by Russell Burlingame
The Man With No Name: The Good, the Bad & the Uglier
The Man With No Name--the classic western hero portrayed by Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and others--is one of the most important and impactful figures in American popular culture. Prior to Sergio Leone's Eastwood classic A Fistful of Dollars, the Western hero was the stuff of singing cowboys or, alternately, John Wayne's slow-talking, remorse-free gunslingers. Eastwood played The Man as a character with depth and empathy. He did "what needed to be done," but didn't necessarily revel in it the way John Wayne did, and he went about it matter-of-factly: when he takes out three local toughs who shot at him and his mule at the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars, he first gives them an opportunity to apologize to the mule.
Forty years since his final appearance in The Good, the Bad & the Ugly--arguably the greatest western film of all time--the character is being featured in Dynamite Entertainment's The Man With No Name: The Good, the Bad & the Uglier #1 by writer Christos Gage, who had recently done what many thought impossible and garnered critical acclaim as part of Wildstorm's WorldStorm event, which relaunched the Wildstorm Comics line at DC, when he wrote the fan-favorite StormWatch PHD. The Man With No Name will find himself stuck between the Union and Confederate troops, as well as the usual variety of local toughs, in a story that will bridge the gap between The Good, The Bad & the Ugly and A Fistful of Dollars (the timeline of the films, much-debated, has been generated by fans and doesn't necessarily adhere to the release schedule of the movies themselves. Director Leone always said that he didn't necessarily consider A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly to necessarily have a continuity).
One of the most coveted licenses in comics, The Man With No Name springs to life with the enthusiasm--both in terms of promotion from Dynamite and in terms of dramatic events in the book itself, which begins almost immediately with a large-scale gunfight. The book is full of energy and the art is dynamic, while still retaining the older-fashioned look of classic comics westerns rather than taking on the slick, modern look of most Dynamite books. An exciting read for folks who don't necessarily know The Man's previous exploits, Gage has promised in interviews (see our 10 Questions interview below for more) that this arc will feature several supporting characters from the film as well, including The Man's first encounter with Angel Eyes.
Hot Shot of the Week Companion Feature
Ten Question About The Man With No Name With Christos Gage
Four Page Preview
1-10 Altenrate Zombie Cover by Arthur Suydam
Page last updated on May 9, 2008