The Big Country is a comic book adaptation and movie tie-in of the western novel The Big Country

The Big Country (novel)

The Big Country is a Western novel by Donald Hamilton that was expanded from his original short story Ambush at Blanco Canyon.-Plot summary:...

 by Donald Hamilton

Donald Hamilton

Donald Bengtsson Hamilton was a U.S. writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction but also crime fiction and Westerns such as The Big Country...

.

Publication history

Written by long-time Western comics

Western comics

Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...

 writer Paul S. Newman

Paul S. Newman

Paul S. Newman was an American writer of comic books, comic strips, and books, whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s...

, and drawn by Bob Correa, The Big Country was initially serialized in The Saturday Evening Post

The Saturday Evening Post

The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...

as "Ambush at Blanco Canyon" on Feb.2, 1957; Feb. 9, 1957; Feb. 16, 1957; and Feb. 23, 1957.

The story was collected for the first time in 1958, by Dell

Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...

, as a Dell First Edition B115 paperback, and was reissued many times. In Aug. of 1958, the story was published by Dell Comics

Dell Comics

Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...

, as issue #946 of Dell's long-running showcase anthology Four Color Comics.
The Big Country comic was published in hardcover in the UK in 1958 by Allan Wingate.

Plot summary

Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 sea captain James McKay goes west to Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, to claim his bride, and steps into a violent feud over land.

Film adaptation

Filmed in 1958 starring Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck

Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...

, Jean Simmons

Jean Simmons

Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...

, Carroll Baker

Carroll Baker

Carroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol...

, Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...

 and Burl Ives

Burl Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....