[MarkWarner]

I feel a song coming on ...

Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride thru the wide-open country that I love
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evening breeze
Listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever, but I ask you please
Don't fence me in
Don't fence me in

Yep you guessed right, it's Western week with Gene Autry Comics #6
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=24769.

The main story is the second one, "The Gold Bell" our page 29. So better get a readin partna

[narfstar]

The first thing noticed is Dell's lack of graphic excitement. With many newspaper reprints under their belt they often went for the rectangle and no variety. It tends to make Dell's look stiff. Upon reading the story westerners are prone to contracting anything they can. "two words 'fore he died" and many many more. Gene lets us know everything he is thinking so there is more reading than in many stories. I do not mind that I like to know what is going on. I found it a little to coincidental to find a ring and a piece of suspender but hey you gotta put in those kinda things most of the time. Craziest thing was the girl pretending to be Mexican. All you need is an accent right? I loved the line "I'm sure doin a lot o window peeking"

I tend to like westerns. They usually have a more plausible story than most others and the older I get the less pizzazz I need. I did not like Marsh's art when I was younger but learned to appreciate it. It is not "pretty" but it just plain does a good job of telling a story. This is a very typical western and I enjoyed it.

[misappear]

I knew this was coming. Sooner or later I'd have to read a western.  Oh well....

The Gold Bell was perhaps the best story in the comic.  The first piece with "the midget" was too goofy to take seriously. I'm not able to quite figure out the text story. Something about water under a hat that I don't get.  The final tale ramped up the art, but the conclusion with Pops in the tree was a wee bit over the top. Imagine old Pops crawling out with his gun drawn. "Now just stay there while I navigate this opening!  How big was that tree? 

In the Gold Bell, The device of finding the ring seems to exist to move the action along. Otherwise, the sheriff would have to ride back with Gene and identify and move the body (which was apparently left on site. I hope Gene had a shovel). The buckle from the suspenders device was more than my brain would accept as plausible. I'm not as skeptical of the idea of the girl pretending to be Mexican as Narf; I would imagine a lot of border people spoke both languages. The fact that the girl goes unrecognized is a little far-fetched for me.

I generally like Marsh's art, but I think that's more nostalgia than critique. You either love or hate his Latino Tarzan stuff. I don't know what he could have done to make the backgrounds more appealing (read that as less boring) without a whole lot of investment in time. With the production schedules back then, complexity must not have been possible, nor desirable considering the printing process.  I don't know that for a fact, just speculating here.

I smell a romance comic coming in the near future. Jeez. 

--Dave

[jimmm kelly]

Not on the topic, but I wanted to mention that Cole Porter's song, DON'T FENCE ME IN, while covered by Gene Autry was not really associated with that singing cowboy. It has a stronger association with Roy Rogers--and with others less known for their tricks with a lariat, such as Bing Crosby.

My father is a big fan of Gene Autry--having gone to his pictures in the '40s. And so I can tell you that Autry's theme song was BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN. And, of course, he had many other big hits--often featured in his movies or on his radio show--such as RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, SOUTH OF THE BORDER, TUMBLIN' TUMBLEWEEDS, MEXICALI ROSE and HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY THAT I LOVE (on the odd occasion, I have caught that silver-haired daddy of mine playing the latter tune on his guitar and singing along with the melody).

As to DON'T FENCE ME IN, very few covers of that song sing the original two verses that Porter included. But I have them committed to memory on account of, when I was at university, two young women approached me on a dusty Edmonton street, one evening, singing those lyrics to me. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. The two verses tell about the trials and tribulations of Wildcat Kelly--and for awhile it was my theme song. too.

[jimmm kelly]

By the way, Ella Fitzgerald's cover does include all the original Cole Porter lyrics.
http://youtu.be/YHLr3FzgpOY

[bowers]

I don't think I'm going to over analyze this one- I just enjoyed it too darn much. Gene Autry was one of my favorite western comics, along with Roy Rogers, King of the Mounted, and Lash Larue. Pretty good yarn showcasing Gene's detective skills and showing how he preferred to use his head rather than his pistol. (Although both he and Roy Rogers had mastered the art of shooting the gun out of the bad guy's hand without causing any serious injury!) I'm pretty familiar with Jesse Marsh's art from his work on Tarzan and John Carter, and his rendering of Autry is just fine with me. Narf had a good point about the page layouts- pretty pedestrian. Some of the Fawcett westerns mixed both vertical and horizontal rectangles on the same page to create a more visual flow of the action. Some panels also had no borders and some were organically shaped to further create interest. Great selection- always glad to honor this cowboy star, role model, recording artist, real-estate genius, museum builder, sports team owner, etc. Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

This is a great choice.  Thank you.  I love Dell westerns and particularly Gene Autry, to the extent that one of my favourite and most watched serials is The Phantom Empire, which I saw at the Odeon Club in the '50's and never forgot. These Gene Autry comics are excellent entertainment but it's only in the last 5 years that I started reading and collecting them.  I remember them from my childhood when they just didn't seem as exciting as Marvelman or The Falcon, for instance but nowadays I get them.  They work for me and the page layouts are a great relief from the confusing, exploding panels you find in some modern comics.  But it is the work of Jesse Marsh illustrating simple, basic, entertaining stories that makes the real difference for me. As narfstar writes,
"It is not "pretty" but it just plain does a good job of telling a story"
and that's it.  So many modern day comics artists could learn so much about how to make a story flow by simply studying a few Jesse Marsh comics.  Actually, I think his faces and figures got a bit better over the decade.
As for The Gold Bell, this is a typical bit of Autry action and is the better of the 2 comic stories in this issue.  There is a nice saloon bar panel at the top of p.35 and the top 2 panels and, particularly, the bottom panel on p.40 are effective.
The reveal that the jewels are in the Gold Ball is a nice wee trick and I wonder if Men in Black writers had read this when they had the universe in Orion's Belt.
Bowers mentions John Carter of Mars and I love that interpretation of the stories. But, as with narfstar, I also didn't like Marsh's work when I was wee and it took me a long, long time to see what was going on.

[Drusilla lives!]

Wow, what a quick read this comic was!  Nice, simple, well constructed stories throughout.  And although the Marsh artwork was rather primitive stylistically on the first two, it didn't seem to matter that much to me.

In fact, I found this simple, unembellished art... with its ample, yet nice use of negative space, and well composed perspective... as conveying a sense of "wide open space," very much in keeping with the old, open western landscapes of the past (or at least in keeping with the ones found in the old Hollywood movies  ).  So in other words, even though it was simple (and not that "pretty" in places) it was imo still  effective in creating a mood, and as others have mentioned, also telling the story at hand.

I also really liked both the text piece "Half an Alibi" and the short "Famous Western Ranches."

Hee hee!  Did anyone here notice that the horse's bridle in the cover photo has a bit that seems to be composed of two six-shooters!  Just noticed it myself.   How wild and wacky is that!!! 

[narfstar]

I did not notice the six gun bits until your mention, cool. I did not like Marsh are until an issue of Tarzan with Tarzan sneaking through some rocks. It dawned on me how effective Marsh conveyed this. Ever since then I have been able to appreciate his work. They had him do so many Tarzan comics for a reason.

[MarkWarner]

RE: Don't Fence Me In ... it was me going off half-cock

I know it from a version by David Byrne on the Red Hot And Blue Album and just wanted some recognizable Western lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuMvkNDuOuQ&feature=kp

After I put up the post here, on Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter I suddenly thought why didn't I actually use a Gene Autry song ...  d'oh ... but alas as always it was too late

[MarkWarner]

The first story was really enjoyable with a mini killer/ventriloquist dummy I'll try not to say any more, but there are plenty of twists. I also had to laugh at the sheriff and the deputy not exactly extending themselves in the "I Wear The Badge" department.

Sheriff to his deputy: "I'll wait here with Wade, Evans! You take care o' the rider!"
Later the deputy takes the Sheriff to a doctor's whilst Autry trails the escaped outlaw.

The text story was good enough and I was surprised it was in such a "modern" looking san-serif font. I'd have guessed it was Verdana, but I am pretty sure it wasn't created until very recently.

On to our main story and just like the first one it was good. Finally on our page 39 a lawman says:

"I don't like YOU running all the risks, Gene! This is my job!" (Mind you he still let Autry do it ..lol).

There was one bit of the plot I was a bit unsure about. Diamonds sure, but can you get enough opals in the ball necklace to make the smuggling operation worthwhile??

Famous Western Ranches along with their brands is quite good fun, and some care and attention has been paid to it. Talking of another sort of brand, there is a nice plug for Gene Autry's rodeo outfit.

"The Wonder Horse" I was imagining was going to be Champion .. but no it was a horse called Ranger. Who didn't do anything wonderful at all. In fact the complete opposite, as he was kidnapped without a struggle.

So how was the book? Well I thought I was really going to hate it and guessed it would dive with everyone else as well. But it was fine, a nice easy read .. some interesting art work (still not sure if it is my style or not).

Only minor point is that Autry certainly seems to talk to himself a LOT, explaining every bit of the plot in very simple terms. I notice that Jim has also mentiond this.

My favorite story and one I recommend everyone to read was certainly the first one "Gene Autry and the Laughing Gunman".

[Corganoid]

That was a fun read. I don't really have a lot to add that others haven't already said. I loved that Gene voiced the fact that he'd been doing a lot of window peeping. I was thinking the same thing before I got to the page where he actually said it. That gave me a good chuckle. Some of the artwork confused me a little as far as the settings and such.   A good example is on page 35 when Dirk and Rena spot Gene Autry. The way panel 5 is composed, it seems as though they are looking right at him and only a few feet away. I was thrown off a bit because I thought they were talking directly to him only to find out they were simply conversing with each other.

Other than that, a good story and simple artwork. Exactly what I was hoping for.

Misappear mentioned the dead man being left behind, it would seem that Gene not only had a shovel but the means to make a grave for the man.  Page 31 panel 1 shows a wooden cross off in the distance. I guess we can assume it is a grave that Gene made for the dead guy. Or perhaps it was some other unfortunate soul's grave...it is Dead Man's Flats after all.

[crashryan]

I grew up during the TV western craze of the 1950s. As a little kid I loved Hoppy, Roy, the Cisco Kid and The Lone Ranger. As a pre-teen it was the Warner Brothers shows and Have Gun Will Travel. Gene Autry never had much of a TV presence. During the nostalgia fad of the late 1960s I caught a few of his B-westerns but wasn't impressed. Autry was chubby and lacked charisma. He had a good singing voice, though.

Of course this comic predates all that. I liked it more than I thought I would. The stories are okay, but I'm struck by how slowly they move. I think what slows them down is the dialogue pacing. In many conversations the speaker's line is in one panel and the listener's reply is in another. This generates lots of extra panels. The lead story ("The Laughing Gunman") doesn't really need 26 pages to be told. The four-tier format makes pages crowded, but I must admit Jesse Marsh's sparse art saves them from appearing busy.

The story I like most is "The Laughing Gunman." I was put off by "The Gold Bell" because it uses clunky co-incidences like the broken suspender buckle (why isn't the gunman's shoulder strap falling down when Gene sees him in town?). I was caught off-guard by the midget's blatantly racist song about "greasers" and "white men." Obviously Dell hadn't yet made its Pledge to Parents ("The Dell Code eliminates entirely, rather than regulates, objectionable material.")

As to the artwork. I never liked Jesse Marsh's art as a kid. Years later I read Russ Manning's eloquent defense of Marsh in a fanzine. Out of a sense of duty I re-evaluated Marsh and tried to appreciate him, but I never warmed to his art. It always seems half-finished. The top panel of preview page 35 leaps out at you because it's the only one in the whole book offering a full background with perspective and attention to detail. It is interesting though to see Roy Crane women popping up in the barroom scene of "The Golden Bell."

While the drawing in "The Wonder Horse" is much better, the best art in the issue is Till Goodan's work on the filler pages.

[crashryan]

One subject I forgot to mention. Others have pointed out the way Gene constantly tells himself what's going on. It's a challenge that still vexes comics writers: how does one tell readers things that can't be understood from the artwork alone? It's especially tough when there's only one person in a panel. Dell wasn't big on long expository captions, which left dialogue and thought balloons. I'm not sure why the editors preferred spoken monologues to internal ones. Maybe they rationalized that Gene was talking to his horse. It certainly makes one appreciate sidekicks.