‘Ello road agents,
Today we debut the third chapter of the Satterwhite & Fosgrove saga. As you may remember, the first story introduced the characters and their mission: two Pinkerton Detective Agency operatives, tasked with hunting down and killing the notorious outlaw Jesse James are accused of stealing a treasure map from a wealthy Confederate family.
At the conclusion of that story the detective duo split up, which is why we find Fosgrove chasing a man through the forest in Chapter 2. This story shows us what Satterwhite has been up during the same timeframe: attempting to find the truth behind an apparent pair of suicides in Kansas City!
What you may notice upon reading the first page of “Death, 2 Ways” is that Satterwhite is in completely different attire from the last time we’ve seen them. They’re dressed in typical feminine garb, and are referred to as a female by other characters. We laid some of the breadcrumbs of this in the first comic but didn’t want to hit the reader over the head with it while setting up other story elements – Satterwhite is trans masculine.
Of course, the term “trans masc” or the more in-depth idea of queerness didn’t really exist in 1879, so you will not see the character referred to as such within the work itself. Still, it’s undoubtedly true that LGBTQ+ folks have existed all throughout history, in every culture and every land, even if they’re contributions to society-at-large are not reflected in history books, or works of historical fiction. In the case of the Old West, an open frontier with room to roam was an extremely enticing place for cultural outcasts to live. Only a few such people, like Harry Allen and Joseph Lobdell are recorded in history, but it does not take much to assume many more were woven into the fabric of the American West.
Writing a queer lead is admittedly a heavy task, but frankly it’s no different than writing someone dissimilar to me in age, mentality, disposition, culture and so on. Research takes me part of the way, and empathy bridges the gap. Satterwhite is a character close to my heart, and it has little to do with their gender identity. Still, I want to do right by him, and intend to expound on the issue of “identity” in future stories.
I also need to use this space to once again shout out my collaborator Mauro Bueno. His skill in character and costume design, as well as portraying the many modes of human emotion has enabled and enhanced all aspects of the character. Mauro’s approach and ability has added a sublime simplicity to every nuance of the script. It’s been a dream.
All that and I didn’t even get into the story at hand – a neat, snappy murder mystery which begins to unfurl some of the spookier subplots of the overall S&F narrative. I’m confident you readers will like what we’re serving on this project, and we hope you can spread the word on your favorite cowboy detective story.
Until next time,
Westward!
~Jamil