Roughly a half a century ago, every boy wanted to be a cowboy. Maybe we caught a few minutes of a John Wayne flick, saw Shane ride into the sunset, or found ourselves humming the Lone Ranger theme song. Long before superhero and Star Wars films conquered the box office, these masculine archetypes dominated the silver screen and airwaves. They were these invulnerable heroes who risked everything to bring order to the untamed frontier — and small boys wanted to emulate them.
As an adult, I don’t have much interest in being a cowboy, but I’ve spent a good portion of my life writing about them for HIGH MOON, the werewolf western graphic novel I co-created with artist Steve Ellis. It is an interesting situation to be in—writing a western when you have such conflicted feelings about the genre and its tropes.
Why wouldn’t we want to be cowboys? After all, these rough and rugged men could start a fire, shoot a pistol, and charm a damsel with the tip of their stetson. They were stoic and valiant heroes who did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. Chivalrous and stalwart, they knew that to have a friend you must first be a friend. Protectors of the home and hearth, their virility was frequently rewarded with a virginal bride-to-be. Authoritative and powerful, they were the epitome of what it meant to be a ‘real man.’
For all of their values and their virtues, cowboys weren’t without their problems. While these brave lawmen stood for truth and justice, they were rarely self-reflective and often suppressed any weakness. Eastwood and Wayne projected this mythology that was as bulletproof as their characters. About as solid as rocks and just about as emotional, they rarely complained about their feelings and never cried on screen.
Growing up in an old backwoods Civil War town, I was surrounded by this toxic iconography. Sure, it seemed glamorous to be rugged and independent, but that was the insidious part of the whole thing. While the principles seemed virtuous and honorable, this same mythology transformed school boys into bullies, made academic kids nerds and made all of the queer kids hide their sexuality in shame. It transformed chivalry and civility into chauvinism and misogyny.
‘Real men’ didn’t talk about their feelings, so our prepubescent masculinity was proved by punches, black eyes and broken bones. Heaven forbid you cried if you ever took a punch. I was bullied and beaten up, multiple times. Instead of raising a generation of men who protected the weak, I was surrounded a generation of classmates that preyed upon them.
We don’t see many cowboys on the silver screen these days — but for better or for worse, they are still the standard of rugged individualism and stoic bravery for the American male. We still see their echoes in characters like Batman, Rambo, John McClane and other emotionless beings who solve their problems with big guns and even bigger explosions. On the other side of the cinematic spectrum, the cowboy has been replaced by the frat boy. Often these boyish and irresponsible characters have failed to grow into men. They are not virtuous men who live to right wrongs, they are man-children who live for the next party. They are frequently cowards, often terrified by the world they face, too afraid of standing up for the unprotected. What’s so infuriating is that these are the heroes that young boys have to look toward.
On one hand, I guess I am empathetic to the situation, I mean, if I knew that the only option for me as a man was to hide my feelings, I’d want nothing more than to hide them in a bottle of booze. But for all of their problems, I still think there is certain aspirational value to the American cowboy archetype.
As a small child growing up in Georgia, I found myself watching hours and hours of Lone Ranger reruns. Despite the name, the masked man wasn’t an isolated figure standing alone against injustice; he surrounded himself with allies for the betterment of others. He even had this code of honor that he lived by. As envisioned by down by his creators, George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, this creed set the Lone Ranger apart from other cowboys and a hero with integrity and valor:
”I believe…
That to have a friend, a man must be one.
That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power tomake this a better world.
That God put the firewood there but that every man must gather and light it himself.
In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
That ‘This government, of the people, by the people and for the people’ shall live always.
That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
That sooner or later … somewhere … somehow … we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.”
What the Lone Ranger creed did—and what I would argue the best westerns do—was show that great masculinity comes from addressing our greater human responsibilities. As I reflect on our stories and the heroes that we have created, I recognize that there is more than one lesson to learn from westerns. We live in an uncivil era. To tame this chaotic new frontier, maybe we need our own set of guidelines on how to conduct ourselves…and rise to meet the better angels of our nature. We can cherish things like honesty, decency, hospitality while still being real men. In the process, we can emulate the great cowboy heroes of the past who stood tall against injustice.
All three volumes of HIGH MOON will be published in hardcover at $24.99 and simultaneously in paperback at $14.99. HIGH MOON: BULLET HOLES AND BITE MARKS will be available in bookstores and comic book stores across the United States and Canada on October 17th, 2017 just in time for Halloween!
Read my review here.
Both David and artist Steve Ellis will be appearing at NEW YORK CITY COMIC CON this week October 4th-8th in Artist Alley Table R7! Swing on by!
About David Gallaher:
Author David Gallaher has received multiple Harvey Award nominations and won The Best Online Comic Award for his work on High Moon for DC Comics. David was an early pioneer of digital comics developing projects for Marvel as well as Box 13 – the first comic designed specifically for the iPhone – for comiXology. He has served as an editor for Attack on Titan, Sailor Moon, has also written for Green Lantern and the Incredible Hulk. David is also the author behind the critically-acclaimed web comic series — The Only Living Boy — currently in print from Papercutz.
All art courtesy of DC Comics.