours), Dynamite Entertainment (2009)

A very enjoyable sequel to the film, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" that follows the Clint Eastwood character, the Man with No Name. He is being actively hunted by both Union and Confederate soldiers for different reasons. While trying to evade both sides he is drawn into a siege of the Mission of San Antonio where he had spent some time recovering his health. The mission is under siege from a mixed group of Union and Confederate deserters and The Man with No Name joins the fray with explosive results. The story is very engaging, the back story is filled in effectively and naturally. The action is fast and smart, the story has momentum and pace, the cast are full of energy.
The comic has a very difficult task to complete, it has to pick up the threads from a brilliant film and use them to create a comic that can stand by itself. To a considerable degree it does so, Christos Gage does an excellent job of both linking the story to the film and moving beyond it. The main story stands squarely by itself as a solid western adventure. He sensibly does very little with the title character beyond what has already been established in the films. He uses the surrounding cast to really give the story some depth and push, none are passive observers or victims, they are all driving forward as hard as they can. This gives the story a great texture as they collide in interesting ways. The ending of the story is smart and does point to a way beyond the boundaries of the film.
The shortfall in this comic is the art, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it, it is expressive and clear, it is simply too clean. One of the most notable aspects to the films is the grimy and dusty context, it is a harsh environment and it was as much a character in the films as the human cast. The art does not capture this, it is too polished, the cast look as though their clothes were laundered. This would matter less if the story was not following on so closely from the film, in future stories it will probably matter much less.
This comic is neither insulting to fans of the film nor obscure to those not familiar with it, it is a western that understands the demands of the genre and responds to them with flair and thoughtfulness. The cover gallery featuring the series covers by Richard Isanove is stunning, they grace the story the way the epic score graced the film. Thoroughly enjoyable.

High Noon. 13 of the Best Wild West Picture Library Stories Ever. Steve Holland (Editor). Prion (2008)

An interesting and nostalgic collection of stories from a period when Westerns were part of the entertainment mainstream. The stories feature such established Western heroes as Daniel Boone and Kit Carson as well as creating their own such as the cowboy foreman, The Kansas Kid and the sheriff Buck Jones. The stories are very straightforward with crooked politicians, rustlers, overbearing soldiers stirring up the local Indian tribes and an assortment of crooks. To a large extent the stories read like episodes of the popular Western serials on television at the time they were published, like "The High Chaparral" or "The Virginian". It is notable that no writers or artists are credited in the volume.
The format of the stories, usually two large panels per page forces a uniform, rather slow, pace to the stories which takes a little getting used to. The artists take full advantage of the extra space to include considerable detail in the stories, the slower pace allows the details to be relished. There is a fair amount of variety with the art styles so there clearly was no house style for the publications.
The writing is a little clunky at times, it can repeat the action of the panel, telling and showing at the same time. It also is a bit more text heavy than contemporary comics and this also slows the pace of the comic. The stories are solid Western adventures, they do not challenge or play with the genre, they are very low on cliches also. It is a good fun collection, the stories are not memorable enough in themselves to survive with some support from nostalgia, the art fares better than the writing.

3:10 To Yuma. Columbia Pictures (1957). DVD

A classic Western, tense and gripping. Glen Ford plays an outlaw, Ben Wade, who is captured pretty much by accident by Van Heflin, playing rancher Dan Evans. A plan is hatched to move Ben Wade to a nearby town to wait for the 3:10 Yuma train to take Ben Wade to the jail in Yuma. Dan Evans takes the lead in transporting and guarding Ben Wade for the bounty on offer. The battle of wills between Ben Wade and Dan Evans as they wait in a hotel room for the train and Wade's gang arrive in town and act to free their leader is the heart of the film. The action is sparse and forceful, the tension is developed steadily as the time to the train departure draws closer. The conclusion is satisfying and truthful.

Glen Ford gives an extraordinary performance in this film, Ben Wade is highly intelligent, he is an outlaw because he wants to be, he enjoys it. From the opening scenes it is clear that he is a dangerous killer, he also commands the devotion as well as the loyalty of his men. He charms a bar girl (Felicia Farr) by actually seeing her as the woman she is rather than the job she is doing. His battle with Van Heflin is conducted with words and a deeply cruel insight into the character of his prison guard. He is fantastically dangerous and is deliberately, politely destructive.

Van Heflin gives an equally amazing performance, he has a significantly harder role to fill. He is an downtrodden everyman who takes on a job out of desperation and finds that he has a wolf by the ears. The blows that Ben Wade land on him do not break him, rather they forge him into a man who sees that what was just a job has become a duty and in deciding to do his duty Dan Evans becomes himself, a better man. This ability to make a good man watchable and interesting, to make his struggle not be sentimental nor stupidly noble, just a matter of fact acceptance of what needs to be done provides a steel core to Van Heflin's performance. It gives depth and strength to the battle with Ben Wade and gives a what is essentially a chamber piece force, tension and conviction. This film is compelling and gripping, a must see.

The Long Haul. Anthony Johnston (Writer), Eduardo Barreto (Artist). Oni Press (2005)

Clever and entertaining Western heist story. The story takes the classic format of the heist film, the introduction of the main protagonist, the idea, the gathering of the rest of the gang and the main event itself and skillfully crafts a first rate Western from them. One of the really nice things about this book is that the Western element is more than stage dressing, it is integral to the plot.

The plot itself is a thing of beauty, the story unrolls at a very nice pace and clever thinking is prized above brute force which gives a additional layer of tension to the book. The problem is very neatly summarised by one of the cast , " So all we have to do is break into an unbreakable car, open an unopenable safe, avoid fourteen Pinkerton's, then hightail it out of there within fifteen minutes?" The mechanics of how this train robbery is intended to go is one of the highlights of the book. The action is clear and thoughtful, the coils of the plot are very tightly wound.

The plot is only one of the pleasures of this book, Anthony Johnston bring a cast to life with dexterity and brevity. The cast are steadily introduced in a series of chapters that fills in the who as well as the what they are. Each of the major players is given the space to establish themselves firmly and this means that the book is more that just a clever plot, it has a weight as a drama as well.

The art by Eduardo Barreto is superb, the detail in the panels acts to anchor the action firmly in the era and the very large cast, both principals and the supporting players are clearly drawn as individuals, the book is teeming with life and energy. The art ensure that the cast can be read in more than dialogue, the story moves in silence just as effectively with the players eloquent body language ensuring that noting is left unsaid. A smart western, and a cause for celebration.