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Wilderness The True Story of Simon Girty The Renegade #1-2
Wilderness: The True Story of Simon Girty, Renegade
Enter the glory and darkness of the first American Frontier, as seen through the eyes of the men who lived - and died - there. This trade collects both "Book 1: The Borderland!" and "Book 2: Bloody Ground!" of the classic western by Timothy Truman.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
155 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1990
40 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Truman
542 books57 followersTimothy Truman is an American writer, artist and musician. He is best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art, and in particular, for his work on Grimjack (with John Ostrander), Scout, and the reinvention of Jonah Hex, with Joe R. Lansdale. Truman is currently writing Conan and is an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
Truman's first professional comics work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander, for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983, before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984, and continued for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, Grimjack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.
Truman has been continuously creative for more than 20 years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing. In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics. He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse. In 1991, at DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman. With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter. With his son, Benjamin Truman, he created A Man Named Hawken.
Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote virtually the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics, after David Michelinie launched the book with its first three-issue story arc and subsequently departed the series. For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash; and wrote Star Wars at Dark Horse Comics. While at Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of Conan from Kurt Busiek in 2006, and after that series ended he started Conan The Cimmerian.
Truman's startling work, Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel that translated the horrors and triumphs of the American settler's western frontier in a fresh, interesting light. In bold, black and white use of positive and negative space, Truman appealed to both young and old audiences in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was especially important for West Virginians that had been struggling against novelist Zane Grey's portrayal of Lewis Wetzel in an overly romanticized, florid light. Truman himself is an avid historian who dislikes nothing more than to see a drawing of a war using the wrong weaponry, and the second volume of his two-volume series on Simon Girty was devoted to the errors caught in his first volume.
Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the West Virginia Outdoor Theater, is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia. When asked why he used "Tecumseh" instead of "Tecumtheh" he explained he didn't want to explain to the mainstream audience the variance in spelling — the movement on pronunciation began with General William Tecumseh Sherman who came from a family that wanted to commemorate the warrior, but felt the lisping "Tecumtheh" would be unmanly.
Truman's first professional comics work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander, for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983, before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984, and continued for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, Grimjack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.
Truman has been continuously creative for more than 20 years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing. In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics. He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse. In 1991, at DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman. With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter. With his son, Benjamin Truman, he created A Man Named Hawken.
Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote virtually the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics, after David Michelinie launched the book with its first three-issue story arc and subsequently departed the series. For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash; and wrote Star Wars at Dark Horse Comics. While at Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of Conan from Kurt Busiek in 2006, and after that series ended he started Conan The Cimmerian.
Truman's startling work, Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel that translated the horrors and triumphs of the American settler's western frontier in a fresh, interesting light. In bold, black and white use of positive and negative space, Truman appealed to both young and old audiences in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was especially important for West Virginians that had been struggling against novelist Zane Grey's portrayal of Lewis Wetzel in an overly romanticized, florid light. Truman himself is an avid historian who dislikes nothing more than to see a drawing of a war using the wrong weaponry, and the second volume of his two-volume series on Simon Girty was devoted to the errors caught in his first volume.
Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the West Virginia Outdoor Theater, is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia. When asked why he used "Tecumseh" instead of "Tecumtheh" he explained he didn't want to explain to the mainstream audience the variance in spelling — the movement on pronunciation began with General William Tecumseh Sherman who came from a family that wanted to commemorate the warrior, but felt the lisping "Tecumtheh" would be unmanly.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 26, 2023
It is strangely appropriate that the single most accurate modern telling of the history of the renegade Simon Girty is in the form of a graphic novel. Throughout the 19th century, when Girty was a standard part of American folklore, his legend was more myth than history, so it is an amusing ironic turn that a historically accurate retelling of Girty's tale should take a form usually reserved to fiction and legends.
Girty's tale is intimately entangled with the nearly seventy year long warfare of the eastern Woodland Indian tribes against European incursion. In 1756, little more than a year into that period, a teenage Simon Girty was taken captive by Natives and lived among them for the next four years. Ransomed at the end of the French and Indian War, he came back to live on the frontier in Pittsburgh, where he proved valuable as a scout and interpreter during the small frontier clashes in the interval between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.
With the coming of the Revolution his associates and inclinations put him at odds with the patriots in Pittsburgh, so he fled to the wilderness, and rejoined the Native tribes who were allied with the British against the rebels. For the rest of his life, he would fight alongside of the Indian warriors - first against the patriot rebels, and later against the citizens of the new Unites States. Because he was a white man who had turned "savage", he was not only castigated as a Tory and a traitor to the American cause, but as a subhuman beast and demon of the frontier. This was the legend that followed his name for nearly 100 years, until his memory began to sink into obscurity.
Timothy Truman tells Girty's story within the context of the savage history of the times in which Girty lived. He dispenses with the prejudice which condemned every act of Native cruelty while condoning or ignoring all such acts on the part of the whites. In his brilliantly inked pictures and tight prose, he tells the story in all of its savagery and sadness. He shows the complexity of a tragic conflict between cultures with the perspective of the losers restored to the tale, finally giving it the balanced treatment that it lacked for so long. His Simon Girty is still a dark figure, but emerges more as a tragic hero trapped by fate than as the beast he was so long pictured.
Truman's artwork is stunning, and his historical research exacting. A reading of his graphic novel of Simon Girty is not only good entertainment, but presents better history than is available in most standard biographies you are likely to find of the man. I recommend it highly.
Girty's tale is intimately entangled with the nearly seventy year long warfare of the eastern Woodland Indian tribes against European incursion. In 1756, little more than a year into that period, a teenage Simon Girty was taken captive by Natives and lived among them for the next four years. Ransomed at the end of the French and Indian War, he came back to live on the frontier in Pittsburgh, where he proved valuable as a scout and interpreter during the small frontier clashes in the interval between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.
With the coming of the Revolution his associates and inclinations put him at odds with the patriots in Pittsburgh, so he fled to the wilderness, and rejoined the Native tribes who were allied with the British against the rebels. For the rest of his life, he would fight alongside of the Indian warriors - first against the patriot rebels, and later against the citizens of the new Unites States. Because he was a white man who had turned "savage", he was not only castigated as a Tory and a traitor to the American cause, but as a subhuman beast and demon of the frontier. This was the legend that followed his name for nearly 100 years, until his memory began to sink into obscurity.
Timothy Truman tells Girty's story within the context of the savage history of the times in which Girty lived. He dispenses with the prejudice which condemned every act of Native cruelty while condoning or ignoring all such acts on the part of the whites. In his brilliantly inked pictures and tight prose, he tells the story in all of its savagery and sadness. He shows the complexity of a tragic conflict between cultures with the perspective of the losers restored to the tale, finally giving it the balanced treatment that it lacked for so long. His Simon Girty is still a dark figure, but emerges more as a tragic hero trapped by fate than as the beast he was so long pictured.
Truman's artwork is stunning, and his historical research exacting. A reading of his graphic novel of Simon Girty is not only good entertainment, but presents better history than is available in most standard biographies you are likely to find of the man. I recommend it highly.
March 8, 2021
I really liked the novelty of a history book in graphic novel format, we need more of these. Its an interesting story, and just kind of makes me want to do a deeper dive into the other figures Simon Girdy met throughout his long and active life. It can get brutal but thats just a reflection of the brutality of the time. Would recommend to anyone that has an interest in colonial history.
October 19, 2021
Truman doing the life of Simon Girty? What a find! Sadly, there is way too much infodumping in narration for the comic format to really work well.
January 7, 2010
This graphic biography of Simon Girty, a person of great importance as regards the European consumption of what we know as North America, specifically the Great Lakes region, is very well researched and objectively produced. The period of history represented within these pages is, in my view, probably the most important to the overall manifestation of America and spread of European colonialization of the western hemisphere in general. It is during this time that the interactions between Indians and Whites were nearly in balance in terms of the struggle for the lands of "The Northwest Territory." The efforts of people like Girty, Tecumseh, and Simon Kenton majorly impacted the events of the day. Of these men, Girty is perhaps the least understood or known, and most misrepresented. It's a pleasure to be able to delve into Girty's adventures as accurately depicted as it is here in graphic form by Tim Truman.
November 29, 2012
Loved Truman's biography of a little known part of american lore.
Truman's attention to detail, both in his research and his attention to details such as the clothing, the weaponry and the customs, are a reason this is truly a Graphic Novel deserving of the term.
Truman's attention to detail, both in his research and his attention to details such as the clothing, the weaponry and the customs, are a reason this is truly a Graphic Novel deserving of the term.
February 15, 2016
Very good historical comic story. Truman is fantastic at his rendering of the period. Very recommended
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews