I'm sort of the same.  I think it's because the European westerns aren't tied to this romantic idea of the old west so they bring out the warts and all when they tell their stories.  I think that's why I liked Django so much, because it had that same disconnect to the romantic John Ford tradition.

I also love the way those spaghetti westerns looked, there was dirt in the camera and scratches on the lens, the colours didn't always match, the actors got sunburn, and the guns sounded like cannons.

They tried to do a "Man With No Name" comic book, I  picked up an issue and it looked like garbage.  Which really sucks because I know there's at least ONE comic book, a french mini-series named WEST about the failed attempt to make Cuba an American State (which I do hope gets translated by Heavy Metal) that literally looks like those movies, it's astounding and impressive.  If I ever do a western, it's the visual example I'm sharing with everyone.

Did you ever see "Duck, You Sucker" by any chance?