EC Outlaw Showdown #1

by John Arcudi, Brian Azzarello, Ann Nocenti

VENGEANCE RIDES AGAIN!

As the sun settles high above this bone-dry stretch of mesa, wipe the blood from your boot heels and place your wagers as Oni Press and EC Comics raise their pistols . . . to pump six cylinders of hot lead and cold hearts into OUTLAW SHOWDOWN—EC’s FIRST GIANT-SIZED, 56-PAGE SPECIAL celebrating REVENGE and RETRIBUTION on the lawless frontiers of the Old West! Gunfighters, scoundrels, butchers, and bandits—they’ll all join us here to draw down on fate itself as coffin-bound creators John Arcudi (B.P.R.D.), Christopher Cantwell (Out of Alcatraz), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), Tony Moore (The Walking Dead), Ann Nocenti (Daredevil), and more rain hellfire and fury from the holsters on their hip.

A newly remastered and authentically restored tale of hard-won Western justice from the EC vaults!

SOME COMIC BOOK COMPANIES ASK YOU TO DEATH OR GLORY? AT EC COMICS, WE SAY . . . WHY NOT BOTH?!

Genres: Comics

Kindle Edition

Published October 22, 2025

About the author

John Arcudi has made a name for himself by scripting comics that manage to combine long-running subplots with impeccable characterization and action sequences, making for some of the most exciting and consistently good comics out today.

Reviews

[Nick LeBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes! That is how a giant-sized one-shot is done! It made me wish some version of Two Fisted Tales would make a return. Each story orbits a different type of Western: COOL COOL WATER inhabits the Western horror with some great art and a thematically appropriate EC Comics folk tale style twist at the end that really works, FIRE IN THE HOLE stays in the horror lane but this time it's a tale of guilt, THE CURE is a fine little critique of capitalism that works in some of the story of the Chinese in the American West (though it is probably the weakest story in this bunch), and PONY EXPRESS sticks closest to the formula of the classic Two Fisted Tales with a heartbreaking finale that might seal it as the strongest--that one or COOL WATER. The classic included at the end has a fantastic plot structure with a mean conclusion.

All told, this was a really winning release and I hope we see more of these kinds of stories!

Read as a single issue with the Lee Bermejo cover.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony Moore steals the show.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff. I'm a big fan of weird westerns, having written a weird western series myself, so I was really looking forward to this special, and it didn't disappoint. Pretty much what you'd expect from an EC comic with stories set in the old west.

[Ryan Gasser · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful cover. The first story was solid. The rest were below average.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really loving the Oni Press EC comics series of books. This one is set in the American West but the stories still have the EC comics style, a bit creepy, a bit supernatural and all fun.
Highly recommend all the EC reboots.

[Jeremy J. Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations were very well done! Short stories were pretty spot I'd say to history.