Since we just reviewed the new Rawhide Kid miniseries, Johnny M takes a look back at the relaunch of the character in the new hardcover edition of Slap Leather.
Just click the Kid’s gun to read the review!
Book: The Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather Writer: Ron Ziimmerman Artist: John Severin Rating: 4 out of 10 / C- Review by: Johnny M
“You know me, Marge. I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my homosexuals flaaaaaming!”
-Homer Simpson
In 2003, Marvel Comics decided to bring back a relatively obscure gunslinger named the Rawhide Kid through their MAX imprint for “mature audiences.” Like most redesigns, revamps and re-imaginings, things were a little bit different. This time around, the Kid was gay. And we’re not talking just likes-the-men gay, but swishy, flaming, flamboyantly GAAAAY, you sissy marys.
I will have to admit that I knew almost nothing about the Kid prior to getting a copy of Slap Leather, the book collecting all five issues of the 2003 series, in the mail from Chance. He was curious to know if the story had aged well over the past few years, especially to someone unfamiliar with the Kid’s history. I’m here to report that, no, it hasn’t aged well at all.
The story is told from the point of view of little Toby Morgan, the only son of widower Matt Morgan, sheriff of Plum Springs. Seems Plum Springs is in a bit of a bind after Cisco Pike and his men come through town, kill the deputy sheriff, and make Matt look like a coward in front of his boy and the whole town. The Kid comes to the rescue, aiming to save the town and Matt’s reputation before riding back into an absolutely fabulous sunset. It’s an interesting choice to make the Kid gay, but it boggles the mind as to why Marvel would make such a butch figure as a gun-toting, horse-riding cowboy gay but also make him a mincing, flouncing queen. Sure, he’s still the fastest gun around, but he’s also just a bon mot away from a Waylon Flowers and Madame show. It’s hard to understand, although I long ago learned to stop guessing the motives behind Marvel’s creative team (Emma Frost, secondary mutation, ‘nuff said). I can only guess that the people involved in the comic have never met an actual gay person in real life.
I’m also curious as to why Marvel decided to make this a MAX title. There’s nothing necessarily adult about it at all. The gunfights are mostly bloodless or tame, and aside from a near-scalping, there’s nothing graphic. No nudity, no sex, no “adult subject matter” aside from a gay main character who constantly hits on almost any man he sees. It’s insulting to any gay reader of comics: here’s a gay hero for you, and he’s so gay we had to label the comic “adult” because gay = dear god, keep it away from the children. By MAX standards, The Birdcage must look like a XXX peep show. That might explain why two of the five covers feature the kid holding his gun like an extension of his c**k.
All of this could be ignored if the book were at all interesting, compelling or (gods forbid) funny, but it’s only very rarely any of these things (and never all at once). The plot, as it were, is stretched laboriously thin over the course of the five issues by writer Ron Zimmerman, and the Kid never knows when to shut up. The comics try to satirize the conventions of Westerns thorough a number of meta-textual references, but the satire never gels properly. It’s heavy and leaden, with a few very clumsy, awkward references to real-world politics: Plum Springs is governed by Mayor Bush, whose brother and father bought his way into office and who constantly goes on about terrorism and evil-doers.
The Kid isn’t the only minority to come out looking a little worn in the book, either. Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, women, lesbians: everybody’s ripe for a cheap, state fair-sized caricature. In addition, a number of minor characters representing a Xena-worthy cross-section of real and fictional frontierspeople clutter the narrative, including Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Cartwright Boys from Bonanza. It gives the book an unfortunate undercurrent of fan fiction.
The one saving grace in the book is the artwork, by veteran comic artist John Severin, who did the original Rawhide Kid in the 1950s. The look of the art is almost iconic and evocative of classic comics with its rough lines and chiseled jaws. The Kid, for all his flamboyance, is a handsome image, and it’s a shame that the narrative (and the characterization) isn’t on par with the fantastic art. There was probably a very cool, hip, interesting series that could have been made by casting a traditionally butch character as a gay man. This isn’t it. The Kid, and every gay comic fan, deserves much better.
The new hardcover edition of Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather retails for $24.99 is available wherever satirical gay western comics are sold.
Book Review: Here’s Looking at You, Kid
By Chance
June 26, 2010 at 1:51AM EDT
Since we just reviewed the new Rawhide Kid miniseries, Johnny M takes a look back at the relaunch of the character in the new hardcover edition of Slap Leather.
Book: The Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather
Writer: Ron Ziimmerman
Artist: John Severin
Rating: 4 out of 10 / C-
Review by: Johnny M
“You know me, Marge. I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my homosexuals flaaaaaming!”
-Homer Simpson
In 2003, Marvel Comics decided to bring back a relatively obscure gunslinger named the Rawhide Kid through their MAX imprint for “mature audiences.” Like most redesigns, revamps and re-imaginings, things were a little bit different. This time around, the Kid was gay. And we’re not talking just likes-the-men gay, but swishy, flaming, flamboyantly GAAAAY, you sissy marys.
I will have to admit that I knew almost nothing about the Kid prior to getting a copy of Slap Leather, the book collecting all five issues of the 2003 series, in the mail from Chance. He was curious to know if the story had aged well over the past few years, especially to someone unfamiliar with the Kid’s history. I’m here to report that, no, it hasn’t aged well at all.
The story is told from the point of view of little Toby Morgan, the only son of widower Matt Morgan, sheriff of Plum Springs. Seems Plum Springs is in a bit of a bind after Cisco Pike and his men come through town, kill the deputy sheriff, and make Matt look like a coward in front of his boy and the whole town. The Kid comes to the rescue, aiming to save the town and Matt’s reputation before riding back into an absolutely fabulous sunset. It’s an interesting choice to make the Kid gay, but it boggles the mind as to why Marvel would make such a butch figure as a gun-toting, horse-riding cowboy gay but also make him a mincing, flouncing queen. Sure, he’s still the fastest gun around, but he’s also just a bon mot away from a Waylon Flowers and Madame show. It’s hard to understand, although I long ago learned to stop guessing the motives behind Marvel’s creative team (Emma Frost, secondary mutation, ‘nuff said). I can only guess that the people involved in the comic have never met an actual gay person in real life.
I’m also curious as to why Marvel decided to make this a MAX title. There’s nothing necessarily adult about it at all. The gunfights are mostly bloodless or tame, and aside from a near-scalping, there’s nothing graphic. No nudity, no sex, no “adult subject matter” aside from a gay main character who constantly hits on almost any man he sees. It’s insulting to any gay reader of comics: here’s a gay hero for you, and he’s so gay we had to label the comic “adult” because gay = dear god, keep it away from the children. By MAX standards, The Birdcage must look like a XXX peep show. That might explain why two of the five covers feature the kid holding his gun like an extension of his c**k.
All of this could be ignored if the book were at all interesting, compelling or (gods forbid) funny, but it’s only very rarely any of these things (and never all at once). The plot, as it were, is stretched laboriously thin over the course of the five issues by writer Ron Zimmerman, and the Kid never knows when to shut up. The comics try to satirize the conventions of Westerns thorough a number of meta-textual references, but the satire never gels properly. It’s heavy and leaden, with a few very clumsy, awkward references to real-world politics: Plum Springs is governed by Mayor Bush, whose brother and father bought his way into office and who constantly goes on about terrorism and evil-doers.
The Kid isn’t the only minority to come out looking a little worn in the book, either. Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, women, lesbians: everybody’s ripe for a cheap, state fair-sized caricature. In addition, a number of minor characters representing a Xena-worthy cross-section of real and fictional frontierspeople clutter the narrative, including Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Cartwright Boys from Bonanza. It gives the book an unfortunate undercurrent of fan fiction.
The one saving grace in the book is the artwork, by veteran comic artist John Severin, who did the original Rawhide Kid in the 1950s. The look of the art is almost iconic and evocative of classic comics with its rough lines and chiseled jaws. The Kid, for all his flamboyance, is a handsome image, and it’s a shame that the narrative (and the characterization) isn’t on par with the fantastic art. There was probably a very cool, hip, interesting series that could have been made by casting a traditionally butch character as a gay man. This isn’t it. The Kid, and every gay comic fan, deserves much better.
The new hardcover edition of Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather retails for $24.99 is available wherever satirical gay western comics are sold.
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