{"id":17277,"date":"2017-09-13T07:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T07:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=17277"},"modified":"2017-09-12T13:56:24","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T13:56:24","slug":"secret-of-san-saba-a-tale-of-phantoms-and-greed-in-the-spanish-southwest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2017\/09\/13\/secret-of-san-saba-a-tale-of-phantoms-and-greed-in-the-spanish-southwest\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret of San Saba: A Tale of Phantoms and Greed in the Spanish Southwest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Jack Jackson<\/strong> (Kitchen Sink Press)
\nISBN: 978-0-87816-080-8 (HB)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 978-0-87816-081-5 (PB)<\/p>\n

I’m reading lots of graphic novels digitally these days, and it’s clear how much superb classic material – especially genre works with war and western themes – isn’t much of priority to content providers yet.<\/p>\n

You try tracking down Sam Glanzman’s The Haunted Tank<\/strong> or Joe Kubert Sgt. Rock<\/strong> compilations, or even a relatively well-exposed screen property like Jonah Hex<\/strong> (other than the admittedly superb Justin Grey\/Jimmy Palmiotti books of recent vintage) and see what joy you get\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Another such classic omission is this stunningly impressive western\/horror mash-up from the inimitable Jack Jackson, still tragically only available in the original oversized (277 x 201 mm) monochrome softcover and hardback album editions, originally published by Kitchen Sink as part of their Death Rattle Series.<\/p>\n

Known as ‘Jaxon’ since his Underground Commix heyday, Jackson’s infectious fascination with the history of Texas is a signature of much of his work even from the earliest days. Here the Commix legend expertly combines a love of historical documentary with the fabulous Lovecraftian horrors of the cosmic void, resulting in a breathtaking and wonderful period supernatural thriller, skillfully woven into the fabric and lore of the Southwest desert lands…<\/p>\n

When a silvery entity crashes to Earth in a blazing fireball, it galvanises the fading dreams of Xotl<\/em>, a young Faraone warrior who had lost faith in his gods.<\/p>\n

As the years pass, the natives worship the fearsomely fulgent power of the star-fallen thing, and when the mighty Apaches conquer the Faraone, the twice-defeated tribe turn to the newly arrived Europeans for help. This is a tragic mistake, revealed too late, after the tribe finds that Priests and Colonists might speak of God but only truly worship wealth.<\/p>\n

When the newcomers learn of the Cosmic Slug that fell from the stars, all they can see is the overwhelming wealth its silver mantle represents\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The decades-long battle between Apaches and Missionaries to control the slimy silver wellspring makes for a powerful if cynical tale, full of the intoxicating artistry, spellbinding storytelling, and the mesmerising aura of authenticity that is Jackson’s most telling narrative tool.<\/p>\n

Based on the ancient Texas stories and legends of ‘Blanco’<\/em> and ‘Negro Bultos’<\/em> (supernatural treasure mounds), this most fantastic story should be, has to be true, if only because he has drawn it.<\/p>\n

Superbly compelling, this is a must-read item for any serious fan of both comics and horror fiction, so let’s have it back and out in every format possible, pretty please\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1989 Jack Jackson. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jack Jackson (Kitchen Sink Press) ISBN: 978-0-87816-080-8 (HB)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 978-0-87816-081-5 (PB) I’m reading lots of graphic novels digitally these days, and it’s clear how much superb classic material – especially genre works with war and western themes – isn’t much of priority to content providers yet. You try tracking down Sam Glanzman’s The Haunted Tank … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Secret of San Saba: A Tale of Phantoms and Greed in the Spanish Southwest”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[122,66,105,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical","category-horror-stories","category-mature-reading","category-westerns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-4uF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}