Western Comics Focus: Timothy Truman

This month we turn our spotlight on writer/artist Timothy Truman, whose name has popped up more than once on this blog the last few months (he has worked often with Joe R. Lansdale and John Ostrander, both of whom we have also recently interviewed.)

Truman burst onto the comics scene in the early 1980s, when he and Ostrander co-created GRIMJACK for First Comics -a very influential title, which ushered in the "grim and gritty" movement that would dominate comics for the next decade. He has since worked on various comics, from TARZAN and CONAN to STAR WARS, as well as revamping the DC superhero Hawkman in HAWKWORLD. He has also created artwork for album covers and posters, doing several pieces for the Grateful Dead.

He has also been prolific in creating western and western-related comics, approaching the genre from several different angles. With Lansdale he produced several Jonah Hex "weird western" miniseries in the '90s, as well as a Lone Ranger miniseries. With Ostrander he created THE KENTS, a long miniseries following the western adventures of Superman/Clark Kent's adopted father's ancestors.

His 1985 series SCOUT was a dystopian, futuristic sci fi comic whose hero was an Apache. His two-part graphic novel about Revolutionary Era renegade Simon Girty won much critical acclaim; he also did a graphic novel adaptation of Allen Eckert's outdoor play TECUMSEH!

More recently, with his son Benjamin Truman, he has introduced HAWKEN- an aging Wild West hired killer who is haunted by the ghosts of everyone he has killed. Literally.

Timothy Truman has agreed to answer some questions for us today.

1. Simon Girty: Renegade was a very powerful work, and an unusual subject choice. What can you tell us about it, and why you chose Girty?

 

TIMOTHY TRUMAN: Growing up in West Virginia, along the Kanawha River and Ohio River country, Simon Girty was a historical figure that we used to read about in our state history classes. he was always described as a deplorable traitor, cutthroat, and lawless renegade. However, in the 1990's I started reading a lot of historical fiction and happened upon a book called the Frontiersman by the late, great Allan W. Eckert. Girty figures into the story as a secondary characater-- a friend of the great Ohio Valley scout, Simon Kenton. Allan's painted Girty as far more sympathetic and likeable person than the version of him I'd grown up hearing about. I became fascinated with Girty and decided to research his story. The more research I did, the more I saw how unfairly he'd been treated by American history. So I became determined to tell a more truthful history about the man. As a result of the work I did, many other people began reexamining his reputation and his place in history.  His relatives in Canada and the U.S.A. even made me an honorary "cousin." So I'm very proud of the Wilderness graphic novels, to say the least. 

2. How did you come to adapt the outdoor play Tecumseh! as a graphic novel?

 

TT: Through the relationship that I established with Allan W. Eckert, mainly. I got to know Allan through my Wilderness work. He was very kind in suggesting some reference materials I might want to check out. We became friends. Allan was the writer of the Tecumseh! outdoor drama in Chilicothe, Ohio. Anyway, we thought that doing a graphic story adaptation would be a really cool thing to do. The promoters of the play were all for it. We made a deal with Cat Yronwode and Dean Mullaney at Eclipse Comics, and the graphic novel happened. As a result of the graphic novel and the research on frontier and Eastern American attire that I had to do for it, I was asked to redesign a lot of the costuming for the drama a few years after the graphic novel was published.  All in all it was a really rewarding experience. I just wish I could go back and redraw all that stuff! I'm such a better artist these days! My style has changed a lot.

3. Native American Indians figure prominently in your work, as do frontiers -even in some of your science fiction. Do you have a particular attraction to those themes, or did it just work out that way?

 

TT: I'd always been interested in Native American history and culture, even as a kid. I suppose it sprang out of stories I'd heard growing up about my great grandmother, Belle Truman, who was a Cherokee full blood who was raised in Kentucky. I've since learned that the stories were true. Anyway, the older I got, the more interested I became in Native culture, especially the Southwestern and Ohio Valley people.

4. You've been credited with helping launch the "grim and gritty" trend in comics in the early 80s. Why do you think so many other writers and artists followed your lead in this regard?

TT: I think it was a genre whose time had come. Remember that I was there in the beginning of the 1980's "independent" comics scene. The Indy movement was itself largely inspired by the '60's Underground and '70's-'80's European comics movements-- a fact that is unfortunately overlooked in most histories and documentaries about American comics. When we started doing creator owned stories and characters with the independent publishers, we gravitated towards creating material that was akin to the stuff people were doing in "respectable"  mediums such as novels and film. Still, for the material to be successful, it had to retain the action and more colorful, fantastical elements of comics, at least early-on. So it was a marriage of mediums, of sorts. Guys like me who enjoyed action films, science fiction and the like in the films and fiction we liked started doing our "movies on paper".  We proved it was possible and viable to own or co-own our own characters and get a fair share of royalties for the books and any merchandising or film that resulted from them. A few years later other folks got interested and started doing the same thing. Major publishers like DC and Marvel had to start offering creators better contracts. And "mainstream" folks like Frank Miller and the Image guys started jumping ship and getting better deals for the work they were doing.  

5. Your series Scout blended westerns with post-apocalyptic sci fi, and Hawken and Jonah Hex blended western with horror. Why do you think the western genre can be stretched into such diverse shapes, and yet still feel "western"?

TT: It's a question of environment and atmosphere,  I guess. Westerns speak to all of us. It involves certain character types and arch-types that are exciting to explore, whether you're a creator or a reader. There's an old adage that westerns are the American mythology, and I think that's true to a great extent. Myths are a reflection of history and culture. Westerns tell us a lot about America and Americans and are fertile ground for seeding stories of all types. In many ways, just giving a story a Western flavor or ambiance does about a quarter of the work for a writer or artist. It kind of "places" what it is you want to do. Of course, the most interesting stories take the tropes and expectations of the Western genre and play with them-- turn them on their heads, open them up, re-examine them. So mixing Westerns with other genres is probably an offshoot of that impulse. That was certainly the case with Scout, Hex and Hawken. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I and the people I've worked with have been pretty lucky in that regard, I suppose.

6. We've recently interviewed John Ostrander and Joe R. Lansdale, both of whom you have worked closely with. Can you tell us about your professional relationships with them?

TT: They are like brothers to me. We're very, very close. John, Joe and my son Ben are my writers of choice if I'm not going to write a story myself. We operate on the same wavelength in many reagrds, yet we're also very different from each other. We each can bring new colors to the final mix. As far as John and Joe go, they're both very different from each other. We get into these gabfest story conferences to figure things out. Ideas fly like mad-- hot and heavy. Then we do our work and bring our differences into play. Since there's a lot of mutual admiration and respect there, we each trust what the other is going to do. The funniest thing about working with Joe and John is the fact that I handle their stories quite differently. For one thing, John and I work "Marvel" method-- plot first, then art, then John scripts what I've drawn. We've tried it a few times full script, but have found that the so-called Marvel method is the way we work best. It makes for a better mix. With Joe and me, it's the opposite. Full script all the way-- mainly because that's the way that Joe insists on working. Also, Joe is a really wild writer. Given the material I've done over the years, you might be surprised to know that I'm a tad more mild-mannered in the kinds of material I like and the types of things I like to portray. So I usually end up turning things down a notch for Joe, just to stay comfortable with my own sensibilities. With John, it's the opposite: John is more mild-mannered than me. So as a result I find myself turning up the wildness and violence factor about 20% in the stories we do. As far as Ben goes, we're pretty much on the same wavelength. The only difference is that I prefer to do characters who have some sort of nobility or redemptive qualities about them-- damaged angels, if you will. So we've learned to meet in the middle in that regard.  

7. Of all the western characters you've worked with, have you had a favorite?

TT: Kit Hawken, without a doubt. So far he's my favorite character I've ever drawn. He's the only character whom I've drawn six entire issues of and still wanted to go on and do more, more, more. I've loved them all, but Hawken is the best, and I'd love to continue his adventures someday. There's so much more to tell! Ben and I are putting together a new Scout project though, Scout: Marauder, and it seems like it will have just as much energy to it.

If you could choose one fictional or historical character you haven't done that you'd like to do, who would it be?

TT: Fictional? Hard to say. I'd really like to do a real crime drama one of these days-- some sort of hard-boiled thing. It might be via prose: A few years back I started writing a detective novel set in West Virginia in the 1920's-- constructing my own genre of "Appalachian Noir", as I call it...  and I'd like to get back to that. But it would be great to draw some crime stuff, too. I got a big taste of it when I was drawing plates for the box set by late Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher which just came out this month, Kickback City, where I got to do pulp crime style illustrations for a short story written by best-selling author Ian Rankin.  As far as historical charcaters go, I've always wanted to do the story of turn-of-the-century labor activist Mother Jones. She is a fascinating woman-- a real hell-raiser, way ahead of her time. I love her so much. That woulod probably be better done as a screenplay than a comic, though. Anyway, it's a dream project I'd love to be able to take some time off and get into. 

8. Not a western question- but I never thought an artist could approach John Buscema as the definitive Conan artist, and in my mind you have done so. You have said that the (very western-like) Robert E. Howard Conan story "Beyond the Black River" sums up the theme of the character: that "the powers of civilization will always end up praying for a man with a sword." Do you think this helps explain the enduring (though vacillating) popularity of the western, as well?

TT: To a degree, sure. Sounds good, for certain types of Westerns. Call it the High Noon syndrome, I suppose? Of course, there are some great tales that explore what happens when you pray for that guy and he finally comes: I'm thinking of The Unforgiven here, and a few others. Just goes to prove what I was talking abuot earlier: take the genre, turn it's conventions inside out, and fish through the guts awhile with your bare hands. You'll find a story that's worth writing about or drawing. 

9. Do you have any recent or upcoming projects you'd like to make us aware of?

TT: The two that I mentioned above: The Rory Gallagher box set that just came out. That was a really cool project to be involved with, since I'm such a Rory Gallagher fan, and also because of the fact that there's never, ever been anything like it ever done.; And the Scout: Marauder project that one of my publishers has asked Ben and me to work up a pitch for. That's really exciting. I've wanted to return to the Scout saga for a long time, and people are always asking me when I'm going to get back to it. So it seems the time has come. Stay tuned!

Visit Timothy Truman's website and order some of these great books! www.timothytruman.com

Many thanks to Tim for visiting us today!

-Troy D. Smith

Western Comics Focus: JONAH HEX

Troy D. Smith

A couple of years ago, Western Fictioneers invited a panel of experts to cast their votes for THE TOP TEN WESTERN COMICS . 

I plan to occasionally use this column (the last Tuesday of every month!) to put a spotlight on the characters they chose. I'm going to start at the top, with the overwhelming choice for #1...

Jonah Hex first appeared in the pages of ALL-STAR WESTERN #10, DC Comics, in 1972. Created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga, Jonah was very much a child of the 1970s: far from the heroic western heroes of previous decades, audiences were treated to the adventures of a cynical, anti-heroic bounty hunter, who owed far more to Sergio Leone and The Man with No Name than to Gene Autry or Roy Rogers. His moral ambiguity was visibly demonstrated by his face, horribly scarred by a red-hot tomahawk while being tortured by Apaches.

With issue #12, the comic's name was changed to WEIRD WESTERN TALES... and boy, could it get weird. Jonah Hex stories tended to be a lot darker than other mainstream western heroes (except maybe the original Ghost Rider.) Eventually, in 1977, Jonah got his own title (Scalphunter took over the starring role at WEIRD WESTERN TALES), which was scripted by Michael Fleischer, with most issues drawn by Jonah's co-creator Tony DeZuniga. Jonah's own book ran for almost a hundred issues; when it was finally canceled in 1985, Jonah had long been the last remaining regularly appearing western hero. (In a bizarre move, Jonah was catapulted forward centuries into a post-apocolyptic, Mad Max-like future in a series called simply HEX, best forgotten.)

But you can't keep a bad man down. Jonah appeared in three very successful miniseries in the 1990s, all written by Joe R. Lansdale and drawn by Timothy Truman. The stories were even weirder than they had been in the 70s, as Jonah faced down zombies and giant worms in addition to the regular outlaws and Indians.

There is a lot to like about Lansdale's Jonah Hex when compared to Michael Fleischer's version. One thing I liked was that Lansdale portrayed Jonah as a proud Rebel from East Texas, whereas Fleischer had written a backstory (Jonah's co-creator John Albano had simply never delved into the bounty hunter's past) in which Jonah, sold into slavery with the Apaches by his drunken father, grows up and joins the Confederate Army- and is shocked (shocked!) when he realizes the South supports slavery, whereupon he deserts... but continues to wear his Confederate uniform as a reminder of how terribly wrong he had been. Which is a patently ridiculous example of presentism and 20th century mores being imprinted on characters from the past (I think Mel Gibson's THE PATRIOT is ridiculous for the same reason... and admire the AMC TV series HELL ON WHEELS for addressing its hero's Confederate background and racial attitudes more honestly.)

In 2006, Jonah once more got his own ongoing series. JONAH HEX (vol.2) ran until 2011, written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and drawn by several different artists, to much critical acclaim. In another case of DC taking Jonah out of his element for no apparent reason, the book was canceled and Jonah joined the cast of a new iteration of ALL-STAR WESTERN -which takes place in Gotham City (?) and has Jonah teamed up with the founder of Arkham Asylum (you know, that place were they lock up Batman's enemies between rampages.)

But perhaps that was an appropriate move; if I were Jonah, I think I'd rather be in Arkham Asylum than in the JONAH HEX movie that came out in 2010. Josh Brolin nailed the role, and looked the part, but that was the only good thing about the (very disjointed) film. They did use Jonah's arch-enemy, Quintin Turnbull (John Malkovich), but "misused" might be a better term. Also, again for no apparent reason, they decided to give Jonah weird superpowers that involved resurrecting the dead (power gained, naturally, from an Indian shaman), rather than just being content with the only superpower the comic book character needs: being the baddest man in the West.

To give you a feel for the character, I am going to quote the wikipedia plot synopses of the stories in FACE FULL OF VIOLENCE, a graphic novel that reprints the first six issues of the 2006 JONAH HEX series:  [DANGER! SPOILER ALERT!]

"When a rich family hired him to track down their kidnapped son, he found the boy had become part of an underground dog-fighting ring and was forced to put him down when he contracted rabies. In a conflict involving a stolen gold crucifix, he burned an entire mining town to the ground. Bat Lash helped him take revenge against a corrupt sheriff who framed him. The Mayor of a small town tried to execute him to cover up the incestuous rape of his mute daughter, but the townspeople lynched the politician instead. On Christmas he got into a gunfight, killing a dozen men to protect one of his bounties from their revenge attempts. In the small town of Salvation, he met a local gang who posed as nuns and tried to murder him before he could reveal their secret.^"

  

Now THAT'S Jonah Hex.

Here are some Jonah Hex graphic novels, available at amazon and B & N -this is only a partial list:

Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex, vol. 1  (this one reprints the original WEIRD WESTERN TALES stories)

Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex, Vol. 2 (reprints the last several Jonah Hex stories in WWT, and the first 22 issues of the 1977 JONAH HEX series.)

Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo

Jonah Hex: Face Full of Violence

Jonah Hex: Guns of Vengeance

Jonah Hex: Tall Tales

Jonah Hex: No Way Back

Western Comics Focus: John Ostrander

Presented by Troy D. Smith

Welcome to the Western Fictioneers blogsite! If you're joining us for the first time, Western Fictioneers is a professional writers' organization that focuses on promoting and preserving the traditional western genre in its many forms.

A couple of years ago, we enlisted a panel of experts to compile a list of the all-time Greatest Western Comics ...it wound up being the most popular blog post we've ever had. So now that we're expanding the site's content, I have decided to use one of my segments to focus the spotlight on western comics. Our first installment will feature John Ostrander -Jeff Mariotte has agreed to come join us next month.

JOHN OSTRANDER came into prominence in the comics world in the early 1980s. In 1983 he introduced GRIMJACK, along with artist Timothy Truman, at First Comics. He has written several titles for DC Comics, including memorable runs on SUICIDE SQUAD, MARTIAN MANHUNTER, FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN, and THE SPECTRE. For the last several years he has worked on Dark Horse Comics' STAR WARS titles. I became an Ostrander fan during his run on Marvel's HEROES FOR HIRE in the 1990s.

Grimjack Omnibus at amazon

Ostrander has also worked on several western titles. In 1997-1998 he wrote a 12-issue miniseries for DC called THE KENTS, with art by Timonthy Truman/Michael Bair on issues 1-8, and Tom Mandrake in issues 9-12. The story focused on the Kent family of Kansas -ancestors of the Ma and Pa Kent who would one day adopt Superman, or Clark Kent. The Kent brothers Nathaniel and Jebediah navigate through the major events of 19th century Kansas, widing up on opposite sides of the Civil War and later the law. Along the way they cross paths with practically the entire stable of DC's classic western characters.

THE KENTS

In 2000 he wrote a four issue miniseries for Marvel called BLAZE OF  GLORY: THE LAST RIDE OF THE WESTERN HEROES (art by Leonardo Manco.) The story brings together the whole pantheon of Marvel western heroes, culminating in a confrontation that leaves only a few standing (you'll have to buy the trade paperback to find out which ones.)

BLAZE OF GLORY

Ostrander and Manco followed that one up with APACHE SKIES, featuring the Rawhide Kid.

APACHE SKIES

John Ostrander was gracious enough to join us today and answer a few questions...

1.   Do you have a favorite western comics character? Is there one you haven't written for that you'd like to?

A: I’ve written most of the ones I’d like to write. One of my faves was Caleb Hammer. I always liked the look of GHOST RIDER. I think I would have liked a stab at BAT LASH over at DC. There was a feel of TV’s MAVERICK to it and I liked it a lot.

2.   2.   There is a lot of historical detail in your work, especially THE KENTS. How do you approach historical research, and  the role of history in your writing?

A: Some of my westerns, like THE KENTS, are more historical westerns and the ones at Marvel are more what I call “movie westerns”. But there’s some history in all of them, In APACHE SKIES there’s a chase on a railway at the end. I looked at actual routes until I found one that worked for what I was planning. Of course, THE KENTS involved TONS of research. I checked chronologies, histories, first person narratives. It was a fascinating era and I really enjoyed both the work and the result. Always wanted to do a sequel.

3. You've included many (most, even) of the western characters from both Marvel and DC in your stories. Do you have any thoughts about the differences between the "West" of those two publishers?

A: Mostly a difference in tone. The Marvel characters reflected their approach to superheroes so most of the characters had deep flaws, angst, and a certain melodramatic approach. They’re sort of Sergio Leone type characters. The DC characters, for the most part, were more stand alone. More John Ford type characters. Both reflected the eras in which they were first written.

4. What writers have influenced you the most?

A: In terms of Western WRITERS, I’m not sure. I’ve read some Louis L’Amour and so on. Movies influenced my Western writing a lot more. Ford, Leone, Hawks among many many others. Charlier and Giraud’s BLUEBERRY series influenced me as well but so did Stan Lynde’s RICK O’SHAY.

5. How does writing western comics compare to writing about superheroes or science fiction?

A: Story is story no matter what genre. Each has its own conventions and you have to know them and respect them. Even if you’re going AGAINST convention, you need to know what it is and why you’re NOT using it.

My thanks to John for participating... needless to say, I highly recommend all the works we've talked about. If you are a western fan but have never experienced the genre in four-color format, these books are a great place to start.


Troy D. Smith