Lost Cause: John Wesley Hardin, the Taylor-Sutton Feud, and Reconstruction Texas

Rating:
Summary: great storytelling
Review: ...when you are looking at the cover of this book by this veteran comix artist you may wonder whether he has gone out of his famous and remarkable style and beacme more mainstream. Well, rest assured, he did not. This fine volume of Jackson historical revisionism is every bit as good as his prior famous works, e.g. "Comanche Moon" and others. This time again it is Texas, but Texas of Reconstruction era, one period of our history that has not been fully explained and is usually taught very one-sided at the universities at al. Here, Mr. Jackson attempts and is successful in giving us a point of view that the conquered Confederate Texas might have held. Since these were times of sudden change and brutality, thus there is violence, more violence, rivalry, racial prejudice, social strife, medeival-like vendetta cycles, poverty - all told with astonishing and refreshing detail and precision of this veteran underground comix artist. Necessarily, this one is a very controversial angle of the Reconstruction era, the subject and theme being loaded with racial and social prejudices and hatred that Hardin and his kind might have had and it seems that they in fact had. This is not for the politically correct folks, but rather for those who seek to find out some reasonable explanation and to gain deeper foundation in order to gain the feel of what might have been like during those hard times in Texas. Finally, Mr. Jackson tells his story while maintaing the most amazing attention to every possible historical detail( as every personality, their guns, clothes and other period material culture items and pieces are acurately portrayed albeit drawn in his unique graphic style). One may ask what more is to ask about this work that is both the finest graphic storytelling and a fine example of reasonable yet passionate historical scholarship.

Rating:
Summary: The Good (cover), The Bad (text), & The Ugly (artwork)
Review: Intriguing, romantic cover that captures the Westerner's imagination. Too bad the cover artist didn't write & illustrate this book (really a comic book as "graphic novel" would be a complimentary exaggeration). Text is apologist history, weak on facts, thick on excuses for Hardin's murderous tendencies. Hardin doesn't get to his infamous gunfighting career until page 86, so "Lost Cause" doesn't even work as a traditional Western romp. Artwork inside is crude featuring stiff, exaggerated characters that make "Pokemon" look like Rembrandt. "Lost Cause" doesn't work as history or entertainment. If you are interested in Hardin, check out Leon Metz's or Richard Marohn's bios or even Hardin's autobiography. As for "Lost Cause," save your money--the cover is the best part & you've already seen that.

Rating:
Summary: The Good (cover), The Bad (text), & The Ugly (artwork)
Review: Intriguing, romantic cover that captures the Westerner's imagination. Too bad the cover artist didn't write & illustrate this book (really a comic book as "graphic novel" would be a complimentary exaggeration). Text is apologist history, weak on facts, thick on excuses for Hardin's murderous tendencies. Hardin doesn't get to his infamous gunfighting career until page 86, so "Lost Cause" doesn't even work as a traditional Western romp. Artwork inside is crude featuring stiff, exaggerated characters that make "Pokemon" look like Rembrandt. "Lost Cause" doesn't work as history or entertainment. If you are interested in Hardin, check out Leon Metz's or Richard Marohn's bios or even Hardin's autobiography. As for "Lost Cause," save your money--the cover is the best part & you've already seen that.