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So in part because I’m still trying to decide what I think of Joss Whedon’s Firefly (no unreserved love, that’s for sure, and the whole space-virgin/space-whore dichotomy is really space-annoying) I re-read my Tex Arcana comic book after rehearsal last night. Common denominator: both western + other genre (sci-fi in one case, horror in the other).

I remember “Tex Arcana” fondly as one of the best serials in Heavy Metal magazine, which was overall an awkward mix of really good fantasy/surreal/SF comics (mostly from Europeans like Caza, Druillet, and Moebius) and some pretty crass and forgettable T&A. “Tex” didn’t hold up as well as I might have hoped. It strikes me now that it was kinda in the middle: not so heavy on the “T” per se, although there was a bit, but it leant a little hard on “we doan need no steenking batches”-style racial and gender stereotypes. Still, it was pretty good-humored, often funny, and no one draws demons quite like Findley — his art is really something else, very lush and detailed.

Re-reading it reminded me forcibly that the volume I have is incomplete. A sequel was planned but never published, but to my surprise and pleasure, the whole blamed thing is on the web (or, anyway, as much of it as Findley ever finished) so you can make up your own mind. Which connects to my tedious maunderings about copyright: Findley’s publisher went belly-up, and in response he’s sharing his work freely with anyone who wants it. Which is great — but then again, he’s not being paid for it, and he may not have the time or motivation to ever finish it. Which is less than great. (Also less than great — my very favorite bit, in which Findley’s little mushroom- and lizard-demon critters show up in his own apartment and drag him to his drafting board, is omitted. Oh, well.)

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