In July, Marvel's multi-month Western event continues with the one-shot special Marvel Westerns: Kid Colt and the Arizona Girl by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray with art by Federica Manfredi.

Here's how the solicits describe the book:

Written by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Jim McCann, art by Federica Manfredi, Palmiotti and David Williams, cover by Eric Powell.

When wild west gunfighters with a reputation for shootin' first and askin' questions later, Kid Colt and Arizona Annie, take a job escorting a stage coach through dangerous Apache territory, they come upon a town stranger than any the west has seen. It doesn't take long before Annie and the Kid find themselves in hot water with the locals and runnin' low on bullets. And that's when things get really weird!

Plus: An 8-page story by Jim McCann and David Williams, introducing the woman who is here to tame the Wild West, one engraved invitation at a time - the Philadelphia Philly ­ and a man who's lost it all, even his name ­ the man called Spender.

Also, re-presenting three classic Marvel Western tales by two comic legends: "Stagecoach to Shotgun Gap" and "Those Who Live by the Gun" by Jack Kirby and "The Man Who Robbed the Express" by Dick Ayers.

48 pages, $3.99, in stores on July 5.

The writing duo of Palmiotti and Gray's been blazing the trails with their work on DC's Jonah Hex. And according to the former, he knew nuts about who Arizona Annie "was and Kid Colt usually read just like any other Western comic when I was young. Nothing stood out. Mark was reading what Justin and I were doing on Jonah Hex and we figure that's why we got the call."

Uh, oh…

Wait till you read what Gray has to say…

"I branded cattle in Wyoming one summer," he began. "I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. It was pretty nasty stuff. The smell of burnt animal fur, the horrible screaming. Cows scream, did you know that? It's not all 'moo' this and 'moo' that. I couldn't eat a burger for weeks. This is to say nothing of the castration part. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to hold down a cow while someone grabs its testicles and then… well, it isn't really a snipping sound because they use a knife and then they spray this industrial antibiotic stuff all over the wound, it's bright blue like spray paint. There were twenty of us against 150 head of cattle and let me tell you, many a cow knew what it was to scream that day. Oh man, I said too much, didn't I? PETA is going to send a hitman after me."

Well, while he (and Palmiotti) are still up and standing, both writers admit that they're big fans of the Westerns genre. "When it's done right," Palmiotti added. "

"With [Marvel Westerns: Kid Colt and the Arizona Girl], we took things in a totally different direction than expected, since these characters exist in the Marvel Universe. We had some fun with them."Sure, [the early Marvel Western stories] were the cheap comics [that I read] when I was a kid… the kind that was in the 10 for a buck bins, but I bought them anyway. I was always more into Marvel's horror and superhero books. What we tried to do is give this title and its characters a totally new problem to deal with."

"I like riding horses, sleeping outside, shooting guns, I drink whiskey and I'm a terrible card player," Gray said. "I don't really like the hat though, it don't suit me. When I can't sleep, which is most nights, I'm glued to the Western channel watching all the old one and two star black and white flicks. The harshness of the landscape, the tough living and the self-imposed morality of a western story is what I find appealing. I also like the fact that Westerns are based on real events rather than imaginary places like Middle Earth or the Planet Endor. Who's up for an Ewok hunt? Those things are worse than prairie dogs. Yes, I realize I'm sounding a lot like Ted Nugent right now."

As for which version of Kid Colt it's going to be in the one-shot special? "We did our reading," Palmiotti proudly said.

So, is it Blaine Colt or Elric Freedom Whitemane?

Gray: "Which one is from Earth 616?"

Back in 2000, writer John Ostrander and artist Leonardo Manco had actually retconned Kid Colt and other characters in their Blaze of Glory limited series. However, according to Palmiotti, "This is our take on the character based on what we read about them both for research of the title. I think John Ostrander is a brilliant writer, but no one gave us any background we were supposed to follow. We did our own research and since the story is a stand alone and not part of some continuity that may or may not exist, it really wasn't that important to the story that we follow everything that has come before. We got the basics of the character down and ran with that. Trust me when I say that this story we presented is not like anything done in the past.

"This is just a fun single-issue weird Western tale, no continuity, no need to have read up on the entire history of the characters to understand who or what they are, basically a free and clear short story," Gray added. "You remember those, right?"

As mentioned, artist Federica Manfredi, who previously drew the [url=http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=34525]"Vampire by Night"[/url] story in Amazing Fantasy, is illustrating the main story by Palmiotti and Gray. "Frederica did her usual beautiful job capturing the look of the old Western comics and backed by Laurie Kronenberg colors, it all makes for a beautiful book," Palmiotti said. "Add to that the fact we have a short story written by Jim McCann and two classic tales by Kirby and Dick Ayres and you got yourselves one hell of a good ride."

Related article:

DAN SLOTT TALKS TWO-GUN KID

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