Graphic Classics Volume 20: Western Classics

American author (Pearl Zane Grey) is best known as a pioneer of the Western literary genre, which idealized the Western frontier and the men and women who settled the region. Following in his father’s footsteps, Grey studied dentistry while on a baseball scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. Grey’s athletic talent led to a short career in the American minor league before he established his dentistry practice. As an outlet to the tedium of dentistry, Grey turned to writing, and finally abandoned his dental practice to write full time. Over the course of his career Grey penned more than ninety books, including the best-selling Riders of the Purple Sage. Many of Grey’s novels were adapted for film and television. He died in 1939.

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) was born and raised in rural Texas, the son of a pioneer physician. He began writing professionally at the age of fifteen and turned out dozens of tales of heroic and supernatural fantasy, featuring many memorable creations - including the character he is best remembered for: Conan of Cimmeria. These stories, mostly published in Weird Tales, won him a huge audience across the world and influenced a whole generation of writers, from Robert Jordan to Raymond E. Feist. Sadly, Howard killed himself in June 1936 when he learned that his beloved mother had fallen into a coma.

Willa Cather (1873-1947) was born in Virginia and raised on the Nebraska prairie. She worked as a newspaper writer, teacher, and managing editor of McClure's magazine. In addition to My Ántonia, her books include O Pioneers! (1913) and The Professor's House. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours.

Writer and feminist herstorian Trina Robbins wrote books, comics, and graphic novels for over 40 years. Her work includes The Brinkley Girls (Fantagraphics), Forbidden City: the Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs (Hampton Press), and the three-part YA series Chicagoland Detective Agency for Graphic Universe(TM).