By Doug Wildey (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-61377-210-2 eISBN: 978-1-62302-476-5
There have been many Western comics over many years created by Americans and other nations. Most were banged out as commercial fodder to feed fashion during periods when mainstream media celebrated a periodic re-emergence of the genre. Rio most definitely ain’t one of those.
Working at his own pace for his own pleasure over long years and virtually isolated from the mainstream comics world, the late Doug Wildey – famed animator (Johnny Quest) and comic strip artist (Outlaw Kid) – produced an iconic and elegiac immortal character.
After a meandering trail of appearances at Eclipse, Comico and Marvel, the wanderer most recently settled at IDW resulting in this glorious collection: far more serious art book than collection of wondrous comics stories.
Almost the entirety of this stupendous compendium is shot from Wildey’s immaculate multi-media original art with corrections, amendments and every instance and evidence of the creator’s interaction with the page left for aficionados to enjoy. No flattening bowdlerisation by the print process here: Think of it as a gallery visit in your hands.
The content comprises all Wildey’s published stories, one entire unpublished tale and a final almost-complete saga he was working on when he died. As he was a rather mercurial cove Wildey skipped about a job, wrapping up pages as whim took him, so the missing parts are there in spirit too: as roughs, sketches, pencils or script and layout designs. It’s a fascinating glimpse of a born raconteur and relentless perfectionist plying his trade. Also included are dozens of sketches, pin-ups and other associated images given weight and context through a loving appreciation by Mark Evanier in his Introduction. What more can a fan want?
Well, obviously, a damned fine read…
An old gunfighter and badman in the heydays of the Wild West, Rio is a rangy loner wandering the country just ahead of creeping civilisation, trying to live the rest of his life as best he can as the end draws near.
The saga began as a serial in early 1980s experiment Eclipse Monthly, during the days of American Comics’ Direct Market revolution. Then it was collected into an album-sized compilation and assorted reprints many times since.
In ‘The Hide Butchers’, the iconically world-weary “tall rider” is engrossed on a tricky and dangerous mission. Offered a full pardon by President Ulysses S. Grant in return for stopping the decimation of the Buffalo herds by “Sporting Special”, Rio is in Wyoming Territory vainly attempting to reason with Railway boss Dorsey. These train excursions – wherein customers could slaughter the animals from the comfort of their seats – nearly wiped out the animals, consequently almost starving to their own extinction Indians who lived off them.
Deemed a threat to profits, Rio is framed for murder by the bigwig’s hirelings – the Grady Parrish gang – and must down a small army of gunmen before he can know any real peace…
His hunt begins in ‘Satan’s Doorstep’ as the trail leads into Apache country and a doomed clash with a cavalry troop led by a glory-obsessed fool who thinks he’s the next Napoleon Bonaparte…
Sole survivor of that desert confrontation, Rio picks up his quarry’s trail in Endsville, Wyoming, before crossing the border to an enslaved Mexican town turned into a ‘Robber’s Roost’ by the bandits he’s chasing. To pass the time, the sadistic brutes play a murderous game with the citizens, but when Rio is captured he deftly turn the tables against them…
Wildey was a master storyteller and a Western Historian of some note. His art graced many galleries and museums, but his greatest achievements are here, where his artistry brings a lost and fabled world briefly back to vibrant life, in spirit as well as look.
Wildey switched over to colour in his own unique style and a more luscious and painterly colour palette, transferring his iconic lone rider from the wilderness to the very borders of the creeping Civilisation he so patently abhorred in a sequel to his original tale of ‘Mr. Howard’s Son’…
Finally pardoned by President Grant, Rio is invited to become sheriff of Limestone City, a burgeoning metropolis less than 100 miles from Kansas City yet somehow a town with no crime! Whilst pondering the offer, he finds old friends already living there; two of the most infamous outlaws in history who – with their families – are living quietly as respectable, albeit incognito, citizens of the progressive paradise.
However, after a botched kidnapping and speculative bank raid exposes the retired outlaws, human nature and petty spite lead to disastrous chaos and a spiral of bloody tragedy which the new lawman is ill-equipped and much disinclined to help with…
In ‘Hot Lead for Johnny Hardluck’, Rio meets a young Dutch kid hardened by exploitative mine work who has chanced upon a fortune. After winning a huge diamond at poker the boy heads for San Francisco, unaware the sore loser has hired thieves to restore what he lost at all costs. Happily, Rio is working as stagecoach guard on the route the kid follows, but even after the fireworks are over, the danger and bloodshed isn’t…
Another brush with famous gunmen informs ‘Red Dust in Tombstone’ as Rio meets up with Doc Holliday and his pals the Earp brothers. Trouble is brewing in town and tensions are high, but Wildey smartly shows us a telling side of all concerned that movies have not…
Wrapping the narratives up with a tantalising promise of what might have been, ‘Reprisal’ is an unfinished masterpiece of cowboy lore as the lone rider saunters into a brewing border crisis. Bandits are raiding ranches, but when the wanderer uncovers a scam with soldiers selling gunpowder to outlaws, the situation explosively escalates into savage tragedy…
This wagon train of wonders wraps with an epic visual treat as ‘Doug Wildey’s Rio Gallery’ re-presents covers, evocative colour illustrations, sketches and model sheets to delight every fan of the genre or just great illustration.
Gripping, authentic, and satisfyingly mythic, these tales from a lost master of his subject and his craft are some of the best westerns America has ever produced and some of the most sublime sequential art every set to paper. Go see why pilgrim…
© 2012 Ellen Wildey. All Rights Reserved. Introduction © 2012 Mark Evanier.