by John Benteen (Ben Haas)
1969 Belmont
Set in the first decades of the twentieth century, Fargo is sometime marketed as an adventure series, sometimes as a late period western. This first installment is pure western, though more Sergio Leone than John Ford.
Fargo is hired to help transport silver from a mine in Mexico. The short volume was filled primarily with double-crosses and changing loyalties. One of Fargo's appeals is his code of honor tempered by harsh pragmatism. The kind that sets up a teen to be raped a little bit in order to keep her from being raped a lot.
Fargo is also known for his personalized weapons - the Batangas knife he got from the Phillipines and a sawed-off shotgun given to him by Teddy Roosevelt. The shotgun is basically an artillery piece, with a spread of several yards and capable of downing dozens at a time, which is not how sawed-off shotguns work.
Future installments may have more novel settings, but this was a pretty standard western, a bit darker, certainly tamer than the Piccadilly Cowboys.
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