Charlton’s Space Western caught my eye because I thought that term was fairly new. The comic ran for six issues in September-October 1952 to August 1953. The comic seems like an isolated item but in fact it was a mid-stream experiment. Cowboy Western Comics had thirty-nine issues before Charles J. Levy, editor, decided to turn their Western title into something unusual. (Probably to cash in on something DC was doing like Strange Adventures.) Western meets Space… After the six issue experiment, the comic reverted back to its old title for one issue, then became Lash La Rue Western to issue #84 (June 1961). The numbering of the issues never paused, so Space Western #40 is the first issue.
The Space Western as a sub-genre existed before 1952. Harry Bates recruited Western writers to fill the pages of Astounding Stories of Super-Science in 1930, giving us space adventures that reeked of cow manure and saddle soap. The top hand was a character named Hawk Carse, who was written by Bates and his assistant Desmond W. Hall under the pseudonym of Anthony Gilmore. The two types of fiction worked well together because they were both often set in a frontier situation. Later writers would use the Western setting in space purposefully in books like A Planet For Texans by J. J. McGuire and H. Beam Piper (1958).
For this special six issue of Charlton’s Space Westerns run the publisher brought in a new writer, Walter B. Gibson. Gibson was famous in the Pulp era for writing The Shadow. Gibson created Spurs Jackson to be the lead for this new comic. This wasn’t Gibson’s first space gig. He wrote Rocket to the Moon for Avon Comics in 1951. The comic was an unauthorized version of Otis Adelbert Kline’s Maza of the Moon (1930). Charlton also brought in a new group of artists including John Belfi who designed Spurs and his friends.
Issue 40 (September-October 1952)
“Migration to the Moon” was written by an unknown author.
Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes in “The Saucer Men” was written by Walter Gibson.
Hank Roper in “The Outlaws of the Desert” was written by an unknown author.
Jesse James in “Incident at Powder River” was written by an unknown author.
“The Moon Monsters” a text story written by Walter Gibson featuring Spurs Jackson.
Spurs Jackson again in “Death From U-235” was written by Walter Gibson.
Strong Bow in “The Mystery of the Indian Hills” was written by Walter Gibson.
“How a Visitor from Space Won the Great West for America” was written by an unknown author.
Issue #41 (November-December 1952)
“The Green Men of Venus” was written by Walter Gibson.
“Jinx of the Black Ridge Ranch” was written by an unknown author.
“The Red Men of Mars” was a text story by a unknown writer.
“Danger Below” was written by Walter Gibson.
“The Phantom Hijackers” was written by Walter Gibson.
Issue #42 (February 1953)
“Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes Meet the Sun Masters” was written by Walter Gibson.
“The Return of the Aztecs” was written by Walter Gibson.
Oakley Logan in “The Space Bronco” (text story) by an unknown author.
Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes Tangle with the Outlaws of Mars” was written by Walter Gibson.
Jethro Barton in “An Amazing Space Journey” was written by an unknown author.
“The Riddle of Skull Valley” was written by Walter Gibson.
Issue #43 (April 1953)
“Menace of the Meteor Men” was written by Walter Gibson.
“The Battle of Spaceman’s Gulch” was written by Walter Gibson.
“Visit Spurs Jackson at his Spaceranch in Spaceman’s Gulch” was written by Walter Gibson.
“Spurs Jackson and the Vanishing Water” (text story) was written by Walter Gibson.
“Beyond the Moon” was written by Walter Gibson.
“Space Prospectors” written by an unknown author.
“Trip to Mercury” was written by Walter Gibson.
Issue #44 (June 1953)
“The Madman of Mars” was written by Walter Gibson.
“Spurs Sees Red!” was written by Walter Gibson.
“Visit in Spaceman’s Gulch” was written by an unknown author.
“Spurs Jackson and the Selenites” (text story) was written by Walter Gibson.
“The Stone Men From Space” was written by Walter Gibson.
“The Menace of Comet X” was written by Walter Gibson.
Issue #45 (August 1953)
“The Valley That Time Forgot” was written by an unknown author.
“Tomorrow the Universe” was written by Walter Gibson. It was his last.
“It Actually Happened” was written by an unknown author.
“Spurs Jackson and the Slavers of Letos” (text story) was written by an unknown author.
“The Moon Bat” was written by an unknown author.
“The Invisible Invader” was written by an unknown author.
With Issue #45. Charlton’s Space Western officially ended, returning to its former title for Issue #47.
Issue #46 (October 1953)
Strong Bow and Spurs Jackson had a last shot in Cowboy Western Comic #46 left-overs, I suppose):
“Geronimo’s Return” was written by an unknown author.
“Trip to the Moon” was written by an unknown author.
John Belfi and Stanley Campbell went on to draw Lash La Rue Western Comics but Walter Gibson left. Later in the 1960s, under the pen name Andy Adams, he would write the juvenile adventure series of Biff Brewster novels. He would work with comics again too. He wrote a Batman story for Detective Comics #500 in 1981.
By the end of the six issues, Charlton’s Space Western had two very distinct types of stories. The first is a Western set on Earth with an outer world element added. This type of Space Western would be popular on the screen with The Wild, Wild West (1965-196) and film version in 1999, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993-1994) and the film, Cowboys & Aliens (2011). Back to the Future III (1990) was also similar to this in that the story has all the usual Western props, a saloon, sheriff, gun fights, etc. but adds some SF elements.
The other type of Space Western is of the Hawk Carse variety. This is an adventure tale set in space with characters who could have walked out of a Western. The six shooter is a laser. The horse is a spaceship and so on. Oddly, the saloon is still a saloon. The Northwest Smith tales of C. L. Moore from Weird Tales and the Eric John Stark stories of Leigh Brackett from Planet Stories were examples. On the screen, Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity are current favorites, making the Space Western a thing again. The stock figure of the Western gunfighter and the Han Solo hero of the Spaceways are cut from the same cloth.
It might be helpful if these two subsets had their own names. “Space Western” is applied to both. I suggest the earthly type retain the name Space Western while the interplanetary type be called a “Spaceways” in honor of C. L. Moore’s tern referring to the frontiers of space. Who knows? Maybe it’ll catch on…
Read these comics for free at DCM.
