Western genre in other media

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The Western genre in other media is application of the Western genre to media such as comics and computer games, rather than the traditional forms of film, television shows, literature, and visual art. When the Western genre is used in comics and computer games, it is often in the form of a genre blend, such as a western-horror hybrid, which is called Weird West.

The Western genre usually tells stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States (known as the American Old West). Westerns often center on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy, gunfighter, or bounty hunter who carries a revolver or rifle, and they often stress the harshness of the desert-like landscape.

1 Comics
2 Computer games
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Comics

In comics, the western has been done straight, as in the classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s, featuring such revisionist (for the time) characters such as Pow-Wow Smith, and the more mainstream Hopalong Cassidy [1].

In the 1990s and 2000s, the western comic has been done in a more Weird West fashion, usually involving supernatural horror, as can be seen in such comics as Jeff Mariottes's Desperadoes series, the one-off graphic novel, The Wicked West, or the more name-brand Jonah Hex from DC Comics.

In comic books a number of cowboy characters had adventures involving monsters, aliens, and costumed supervillains. Marvel Comics characters such as Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, and Two-Gun Kid all had such adventures. Where Marvel went in for supervillains, DC Comics added more of a horror element to their stories such as Jonah Hex. The DC character Tomahawk could also be termed a hero of the Weird West, though his adventures were set in the colonies during the time of the American Revolution.

The Amalgam Comics crossover between DC and Comics produced only one Weird West title, a one-shot Generation Hex: "Humanity's Last Stand" (Jonah Hex crossed with Generation X - mutants in the Old West) but as well as actual titles they also created wider fictional backstories to set them in. So in this case they suggested Amalgam had a whole genre line called "Malformed West" which had been popular and seen a resurgence of interest in the nineties with (fictional) titles including Weird Western Mutant Tales. ^[1] ^[2]

Another example worthy of note is Preacher. While it is the origin of the Saint of Killers, as shown in his eponymous series, that is the only part set in the Old West, the whole series is an example of an interesting genre fusion. Described as a "Splatterpunk Western", the more subtle cross-genre mixing is a rare one - a mix of the western with the Gothic. ^[3]

Examples include:

[edit] Computer games

In computer games, the western genre is either straight Western or a western-horror hybrid, which is called Weird West. In Weird West games, players may face vampires and undead ghouls.

[edit] 1970s

The Oregon Trail is an educational computer game developed in 1971 and produced by MECC in 1974. The game was inspired by the real-life Oregon Trail and was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th century pioneer life on the trail. The player assumes the role of wagon leader guiding his party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon's Willamette Valley by way of the Oregon Trail via a Conestoga wagon in 1848. The success of the game has spawned numerous sequels. interactive game the character travels west to California, battling cold nights, dwindling supplies, and dysentery.

[edit] 1990s

Lethal Enforcers II: Gunfighters is a rail shooter set in the American Old West. It was released to arcades in 1994, and later to Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and Sony Playstation.

Wild Guns is a third-person shooter set in the Wild West that combines elements of sci-fi.

Outlaws is a first-person shooter computer game released by LucasArts in 1997 using an enhanced version of the Jedi game engine, first seen in Star Wars: Dark Forces. It is one of the very few FPS games with a Wild West setting. Computer-generated animation (using special filters to look hand-drawn) sequences play between each mission and set up the action in the next area. It has a strong cult-like following that continued into the mid-2000s. In 2001, LucasArts released a patch to add Direct3D ability to the game, complementing the existing Glide and software rendering support.

[edit] 2000s

Neversoft's GUN is set in the American Old West in the early 1880s. The protagonist, Colton White, is a hunter who turns into a gunslinger after his father is murdered. It has a free-roaming "sandbox" environment, including side-missions, and it is played from a third person perspective. The player is free to roam the game world on foot or riding a horse. Using money obtained from optional side-missions, players can purchase upgrades for their equipment and weapons.

During the game, the character has many historical missions, such as protecting Chinese rail-workers laying track, or joining with Clay Allison and his band of freedom fighters. The game uses a variety of Revisionist Western tropes. Many minor details have even been included, such as sod homes and brass brothel tokens, all to add to the realism.

List of Western games: