Weird Western Tales #15

Up until issue #36, the former Confederate bounty hunter, Jonah Hex was the star of this Western anthology series that delved into the realm of the bizarre. But for some reason, Jonah Hex is absent from the ranks of the trio of stories that comprise this issue, #15. 

Instead, the star of this issue is a character known as El Diablo. The first DC Character to bear the moniker, El Diablo was Lazarus Lane. It's a suitable name as a lightning strike causes Lazarus to exist in a vegetative state. Brought back to life by a Native American shaman, Lazarus' body is now home to a demonic 'spirit of vengeance' (similar to The Spectre), known as El Diablo- The Devil.

In El Diablo's tale, Lazarus witnesses a lawman shot down in cold blood. He too is about to be killed when his Indian caretaker, Wise Owl, rescues him. As a result, the bad men flee. Later that night, Lane's body is over come by the spirit within him and El Diablo rides to bring this gang of murderers to justice.

The second story is about a man who kills his employer. Facing the hangman, the murderer beats the rap. Later that night at the local saloon, he confesses to the crime! Unable to retry the killer due to double jeopardy laws, the judge that presided over the case seeks a way to bring about justice. Ultimately, the stress of such a task kills the judge. However, a guilty conscience over the whole matter is now causing the outlaw to have visions of the magistrate's ghost coming to after him with a noose. 

Great twist ending.

And then we have the last story. I HATED IT! It's about a twisted travelling preacher calling himself 'Doc Satan.' The satanic minister comes to town offering not salvation but damnation! The townspeople have until midnight to make the ultimate decision: allow Doc Satan to buy their souls or suffer in eternal torment. Needless to say, the citizenry are none too happy about this threat and try to fight back. Unfortunately, the flames of hell win this battle.

I like horror stories. Monsters, ghosts, slashers and madmen. All things I can deal with. But I do not like stories involving demons and those who worship such beings. The El Diablo story wasn't my cup of tea, based on the source of where the character gets his powers. Yet, Lazarus Lane reminds me a lot of Johnny Blaze in that his role as a spirit of vengeance to the devil is unwanted. Thus, there's a bit of a moral dilemma in which the character is trying to redeem his soul. So I can tolerate such a narrative. But story number 3 was just evil, evil, evil and I did not like it!

In fact, after I completed this comic, I promptly went outside and put this book in the recycling bin. I couldn't trash it as I feel like books don't deserve to go to rot. But I also didn't want to keep this book in my house any longer than I had to!. I could have sold this book. But again, that would mean keeping the book on my premises any longer than I had to. And I did not want to gain from the profits of such a dreadful read. If you are interested in a free comic book, you've got until 10am tomorrow before the recycling truck makes it's weekly run.

By the way- I can't tell you who wrote and/or illustrated that story as there aren't any credits listed. It seems like whomever created that demonic fable didn't want to be associated with it in any way. 

As for the other contributors to this issue. Cary Bates wrote the El Diablo tale with amazing art by the late, great Neal Adams. However, that between legs from behind scene was absurd. And I don't think the physiology was right either. Gil Kane story number 2 with script by Jack Oleck (The House of Secrets).

I'm open to getting my hands on further issues from this series. They just better not have any stories that are as evil as that anonymous one or they'll end up in recycling as well!

Not Worth Consuming!

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars

Suicide Squad

   Spiraling out of the events of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Central Intelligence adviser Amanda Waller seeks approval from the Department of Defense to held up a special group of meta-humans called Task Force X. Unofficially known as the Suicide Squad, Task Force X is made up of the worst of the worst villains and top notch commandos the DC Universe has to offer and it's their mission to do the tasks that the American government can't do without serious repercussions. 

     When a supernatural threat begins to lay waste to Midway City, the Suicide Squad are activated and must learn to work as a group or they'll die in a bloodbath of Biblical proportions. Meanwhile, the villainous Joker, upset over losing his girlfriend Harley Quinn to the prison system, works in the background to steal her back in the midst of the Suicide Squad's deadly mission. 

     I don't know what Rotten Tomatoes was thinking- this movie wasn't bad. I went to see it with my wife and she even liked it and she has very little background knowledge of most of the characters. Plus, she said it kept her attention and she would recommend it for people to go and see. For a violent movie such as this, that's high praise from a non-comics reader.

     The film has been slammed for being chaotic. But, there's a ton of back story to go through and spending the first 15-minutes trying to provide dossiers on the members is vital background information that needs to be presented for both the causal viewer like my wife and expert collectors such as me. Now, the opening credits, as well as the closing ones, are a bit of a mess, but really who judges a film on credits?

     Of course, Harley Quinn, played by the Wolf of Wall Street's Margot Robbie stole the show but it wasn't Jared Leto's Joker, who dominates the trailers but has maybe 15 minutes screen-time as best, that interested me as much as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Yes, Will Smith as the ultimate assassin Deadshot was amazing. So what if his eye piece was on the wrong eye. If Harley was the heart of the Suicide Squad, Smith's character was the soul.

 
     Another character that just literally kills in Suicide Squad was El Diablo played by Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights.) His troubled gang banger who refuses to use his pyrotechnic super powers as penance because of a tragedy in his mysterious past was intriguing and I felt like his performance could be Oscar worthy.

     The one character I really felt coming into this picture that was miscast was Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. To me, CCH Pounder, who provided the voice of the anti-hero bureaucrat in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series, was Amanda Waller. But Davis did a pretty good job and I wouldn't mind seeing her back in the role for the inevitable sequel. 

     If you've been on the fence about seeing Suicide Squad, I urge you don't listen to the haters. I had every intention of seeing it last week, but I was too exhausted from a 6 day work week and spend most of last Sunday asleep. This movie was a lot better than certain internet sites would have you believe. I really enjoyed it and I would love to see a director's cut. (Just please don't release it only on Blu-ray!!!) 

     A great comic book based film but a little too mature for those under 13. This is NOT Batman V Superman, people! 

     I give it a solid 8.

     Worth Consuming

    Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.