The Kickstarter for “Warriors of the Wild Lands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans” continues to go well. After Day 2, we’re more than halfway there. Thanks for the support. Please continue to spread the word, and if you haven’t jumped in yet — get your moccasins on and hit the trail!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/809441675/warriors-of-the-wildlands-frontier-partisans-book
Historian Paul A. Hutton and True West Magazine publisher Bob Boze Bell are obsessed with the tale of Mickey Free. And that’s a grand and wonderful thing.
Mickey Free (born Felix Ward) was a Mexican kid whose kidnapping by Apaches in 1861 led to the Cut-the-Tent affair and touched of decades of war between the U.S. and the Chiricahua Apaches. Free became a scout and interpreter for the U.S. Army, and a protégé of the great scout Al Sieber. He features heavily in Hutton’s magnificent new history of the Apache Wars, which is a must-read item for your Frontier Partisans library.
For several years, Hutton has been working with Bell on a graphic novel treatment of Mickey Free. We’ve gotten teasers and excerpts, and the two saddle partners obviously can’t let the story go. The current issue of True West is largely devoted to Mickey Free and the Hunt for the Apache Kid. It’s a magnificent issue — go grab it off the news stand. I got two copies — one to keep and the other to cut out and paste the tasty art in my journal and tack it up on the office walls.
I love Bell’s artwork — it’s authentic as befits a man who is pursuing the truth of the West, but it retains a vivid, almost pulpy flair that honors the fact that these stories are intense and larger-than-life. Colorful, you might say. He’s really made a visual feast out of True West, combining his own art, photography and really exceptional graphic design. It’s a hard job in today’s market to create a magazine that has solid and worthwhile content while feeding the screen-driven addiction to exciting visuals, visuals, visuals. It’s especially hard when you’re audience is traditional, but you also want to appeal to a younger demographic to whom you can pass the torch of passion for frontier history. Believe me, that conundrum occupies a fair bit of my own attention.
I think the folks at True West have done a magnificent job on that. But of course I am biased due to the fact that they regularly hit me with a spike of my personal drugs of choice — Apaches and the Mexican Revolution.
Keith West says
I’ve been picking up True West every month when I browse B&N, but I’m gonna have to get a subscription.
JimC says
I know — stupid to buy repeatedly off the news stand, but I dumped all my subscriptions when the crash hit and we had to tighten belts — and I haven’t re-upped, so I spend more than I should, cuz I’m a financial genius.
lane batot says
I kinda LIKE buying off’n the newsstand with most magazines–no pigs-in-a-poke that way. You can take yer time perusing it and decide if you REALLY want it–so many full subscriptions have a certain amount of “dud months”, it seems. And “True West” IS one usually available in my local Wal-Mart, where I have no shame in going to shop for my groceries and other supplies–I am amazed how many folks that won’t be caught dead in a Wal-Mart–a social class hierarchy thing, apparently. I am among the lowest of peasants in the fiefdom, so I could care less about my “image” on that account. And whaddya know–I went thar fer some gross-rees last night! And got MY copy of this issue of True West!(after carefully perusing it, of course…..)
JimC says
It’s a good un, ain’t it?
lane batot says
Definetely NOT a dud month!
Bob Boze Bell says
I could not be more thrilled that you all are buying the magazine off the newsstand, however, let’s say you buy five issues a year, that’s more than $30. But if you are a subscriber, you get all 12 issues a year for $29.95, delivered RIGHT TO YOUR HOUSE. It’s crazy NOT to subscribe. We are working on October right now and it’s got never-before published photos with great maps and the best history writing there is. But if you want to go the long dollar, and be all picky-choosy, that’s fine with me.
Bob Boze Bell, Executive Editor True West magazine
JimC says
Hah! Yes, of course. general business brilliance on display on my part, as per usual.
I have the sub card from the Mickey Free edition. Will act.
Thanks for stopping by the campfire. Love your work immoderately.
Marvin Lee says
Bob, I let my subscription slip, buying off the news stand on iffy ground. It’s like attending the church of the desert and not becoming a member. Paying more in offerings than tithe. Should buy into a lifetime membership or something of the sort? Love your view of Arizona, the West, and more.