"Get along, little werewolf!": The World Of Weird Westerns

I recently watched the mediocre Jonah Hex movie on DVD, caught the trailer for the upcoming film Cowboys & Aliens (Looks good!), and have been blowing zombies in half with a, ahem, blunderbuss in Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare.  Put that all together, clearly I've got Weird Westerns on the mind.

What's a Weird Western?  In the most straightforward way possible, it's what you would typically think of as a western, but with an added supernatural or sci-fi element.  Being of mixed genre in origin, it often bleeds over into other subgenres, such as Southern Gothic and Steampunk.  While not being the most prolific of genres, there are several notable examples dating back to the original western stories.

So, without any more of my jabberjawin', here's a few Weird Westerns that I quite enjoy.

THE WORKS OF AMBROSE BIERCE

A former Union soldier in the American Civil War, and prolific author of stories set during that war, who would oft-times turn his macabre sensibilities to horror and the supernatural.  His highly influential short story "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" has been one of the most influential and adapted of all time.  It concerns a Confederate sympathizer who is sentenced to hang from the titular bridge, who manages to enact a spectacular escape.  Or does he?

Mr. Bierce

Several more of his stories contain either supernatural or horror elements.  One of particular note is "The Damned Thing", the story of an invisible, murderous monster;  think "Predator" circa 1894.  Bierce's death was as strange as his fiction;  In 1913 he was riding with Pancho Villa in Mexico, before mysteriously disappearing.  To this day, no one knows what happened to him.

THE WILD, WILD WEST (TV SHOW)

Yeah, the Will Smith movie sucked, but the tv show it was based on was balls out fun.  From 1965 to 1969, this crazy spy/western hybrid brought us the adventures of suave secret agent Jim West and his master of disguise partner Artemis Gordon.  The two heroes had an arch nemesis; the nefarious dwarf Dr. Loveless, who had an endless supply of secret gadgets and doomsday devices up his little sleeves.  Cyborgs, earthquake machines, and paintings-as-dimensional-portals all make an appearance.  The complete series is available on DVD, so do yourself a favor and check it out.

PREACHER

While the number of weird western comics are legion, this strange tale of Texas is the most successful in recent memory.  The story of a Preacher who teams up with an irish vampire and his ex-girlfriend to find God and make him pay for abandoning the human race, this is guaranteed to offend just about everyone, and that's the whole point.  There isn't one single story that won't leave you grossed out, creeped out, or just plain laughing your head off.  Longer than a mini-series, but it does have a definite beginning, middle, and end.

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI

This Ray Harryhausen produced oddity involves a rodeo that comes across the Forbidden Valley; a place filled with dinosaurs.  What perfect creatures to lasso for the entertainment of the masses!  A bit creaky at times, but the monster scenes are delightful.

THE STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE

No other writer better embodies the spirit of the Weird West than Lansdale.  He's written several short stories and novels that utilize Southern character, both good and bad, in mixture with terrifying tales.  He wrote what was probably the best series of Jonah Hex stories;  Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo and Jonah Hex: Riders Of The Worm And Such.

There are several more out there.  I found a great blog called The Encyclopedia Of Weird Westerns, which also has a book which I'll now have to track down.  Good huntin'!