Through the previous intertextual and historical readings, this chapter developed upon how the Western comic could follow popular trends and common conventions in the genre. However, through this final portion of the chapter, it indicates how Western comics can depart from generic norms, constructing a Western space that is much more subversive than other forms of the genre. At a rhetorical level, the Western comic can allow the reader to challenge the tropes and conventions of the Western (and the society that it represents). Not only offering a space of contestation for readers, however, the Western comics also allow for creator response to the mythologised West. To this effect, the Western comic can contribute fresh perspectives into the ever-expanding corpus that surrounds the genre. The Western comic can provide something there beyond the simplistic triumphal narratives, and aspirational and heroic idealism, and it is this subversive and resistant demeanour that warrants further study. (172)
