Marvel Westerns: Strange Westerns Starring The Black Rider #1

Written by Steve Englehart, Joe R. Lansdale and Stan Lee

Art by Marshall Rogers, Rafa Garres, Jack Kirby and Al Vey

 

Marvel's recent spate of Western one-shots have had some obscenely long titles of late, as the company tries to re-use the classic Western comic titles while still squeezing in the event name and the name of the starring character. But in last week's offering, it's a good thing they did, as the word "Strange" is pretty important to the title.

 

You really can't get too much stranger than a horse with a secret identity.

 

The lead feature is a 26-page original story by the classic Detective Comics team of Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers featuring the Black Rider, a tough hombre clad from hat to boot toe in black, thundering through the west on his lightning-quick horse Satan.

 

By day, the Rider goes by the name of Dr. Morris Masters, a bespectacled, mild-mannered milquetoast in the Clark Kent mold. Satan, likewise, plays the broken down nag (there's a scene which shows Masters training his horse to act slow and lame) and answers to the name Ichabod.

 

Harboring a secret identity is nothing special. In fact, most every superhero does it. But having a pet that also has a secret identity? Now that's pretty hardcore.

 

The story, entitled "Black Homecoming," has Masters returning to New York City to meet with his relatives, who have an unfortunate connection to a Chinese slave trade. The Rider puts the kibosh on it, with the help of an unlikely ally from the superhero side of the Marvel Universe, one with a close connection to Englehart, which is the other reason the word "strange" in the title is so appropriate (No, it's not Dr. Strange, but you're close).

 

That's followed by a tightly written, eight-page back up by Joe R. Lansdale with highly expressive, edgy art by Rafa Garres. Entitled "The Midnight Gun," it's about a wannabe gunfighter who does a deal with a devil to become the fastest draw and blast Gunhawk off his roost. Would you believe the devil doesn't play fair with the kid?

 

Rounding out the book is a couple of Rawhide Kid reprints from the pencils of Jack Kirby. It might have been nice to see them reprinted in black and white, as the coloring is blindingly bright, but they still make for a nice light dessert to the main course. In "The Bat Strikes," the Kid visits a new town where everyone treats him with prejudiced disdain (because they think he's an outlaw, not because of, well, you know). In "The Bullet Proof Man," he takes out a gunfighter using his fists because he can't be shot.

 

Like Marvel's Giant-Size and Spider-Man Family specials, the Western books have been must-buys for the value minded Marvel reader, and this issue is no exception.

 

Rating - 8