More than two dozen of Troy Smith's short stories and magazine articles have been published since 1995. His work has appeared in magazines such as LOUIS L'AMOUR WESTERN MAGAZINE, WILD WEST, MUZZLELOADER, and WESTERN DIGEST, among others.
Troy was also a Spur finalist in 1998, in the short nonfiction category.
His first novel, Bound for the Promise-Land won a Spur Award in 2000 as Best Paperback
STAN LEE:
KING OF THE WESTERN COMICS (AND MORE) by Troy D. Smith
Stan Leea name that is more closely associated with comic books than any other in the history of the genre. As editor and head writer at Marvel Comics he changed the way comics are written and perceived, and all other writers in his business will forever be measured by the standards he set. He is the comic book industry's Shakespeare.
Lee is best known for the superhero characters he co-created (with various artists) in the 1960s: Spider-man, the Hulk, the X-men, the Silver Surfer the list seems endless. Many people are unaware, though, that Stan Lee is perhaps the most important creator in the history of Western comics. The cowboy heroes he created were more enduring than any other Western comic heroes. The Two-Gun Kid, for example, was published longer than even the Lone Ranger (though only by a year or so).
Stan Lee, born Stanley Leiber, started working at Marvel (then called Timely) in 1939, right out of high school. He was soon the editor. He guided the company for over forty years, interrupted only by his military service in World War II. During that time he wrote thousands of stories in every conceivable genre.
One was as much fun as the other, he says. The only difference is that superheroes became so enormously successful that there seemed to be more glamour involved in writing them. In fact, in those days we wrote everything, whatever was in demand. It came and went. One year the Westerns would be popular, another year the war stories, or the romances, or the monster comics.
But no matter what else was popular at the time, there was always room for the Westernsand I loved writing them. I would like to see our company do more. If we feel the market is right, we will.
Lees writing style is distinctive: bombastic narration, a hefty dose of
melodrama, and a skill with characterization that was unprecedented in comic books. His heroes had personal problems as well as their life-threatening adventures.
I would like to think that I stressed characterization along the way, he says. No matter what kind of story it was, I tried to make the hero as realistic as possible so you would care about him. You can spin the greatest story in the world, but if the reader doesnt care about the protagonist
one of it matters.
Lees list of Western heroes is a long one. Black Rider, Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, Ghost Rider, Ringo Kid, Matt Slade, Outlaw Kid, Western Kid, these are only a few. Lee worked with many talented artists to craft these tales. Some, including Jack Kirby, Al Williamson, Bill Everett, Dick Ayers, and Jack Davis, are now comic book legends in their own right.
I was very lucky to work with them, Lee says. They were very talented. And they kept to their deadlines.
Stan Lee claims that his personal favorite Western character was the relatively obscure Black Rider, partly because of his similarity to Lees later superheroes, and partly because Lee himself posed (in full costume) for one of the photo covers.
KID COLT appeared in 1948. Kid Colt had killed an outlaw in self-defense, then panicked and ran away, inadvertently making himself a fugitive. Most KID COLT stories revolved around the Kids pursuit by well-meaning lawmen, evil bounty hunters, and outlaws trying to pin their own misdeeds on him.
TWO-GUN KID debuted the same year. The Kid was an interesting variation on the masked man theme. His alter-ego was Matt Hawk, a young lawyer in Tombstone, Texas. He arrived in the West as a dude, and was taught to shoot, rope, and ride by an old gunfighter he had befriended. Hawk kept his skills a secret from the townspeople. Under the pretense of bumbling ineptitude in his secret identity, Hawk donned a dark mask in times of danger and defended his town as The Two-Gun Kid. The striking similarities between him and Lees modern-day superhero Daredevil were explored in a 1980s issue of the latters title, in which Daredevils lawyer alter-ego solved a hundred-year-old case begun by The Two-Gun Kid.
From 1950 to 1955 the Ghost Rider galloped through the comic pages, striking fear into the hearts of badmen. The eerie hero on the pale horse used the superstitions of his enemies to his own advantage. Lee revived the character in 1967. The original stories were reprinted in 1974-75, but the heros name was changed to Night Rider; the Ghost Rider title was by then in use for Marvels flaming-skulled biker character.
In 1960 the new Rawhide Kid appeared (an earlier incarnation had gone unnoticed a few years before). This Kid was an orphan named Johnny Bart. Barts father, a retired Texas Ranger, was murdered by an outlaw gang. Johnny killed the murderers and was branded an outlaw himself. The young gunfighter, keeping his real name a secret, spent his remaining years wandering through the West and righting wrongs. Like other Stan Lee Western heroes, the Rawhide Kid faced some strange villains: flying men, killer gorillas, a land baron who dressed like a medieval king, and more. Despite all that, the Rawhide Kid was the best of Stan Lees Western creationsand possibly the best of them all (except perhaps for DCs Jonah Hex).
The 1960s superhero renaissance, started by Lee with his FANTASTIC FOUR and SPIDER-MAN stories, nudged many Western titles off the magazine racks. Lees Westerns, however, continued, not folding until the end of the 1970s.
Lees company even introduced new Westerns in that era, focusing on racial diversity. Stan Lee had been among the first, if not the first, to do this in superhero books a decade earlier.
In 1972 Stan Lee wrote RED WOLF. The hero, Army scout Johnny Wakely, was secretly the last in a long line of Cheyenne avengers called the Owayodata. Dressed in the sacred wolf headdress and accompanied by a wolf named Lobo, Red Wolf defended his people from horse thieves, gunrunners, and even evil spirits. The title lasted only nine issues, but the character was
resuscitated for the 20th Century in the form of a modern-day descendant.
Marvel released another title in October, 1972, called GUNHAWKS. It featured black cowboy Reno Jones and his white sidekickand son of his former ownerKid Cassidy. Jones and Cassidy were Confederate veterans. Reno Joness fiancée had been abducted by a group of vicious Union soldiers and Reno was anxious for a chance to fight Yankees and was oblivious to the wars causes because of his hatred. Kid Cassidy was killed off in the sixth issue, leaving the black Reno Jones the sole hero of the title, a first in Western comics. It was short-lived, regrettably, for the book ended with the seventh issue.
Stan Lee himself was surprised to learn that some of his titles had longer runs than THE LONE RANGER and RED RYDER, and even longer than some entire genres (crime and romance, for example).
I think its because Westerns have such a basic storyline, he says. It features the good guys versus the bad guys, yet there are a lot of options. I think its the same reason Westerns have lasted on the screen for so long. You can always think of something new to do with a Western. You can have romance stories, revenge stories, jealousy, hatred, parental love, you can take any theme in the world and put it in a Western setting.
I think its interesting that most of our heroes were outlaws. I always thought it was fun to write about characters who were good guys but were misunderstood. The public was always out to get them. We did the same thing later with Spider-man, the Hulk, and the X-men. The reader sympathizes with the lonely, misunderstood hero.
Stan Lee moved from his native New York City, site of the Marvel Comics offices, in the early 1980s and set up shop in Hollywood to look after the interests of Marvel Entertainment on the screen. He has been an advisor on several movies and television shows, and an executive producer at the animation studio which has turned out many cartoons based on his characters (usually with Lee as the narrator). He has also been in the public eye quite a bit in recent years appearing as a guest on Politically Incorrect, playing himself (via voiceover, of course) in a hilarious turn on The Simpsons, and having cameos on the films Clerks, X-Men, and Spider-man.
In the late 90s he launched Stan Lee Media, an online venture which featured all-new online animated webisodes of his series The 7th Portal. The site suffered the fate of many other dot-com ventures at the time, but was still a pioneering step in online animation. Last year Lee worked in a highly-publicized series for Marvels competition, DC Comics, putting his own unique spin on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
In 2002 he also published an autobiography (EXCELSIOR: THE AMAZING LIFE OF STAN LEE) and a science fiction novel (THE ALIEN FACTOR). 2003 looks to be another rewarding year for the 80-year-old comics guru, with film adaptations of Daredevil and the Hulk, an X-Men sequel, and production of a second Spider-man movie.
Lee travels extensively in the spring and summer, making public appearances at comic conventions and signing autographs for his legions of fans. He is friendly and very approachable.
I remember once a writer came up to see if he could work for us, Lee says. I said, Hey, I need someone to write a Western. How about it?
I dont write Westerns, he said. I write mysteries.
A story is a story, I told him. In a mystery you say follow that car, in a Western you say follow that stagecoach. Its still storytelling.
Stan Lee knows storytelling. As thousands of kids who grew up reading the adventures of the Two-Gun Kid and/or Spider-man can tell you, nobody does it better.
No material on this website may be excerpted, copied, reproduced, used or performed in any form (graphic, electronic or mechanical), for any purpose without the express written permission of American Western Magazine - ReadTheWest.com and/or the author or artist of a particular work published within. Linking to this site via frames or popup box is prohibited.
