By Luke Short
Comic Book version
This comic contains two stories bound back-to-back. These are both adaptations of books by well-known authors. Double Western Pictorials were published in Australia by the Junior Readers’ Press and distributed by Gordon and Gotch (A/sia) Ltd. Dell also published Marauder’s Moon in America in October 1957 as a picturized edition too. The Australian version isn’t dated so I can’t tell you when it was published. It measures 18.5cm X 13.5cm and has a colour cover, the interior being black and white. I believe the inks were done by Mike Peppe.
The story was original published under a different title, Silver Horn Breaks, in 1937. It appeared as a seven-part serial in Western Story Magazine and has since been published a number of times in paperback and hardback as Marauders’ Moon.
I’ve never read the full-length book version, so I have no idea how much has been missed out to make it fit the 32 pages of this comic. Each page has five or six panels that are well illustrated, although I did feel that too much dialogue was crammed into some of them. The artist draws people, horses, firearms, buildings and landscapes with equal skill.
The story is fast moving although at times I found it a bit dialogue heavy – perhaps this is a problem with it being adapted into short comic form and too much talk had to be crammed in to explain what was happening? Fistfights and gunfights erupt regularly adding some welcome relief to all the talking.
Luke Short’s tale follows Webb Cousins, who doesn’t take centre stage as other characters are featured as much as him. Cousins has been arrested for train robbery, something he’s innocent of. Held on a ranch he manages to escape only to be captured again by another rancher. Seems the ranchers are at war with each other and one side is determined to wipe the other out. Cousins picks a side but can he save the day? There’s a little more to the range war than is first apparent, and there’s also the beautiful daughter of one of the ranchers who may complicate matters – although she hardly appears in the comic, perhaps there’s more about her in the full-length story?
Overall a fun read, even though it was predictable. It certainly didn’t make me want to search out the original and read that too. Luke Short is a pseudonym for Frederick D. Glidden, an author who is a popular choice for many western readers.
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