The PRICE OF FAME books 1 and 2 are one continuous story about Hipshot's fame resulting in gunslingers far and wide wanting to gun-fight him, making his life miserable. The "books" are basically comic-book-sized publications, stapled on the spine. Not real books. I loved both of them. The drawings are wonderful, and the story is a delight.

Stan Lynde's often humorous daily-and-Sunday strip from 1959-77 goes serious with a two-volume graphic novel focusing on the long friendship of Conniption City Marshal Rick O'Shay and gunfighter Hipshot Percussion. When Hipshot is forced to shoot three wanted outlaws, he attracts the attention of a dime-novel publisher whose resulting paperback brings in the reputation-seekers for months thereafter. Rick must find a way to protect his friend and his town. Lynde's art has matured wonderfully, his characters are distinctive and skilfully drawn, and there's a real flavor of the Wild West about the story and art. Any Western-lover should definitely buy this set.

This was my favorite comic strip, and I was greatly upset when it stopped running. I hadn't known this book was available until a while after it was published, and it was great to discover it. It's so nice to see a collection of Lynde's own favorite Sunday "Rick O'Shay" strips. My only complaint is I wish he had included more of them!

Now, if Stan Lynde would just collect and publish the rest of the Rick O'Shay archive, those of us nostalgic for the town of Conniption and its residents could complete our collections. Meanwhile, this will have to do. It's a collection of 10 complete stories from the daily comic strip (1959-1977) plus an autobiography of Stan Lynde and an introduction by Charlton Heston.

The stories center around the anachronistic town of Conniption, located somewhere in the Old West. Conniption seems, like Brigadoon, to be adrift in time -- often interacting with the modern world to humorous effect, while retaining its basic rural western character. Its residents are a quirky lot who change and grow over time as Lynde's skills as artist and story teller mature over the years.

If you're old enough to remember the strip in your daily paper, this compilation is the closest you can come to getting it back. If you're a fan of the Old West, or even just like "Tumbleweeds," but haven't yet encountered Stan Lynde's work, you're in for a treat.

Nine complete story arcs are included in this collection. Three of them turn, rather distractingly, on the intrusion of 20th-century life into what otherwise appears to be a classic Western environment, but the other six could quite easily have happened just as Lynde has drawn them. My own favorites are "Paris Green," "The Byte Boys" (featuring Rick's female gunslinger friend Lily), and "Law and Disorder." A nice mix of humor and action characterize the entire book. Recommended.