Six Gun Samurai by Patrick Lee
I discovered this thanks to a friend who posted it on the Awesome Comics podcast forum. I had never come across the title and as soon as I saw it, I hit eBay and picked up three volumes pretty cheap.
I can’t find much about the author, apart from it may be a pseudonym for piccadilly author Patrick E Andrews. There are 8 books in the series.
This a great east meets west pulp action novel. Tanaka Tom Fletcher is an American that was raised in Japan. After the mission he was staying is attacked and everyone killed, he is taken in by a highly honoured Samurai as his own son, trained in Bushido and is now a formidable warrior. He returns to the States to avenge his families torture and murder by rouge Union soldiers lead by the evil Colonel Edward Hollister. This is the main theme of the series as he chases Hollister and his gang across the USA. In this volume, it introduces all the set ups for the series, include a section where Tom learns how to shoot a gun while hiding in the desert recuperating from an infected bullet wound. Needless to say, he becomes a crack shot in a couple of days.
The action is fast and gritty, with the added bonus of Fletchers swords chopping limbs and slicing people in half. The body slicing starts within the first 10 pages. Tom walks into a bar dressed in full Japanese clothing. It just happens 2 dubious characters start hassling him and it ends with one headless and the other handless. He gets arrested, but the local sherif lets him off. He then heads off, dressing in western gear , but swords still by his side .There are also couple of fantastic action scenes, one where is in full Samurai Armour , and especially the last battle with heads exploding, fingers sliced off and peoples guts spilling to the floor in shock.
It’ has the usual western character tropes, which is perfect for the type of novel. It’s very much like a amped up version of the Movie Red Sun. It gives a bit of back story about Toms life in Japan in a series of flashbacks, although I’m not sure how much research the author did about traditions in the far east as some of it is a touch cringy.
My only complaint is it really gets going towards the end, then just ends suddenly with him writing a letter to his Japanese about his exploits and plans. Otherwise, This a really enjoyable western action adventure novel, very much in the vein of the Piccadilly Westerns. the Samurai element adding something a bit extra.
There was a comic that came out in 2005 but has nothing to do with the books.
The cover artwork, I believe, was by pulp artist extraordinaire Bruce Minney. Between 1969 and 1986 He created over 400 covers for all the big pulp publishers, and 40 years illustrated numerous men’s adventure magazine covers. You can read a great article about him here.
