WYNONNA EARP: FINALLY A TV SERIES

Never let it be said that Balladeer’s Blog’s readers don’t get things done! In 2013 I covered the neglected comic book heroine Wynonna Earp and hoped for a movie about her. Still no movie BUT the Sci Fi Channel is launching a television series based on the monster-slaying figure. 

The eponymous series debuts April 1st (but this is NOT an early April Fool’s joke, I swear!). Here’s a refresher on Wynonna’s action-packed saga.

WYNONNA EARP – December of 1996 saw the comic book debut of Wynonna Earp, a descendant of Frontier Marshal Wyatt Earp. Wynonna worked in present-day law enforcement in the American southwest. What separates her from her more well known ancestor is the fact that Wynonna was a United States Marshal, Black Badge Division.

The Black Badge Division was a top-secret branch of Federal Marshals established by President Theodore Roosevelt to deal with paranormal menaces. That’s right, Wynonna Earp was as sexy as Barb Wire or Xena and fought werewolves, mummies, zombies, gremlins and all other manner of supernatural foes just like Kolchak or the X-Files crew. In her earlier adventures Marshal Earp was drawn as a drop-dead sex-bomb who often gouged out the eyes of her opponents with her impossibly high heels while in her final few escapades she was drawn as a more sensibly-dressed heroine.

Wynonna Earp was the creation of comics veteran Beau Smith and in my opinion she was more deserving of a movie than either Tank Girl or Ultra Violet. To whet your appetites for the kind of adventures Wynonna had here are quick takes on the Hot Heroine’s entire saga. (That saga is available in individual installments or in a collected edition): 

THE ORIGIN OF WYNONNA EARP – The tale that featured Wynonna’s first battle with a supernatural foe- Bob Grummley, an undead cowboy who had battled Wyatt Earp over a century earlier and had been brought back to life by a pact with Satan. Wynonna started the tale as a regular Arizona policewoman but after her discovery of the type of paranormal menaces that run loose in the world Chief Director Austin Taylor recruited her into the Black Badge Division of the U.S. Marshal’s Service. 

REDNECKS, WHITE CORPUSCLES AND BLUE RIBBON BEER – In an opening teaser Wynonna takes down “Mindless” Mars Johnson, a laboratory-spawned nightmare of a man. From there it’s on to a three-issue battle with a gang of redneck vampires who are also into drug-dealing and other criminal activities. A werewolf biker gang (like in the 70’s horror film Werewolves on Wheels) gets caught up in the mix, too.

THE REFRIED DEAD – A two-issue affair that involved Marshal Earp in the Egyptian Mafia’s attempt to take over all criminal organizations in the world through the use of Raduk, the mummy, eater of the dead. Adding to the intrigue was the participation of an old flame of Wynonna’s, a member of an American Mafia family.

HOME ON THE STRANGE – Remember Bob Grummley from our heroine’s origin story? He wasn’t the only foe of Wyatt Earp to make a pact with Satan. Curly Bill Brocius, John Ringo and the Clantons are also undead and living in the American southwest where they are secretly running criminal activities of their own. This epic tale, which was longer than any of Wynonna’s previous adventures, also featured hillbilly gremlins, zombies as low-level hoods, a wolf-man and even the ghost of Wyatt Earp for good measure.

BLOOD IS THE HARVEST – Wynonna’s final adventure pitted her against a demonic Wheat Scarecrow, who periodically committed mass murders and then watered his unholy wheat with the blood of his victims. This story perfectly illustrated the diversity of menaces this comic book’s premise could accomodate but sadly Blood is the Harvest was Wynonna Earp’s swan song until the graphic novel The Yeti Wars in 2010. Maybe the sensible clothes were a mistake.

FOR MORE FRONTIERADO ENTRIES CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/category/frontierado/

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