The American Wild West is the
most romantic historical setting I’ve ever encountered. Even more romantic than the best setting of
fantasy itself, the Middle Ages. Thus, I
consider the legend of Western heroes – the cowboys and gunfighters – bigger
and more kickass than the legend of chivalrous knights (maybe because cowboys
and gunfighters are more of anti-heroes than heroes, while knights are mostly
more of the hero kind. And we all know
that anti-heroes usually have more depth than heroes). And not only knights, I even consider cowboys
and gunfighters better than other romanticized historical characters like
samurais, ninjas, and pirates. Indeed,
knights, pirates, ninjas, and samurais’ fictional or legendary interpretations
have their own respective unique appeals.
But it is with fiction’s portrayal of cowboys and gunfighters that I
found to be most fascinating. Listed are
the 10 fictional “cowboy/gunfighter” characters I liked most.
Note: you will notice that most
characters in this list aren’t from pure Westerns. It just happens that there are more characters
that interested me in sci-fi Western or mashed-up Western genres than the usual
plain Western.
10.) QUICK DRAW McGRAW
The 10th spot almost
went to James T. West and Artemus Gordon (from the “Wild Wild West” TV show,
which was also eventually made into a movie).
But as I think more as I construct this list, in the end, I decided to
give the spot to Quick Draw in spite of him being “cartoony”. Why to an anthropomorphic Hanna-Barbera
cartoon character? Well, because of the
character’s uniqueness of being a Western law man that has a masked vigilante
alter ego! That is something I haven’t
found in other gunfighter characters.
Quick Draw’s main vocation is a sheriff.
That is badass, already. But –
not content with having this cool job – he would sometimes also don a
Zorro-like masked identity called “El Kabong” – having the trademark attack of swinging down with a rope crying “OLAYYYEEE!”,
and slamming an acoustic guitar on his opponent’s head with a “KABOOONG!” shout.
9.) COLT
Among all the protagonists of
“Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs”, the most “cowboy” among them – or the only
one who was actually patterned with the cowboy stereotype (the other two male
leads, Saber and Fireball, are based on a Scottish Highland cavalier and a race
car driver, respectively) – is Colt.
He has a perfect accuracy with the gun.
And he also has a small spaceship named, with a very cowboy sound to it,
“the Bronco Buster”.
8.) JAKE LONERGAN
I haven’t read the graphic novel
yet, but I did watch the “Cowboys & Aliens” movie. Both Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig’s
characters were badass in the movie, but Craig’s stood out more (since he was
the lead after all). His character, Jake
Lonergan, was an infamous, wanted outlaw.
When the audience first encountered him, he was amnesiac and had an
alien metal bracelet around his wrist.
He had no idea who he was and how the bracelet got around his wrist. As the story proceeds on, it is revealed that
Jake, along with his lover, was along the first humans abducted by the invading
aliens. His lover was killed in an
experiment by the aliens but Jake was able to escape, stealing the bracelet – a
standard alien weapon – along the way. However,
abducted humans were given some “hypnotism” by the aliens, making them
catatonic or amnesiac, explaining why Jake had lost his memory. After regaining his memory, which includes
the location of the alien base, Jake would lead an unlikely party of humans –
made up of cowboys, outlaws, and Indians – to rescue the abducted humans and to
fight off the alien invasion. The Wild
West humans were heavily outmatched to such advance technology wielded by the
aliens and only Jake’s stolen bracelet weapon allowed the possibility of doing
some actual damage. Still, with Jake
leading them, and with humanity’s stubbornness, resiliency, and cunning, they
were able to beat the aliens in spite of the great disadvantage.
7.) LEE SCORESBY
Lee Scoresby is a cowboy mercenary
aeronaut from the fantasy world of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials”
trilogy. Originally from the country of
Texas, Lee spent most of his adventures in the northern land, where he met and
fought side by side with his bestfriend, the armored bear, Iorek Byrnison. He is an expert sharpshooter with the gun. As an aeronaut, he is very skilled and
meticulous in piloting his balloon. In “The
Golden Compass” film, he was perfectly played by Sam Elliot, who isn’t a
stranger with Westerns. Sam Elliot’s
performance, the appeal of a cowboy on a balloon (instead of on a horse) on the
Artic (instead of a Wild West setting), and remaining badass despite an
advanced age made me mightily like the character.
6.) MALCOLM “MAL” REYNOLDS
6.) MALCOLM “MAL” REYNOLDS
Mal is the protagonist of the
cult hit space western “Firefly” (and its spin-off movie “Serenity”). His demeanor and disposition is definitely
that of a Western cowboy. He is a courageous,
cunning, intellectual, and strong leader.
He is a skilled fighter and has –a recurring element of most characters
on this list – very good shooting skills.
He is, as described by creator Joss Whedon, “everything that a hero is
not.” Mal greatly reminds me of Han
Solo, but I surprisingly like Mal more than Han. During the Unification War against the
Alliance, Mal volunteered for the Independents (the losing side in the war). During his stint for the Independents, he
rose to the rank of sergeant and it was implied he also was able to hold a
brevetted rank of captain. After the
war, Mal acquired an old, cranky Firefly-class transport ship which he named “Serenity”
after the Battle of Serenity Valley, the deciding battle of the war. With his eccentric crew, Mal makes his living
by smuggling and cargo transport.
5.) JONAH HEX
Both Marvel Comics and DC Comics
have Western characters in their mainstream universes. But among these characters, I think the most
popular is Jonah Hex (because he is the character I’m most familiar with, and,
most likely, most familiar to you, too).
Hex is a scarred bounty hunter in the DC Universe’s Wild West. He is very gruff and cynical, an infamous and
ruthless killer, but honorable and will protect and avenge the innocent and
weak. Despite being blind in one eye, he
displays close to superhuman accuracy with the gun. He displays equal excellence in shooting with
both his right and left hand. He’s also
very fast on the draw that he can shoot multiple opponents before any of them
can draw their guns or get a shot off. He
is indeed a very skillful shooter that when he was transported to the future,
he still managed to outgun everybody that has modern weaponry in spite of just
using single-action revolvers. On
time-travel storylines, Hex managed to meet modern characters in the DC
Universe. He is such a badass that he
had bested Batman in combat at more than one time.
4.) THE MAN WITH NO NAME
Brilliantly played by Clint
Eastwood, “The Man with No Name” (“Uumo senza nome” in Italian) is the
protagonist of Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns (the best known being the epic
“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”). He
is a lone, quiet, stern, and tough character with a high but unconventional
sense of justice. He has a lightning fast draw and brilliant shooting skills. Though he is “the Good” in the “The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly” trio, he is not really a straight moral guy, but he, being a
bounty hunter, lives for the gold and money.
3.) THE LONE RANGER
The Lone Ranger, could be, the
most iconic Western fictional hero in this list. He is such an immortal icon that his masked appearance,
his music theme, and his catchphrase (“Hi-yo, Silver! Away!”) are widely known
to many. He is a former Texas Ranger,
along with his Indian sidekick Tonto, who fights injustice in the Wild West. He conducts himself with a strict moral code
that as a pop culture icon, he is a significant role model to audiences. My most favorite thing about the Lone Ranger
is he only uses silver bullets – not because he fights werewolves (he doesn’t) –
but because they serve to remind him that life is precious and, like his silver
bullets, should not be wasted (that’s very poetically beautiful!).
2.) BRAVESTARR
1.) ROLAND DESCHAIN
Roland Deschain is the protagonist
of Stephen King’s epic “The Dark Tower” series (you got to read the entire awesome
series to appreciate Roland greatly). He
is the last of the Gunslingers, a venerable order of highly skilled combatants,
peacekeepers and diplomats patterned with the gunfighters of the Wild West and the
knights of Arthurian legend. He is the
youngest ever to become a gunslinger (showing how talented and stubborn he is) at
the age of 14. Roland’s personality and
image is heavily based on “The Man with No Name” (the number 4 in this list),
while his quest and individual struggles are based on the Robert Browning poem,
“Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”.
He has superhuman accuracy and lightning fast draw, that his hand
becomes a blur when he draws his six-shooters.
He is an excellent shooter with both left and right hands. Aside from amazing gun shooting prowess, he
is also very proficient in other weapons and skills (Gunslingers are greatly trained
in different disciplines and expertise) and possesses great tactical and
intellectual capacity. Though mostly
detached, cold, and ruthless, he also can sympathize with the weak and can invest
love to people he cares for. However,
his obsession for the Dark Tower is greater than any heroism he possesses or concern
he has on people. With his actions
resulting, directly or indirectly, to the loss of the people he cared for, he
is left mentally and emotionally scarred – their deaths burdened him till the
end. He is a lonely man on a quest, not
only to save the universe, but to find his redemption as well.
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