Tag: bushwhacker

Comic Fourteen: East of Hesperia

Posted on January, 2026 by JS

Ciao Westerinos,

The fifth chapter of Satterwhite & Fosgrove just pulled into the station!

(You can find the first four: here, here, here, and here.)

Given the Old West time setting and detective subgenre, placing our Pinkertons in the morass of a train murder mystery felt like an obligation.

In this story, Kip and Foz travel with a cartel of Pinkertons toward Denver, Colorado to combat a workers’ strike. On the way, they find themselves thrust in the middle of a murder of one of their fellow operatives, which throws their treasure hunt plans into mild chaos.

This story follows in the footsteps of stories like Strangers on a Train, Murder on the Orient Express, Five Red Herrings, Bullet Train and hell, even Snowpiercer. There’s a certain magic to these tales, a confined space rife with danger that also has pressure element of characters continuously moving across landscape. We tried to capture that sense of urgency and unknown in this story, all while dropping in juicy bits of exposition and background and interplay between our two leads.

To say this is one of Mr. Bueno’s best works would be an insult to his other efforts on the Sat/Foz Chapters 1-4, but man, did dude bring the heat on this story. Whether it be powerful locomotives, somber moments of reflection, brutal uppercuts to the midsection or illustrated scenes from the Aeneid, Mauro brings it at every turn. He takes every aspect of the script and enhances it, all while making sure the story beats properly conveyed.

The usual flowers are given to letterer Nikki Powers and editor Claire Napier. This story wasn’t as difficult to letter as previous installments in this series (I learned some lessons) — I think there was only one sequence that needed some paring, and overall the choices Nikki made serve the story very, very well. Claire challenged the script in prudent ways, making sure the characters and their motives had clear intent, even in the short term. There is a tension building in this story that will pay off in future chapters, and she made sure the stepping stones toward these big moments were apparent and well placed.

We’re quickly approaching the midpoint of this Western Noir, and I’m eager to show you the rest!

 

Westward!

 

~Jamil

Comic Ten: Brotherhood

Posted on September, 2025 by JS

Top o’ the day toadies,

We venture into Autumn with a new chapter of Satterwhite & Fosgrove! If you need to get caught up you find the first three comics: here, here and here.

When we last left the titular duo, Satterwhite was finishing up a double murder investigation in Kansas City, and Fosgrove was chasing a bounty through the woods, but then was left to rot in a giant hole. In this story, we find them reunited, only to be thwarted by a group of thieving bushwhackers.

Any serious writer knows that reading is a huge component of the craft. It spurs you on, either through inspiration or envy, and it draws you in, into new worlds and fresh concepts. Reading is the thread in which the writer weaves their tapestries.

I’ve read, and continue to read, a healthy stack of books in preparation for writing All-True – specifically Satterwhite & Fosgrove – and have gleaned a lot of nuggets of truth and myth from those experiences. What’s interesting is how these details make their way into the story.

Many books, fiction and non, are part of the Satterwhite & Fosgrove elixir. They may not come to the forefront of plot and character, but they’re found in the filigree of every page and panel. Like, when reading about the history of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, there are so many interesting factoids on Allan Pinkerton’s successful PI business and its transformation into an army for private capital. The books on forensic science and violent crime helped develop how deductive reasoning may have gone down 150 years ago. Ruminations on the spy novel and its role in American literature help guide the story along the track from mystery to resolution. Writings on Jesse James, his life, his family and the political world he was born into provide depth and authenticity to this period piece. Rereading the Aeneid helped guide the ideas behind the central adventure of the story, as well as tether the comic’s themes to the past. And of course, several comic books, from Jonah Hex to Stray Bullets to Suicide Squad not only contributed plot ideas, but also a visual coda. Not a lot of the above is prudent to the adventure tale of two detectives in the West, but we’ve tried to squeeze it into the nooks of the story.

I would be remiss not to gush about the rest of the team on this comic. Mauro, already equipped with vast talent, seems to improve with each chapter. He navigated these text-heavy pages wonderfully, and there’s a fight scene towards the end that is basically perfect. The wordier segments were astutely handled by Nikki; only a few lines of my precious dialogue were cut. Editor extraordinaire Claire has been a guiding voice since the first script, and her suggestions on how to think and rethink these characters and their motives shows up subtly all over the place, even outside of the comic page. Overall, I am blessed to have such insanely skilled collaborators on my longest, and most complex, story.

If you have any suggestions on further readings on the Old West and its people, feel free to hit me up! My “To Be Read” pile is massive but I’m always looking for new entries.

 

Westward!

 

~Jamil