Happy 2025, All-Truers!
We hope the next 12 months treat you well.
Last Monday, a new story was published to the site. “Mother Hen”, drawn by Samir Simão and with letters by Cristian Docolomansky Cerda.
Realism in genre can be a hard master to obey. I’m not married to the idea that Westerns need to adhere strictly to firm accuracy. I do, however, like a certain authenticity in the stories of All-True Outlaw, an air of feasibility that brushes against the make-believe yet still remains palatable to fans of the genre. 
Frankly, most women who left the relative safety of the east coast did so out of some sort of desperation, typically economic, sometimes cultural, normally a combo of both. The West’s promise of a new start and new opportunity extended to everyone, and many women took advantage. While the women in the West occupied many roles, from spouses to mothers, outcasts and adventurers, many of the women on the frontier were working girls drawn there because of the needs of men. Specifically, fucking and companionship.
That was sort of the jumping-off point for “Mother Hen”, which concerns itself with a Texas brothel during a moment of dire choice and action. In my reading of both fiction and non-fiction set in this time period, I came across many women who were simply remarkable humans. Headstrong, smart, brave and sometimes hilariously crass, recorded history mostly brushes aside their accomplishments, but often they were the backbone of society, as women typically have been.
Samir and I worked together nearly a decade ago on Franco, a metafictional romp set in a superhero universe (that you can read here!) and I’ve been jonesin’ to work with him again. Dude is a master of action and energy on the comics page, a sorcerer working with the old Jack Kirby magicks. As I was crafting the script to “Mother Hen” he was the guy I had in mind just about the whole time.
Cristian Docolomansky Cerda ties a bow on the whole thing with astute lettering. I don’t use Facebook for much but it’s served as a great repository for finding talented artists (if you can fight through all the spammy stuff). Doco is a savvy creator, a jack-of-all-trades type in the kingdom of comics. I appreciate his help in proofing the Spanish grammar in this short!
I hope you enjoy this one. It previously received third place honors in the 2024 Negative Space Short Comics Competition , and we couldn’t be more proud of what we produced.
Check us out next week for the second installment, . And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook. Any support is greatly appreciated.
Westward!
~ Jamil