It's hard to imagine now, but once upon a time you couldn't open a book, go to a movie, tune in a radio or turn on a TV set without being confronted by cowboys and Indians. The American West exerted a powerful hold on the world's popular imagination during the first half of the 20th century.
Australians developed a special affinity with the Western' in all its forms - perhaps because they shared with America an experience of frontier history. Locally produced reprints of American cowboy comics flooded Australia in the 1940s and 1950s, many of them featuring the exploits of movie idols like Hopalong Cassidy, Lash LaRue and Roy Rogers. |
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Australian publishers were quick to cash in on the popularity of cowboy comics, and one of the first major successes in Australian comics was a Western gunfighter, the Lone Avenger. |
What he lacked in originality the Lone Avenger more than made up for in popularity - and his success sparked a stampede of imitators. The Lone Wolf, Twilight Ranger, the Hooded Rider - they all had one thing in common: they called the open plains of the American West their home.
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However, a resurgence of national pride after World War II saw renewed interest in Australia's colonial past. Readers could now enjoy the adventures of characters like Captain Justice and Ben Barbary, who roamed throughout gold rush-era Australia. |
By the early 1960s, however, cowboy comics were riding off into the sunset, as the Western gave way to superheroes.
Illustrations
Top Hal ENGLISH (cover artist), Clancy of the Overflow No 2, Sydney, Apache Comics, c late 1950s
Middle and Right ‘Lucky’ DOOLAN (cover artist), The Kelly Gang Rides, East Brighton, L Clapperton, c 1945
(detail)
Bottom Michael NOONAN (writer), 1921–2000, Keith CHATTO (artist), 1924–1992, The Twilight Ranger No 7, Sydney, Apache Comics, c 1956
