Creation

Pecos Bill is a fakelore character created by Tex O'Reilly in the short story The Saga of Pecos Bill published in The Century Magazine, October 1923.

In 1936, a Pecos Bill comic strip was released, written by O'Relly and illustrated by his friend Jack A. Warren. The strip was reprinted in Dell's The Comics. in Charlton, and had comics by Clint Harmon (1948-1951) in the comic books Cowboy Western and Tim McCoy.

The most successful version appeared in Italy in 1949, when publisher Mondadori commissioned writer Guido Martina and artist Raffaele Paparella to create a realistic comic series for Albi d’Oro. Despite strong competition from other western titles, like Tex, it became a hit and featured additional artists such as Antonio Canale, Pier Lorenzo De Vita, Roy D'Ami, Francesco Gamba, Gino D’Antonio, and Dino Battaglia.

In this version, Pecos Bill’s first wife, Slue Foot Sue, is reinterpreted as Sue Morgan, his girlfriend and the recurring damsel in distress. The series also features fictionalized portrayals of historical figures such as Davy Crockett and Calamity Jane as his companions. Pecos Bill never uses firearms, relying instead on his remarkable skill with the lasso.

After its end in 1955, the series was revived several times: Alpe published Le nuove avventure di Pecos Bill by Cesare Solini and Pietro Gamba in 1956, this version has dark hair and uses firearms.; Mondadori reprinted the stories in 1960 before selling the rights to Fasani in 1962, which produced over three hundred new issues until 1967; and in 1978, Bianconi launched a new version by Armando Bonato.

Other Media

Films

Pecos appears in the Disney film Melody Time (1948), with its story narrated and sung by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers.

In 1995, Disney released the live-action film Tall Tale, where Pecos Bill (Patrick Swayze) appears alongside Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Calamity Jane.