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Golden Ag E W Estern Comics Golden

Golden Ag E W Estern Comics Golden

Golden Age

he Wild West has been romanticized in American culture ever since the dime novels capturing the exploits of were produced in the years directly Tfollowing the Civil War, and the Western genre continues to enthrall audiences to this day. The stories of frontiersmen, outlaws, cowboys, Indians, prospectors, and marksmen surviving the harshest of environments through wit, skill, and determination, or meeting their end by bullet, noose, or exposure speak to what it means to be American and play an essential part in how we define ourselves as a nation. These mythic stories have been captured and created in almost every popular mass medium of the past century and beyond from tabloids to novels, radio plays, television shows, and movies. Now, powerHouse Books is pleased to present a collection of these uniquely American stories as told through a uniquely American medium…the ! Golden Age lovingly reproduces in full-color, restored, complete scans of over 40 of the best Western stories created between the years 1948 and 1956. These lavishly illustrated stories of guts and glory, violence and valor, intrigue, romance, and betrayal, on the range and in lawless frontier towns, were created by some of the best artists and writers of the era. The action flies off the page in stories such as “The Tragedy at Massacre Pass,” and “Breakout in Rondo Prison,” from the greatest earliest publishing houses, including: Fawcett, Charlton, Avon, Youthful, and more. Golden Age Western Comics is a collection unlike any other and is sure to delight fans of rootin-tootin, gun- toting, adventure of all ages!

Featuring Western Legends of Life, Literature, and Filmdom such as: • Jesse James • • • Daniel “Dan’l” Boone • Lash Larue Golden Age • Gabby Hayes • And Many More!

52495 WESTERNComics Edited by Steven Brower Foreword by Christopher Irving

9781576 875940 This PDF is NOT the entire book

GOLDEN AGE WESTERN COMICS Edited by Steven Brower Foreword by Christopher Irving

Published by

To be released: April 2012

This PDF of Golden Age Western Comics is only a preview and an uncorrected proof . Lifting images from mechanical files is strictly prohibited. To see the complete version, please contact Nina Ventura, Publicist: [email protected]

This PDF is NOT the entire book

Golden Age Western Comics

Edited by Steven Brower Foreword by Christopher Irving

Brooklyn, NY

1 Golden Age Western Comics TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor / Designer: Steven Brower Production: Janna Brower Foreword by Christopher Irving...... Page 5 Text, Compilation & Editing © 2012 Steven Brower First edition, 2012 Foreword © 2012 Christopher Irving Western Comics by Steven Brower...... Page 7

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright Library of Congress Control Number: 2011945347 holders. In the event of any accidental infringements Texas Tim, Ranger (Blazing West-American Comics Group, 1948 Series) of copyright, the author and publisher offer their Hardcover ISBN 978-1-57687-594-0 : Richard E. Hughes...... Page 9 apologies and undertake to make the necessary corrections in future editions. Printing and binding through Asia Pacific Offset The King’s Ransom (Lash Larue Western #56 - Charlton, July 1955) ...... Page 17 All rights reserved. No part of this book may A complete catalog of powerHouse Books and be reproduced in any manner in any media, or Limited Editions is available upon request; please call, transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic write, or visit our website. Magic Rides the Pony Express (Indian Fighter - Youthful or mechanical (including photocopy, film or video Publications, 1950 Series) Pencils: S.B. Rosen...... Page 25 recording, Internet posting, or any other information 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 storage and retrieval system), without the prior Tom Mix and the Desert Maelstrom (Tom Mix Western #15 - written permission of the publisher. Printed and bound in China Fawcett, circa 1949) ...... Page 32 Published in the by powerHouse Books, a division of powerHouse Cultural Jesse James ( Western Comics #39 - Charlton, June 1955) Entertainment, Inc. Pencils & Inks: William M. Allison...... Page 39 37 Main Street, , NY 11201-1021 telephone 212.604.9074, fax 212.366.5247 Peril Shadows the Forest Trail (Dan’l Boone #4 - Magazine e-mail: [email protected] Enterprises, December 1955) Pencils & Inks: Joe Certa...... Page 43 website: www.powerhousebooks.com Buffalo Belle (Blazing West - American Comics Group, 1948 Series) Script: Richard E. Hughes...... Page 51

Little the Bantam Buckaroo (Blazing West - American Comics Group, 1948 Series) Pencils & Inks: ...... Page 59

Tenderfoot (Blazing West - American Comics Group, 1948 Series) ...... Page 68

Little Eagle: Soldier in the Making (Indian Fighter - Youthful Publications, 1950 Series) Pencils & Inks: Manny Stallman...... Page 76

Terror at Taos ( Kit Carson #6 - Avon, March 1955; Reprinted from: Fighting Indians of the Wild West! - Avon, 1952 Series) Pencils & Inks: Jerry (Gerald) McCann...... Page 83

Young and the Swindlers (Gabby Hayes Western #17 - Fawcett, April 1950)...... Page 90 Annie Oakley (Cowboy Western Comics #38 - Charlton/ Capitol Stories, FORewORD April-May 1952) Pencils & Inks: Jerry Maxwell (Iger)...... Page 94 Christopher Irving

Flying Eagle in Golden Treachery (Death Valley #9 - Charlton, hen the Western was at its peak, from October 1955)...... Page 98 Wabout the 1930s–50s, the period of the Old West had only been over for around Cry For Revenge (Cowboy Western #49 - Charlton, May-June 1954) 50 years, and the craze has since been over Pencils: , Inks: Vince Alascia...... Page 102 for about that length of time. While the current generation of kids embraces the Chief Black Hawk and His Dogs of War ( Kit Carson #6 - Avon, giant robots made popular in the years most of their comics were hastily drawn March 1955; Reprinted from: Fighting Indians of the Wild West! - Avon, 1952 following the Western’s peak, the cowboy by freelancers anxious to produce enough Series) Pencils & Inks: Harry Larsen...... Page 108 is largely forgotten in this politically correct pages to make a living wage. time. Toy guns are generally taboo, and There were, however, some real Triple Test (Cowboy Western #49 - Charlton, May-June 1954) “Cowboys and Indians” just doesn’t on diamonds in the rough, the brightest being Pencils: Dick Giordano, Inks: Vince Alascia...... Page 114 today’s playground. Charlton artist, and eventual editor, Dick But once, when being American was a Giordano. A trio of Giordano’s stories is The Big Game Hunt ( Gabby Hayes #17 - Fawcett, April 1950) way of life, the cowboy was king, and this presented here, showing the craftsmanship ...... Page 122 collection celebrates that era in an array of and pride he put into even the lowest paying spectacular and offbeat comics. work. He later went on to edit at DC Comics, Breakout in Rondo Prison (Range Busters #10 - Charlton, September By the late-’40s and through the mid- eventually becoming the Managing Editor 1955) Pencils: Dick Giordano, Inks: Vince Alascia...... Page 130 ’50s, as superheroes became less exciting (his modest title for Editor-in-Chief) and and relevant, the cowboy stepped in with his then Vice President/Executive Editor in the Four Talon’s Nest (Masked Raider #2 - Charlton, August 1955) spurred boots to keep the comics industry mid-’80s. Giordano suffered from hearing Pencils: ....Page 138 afloat. The shrinking comics industry didn’t loss for most of his adult life and, by the time have enough room for both genres, and the of his death in 2010, was practically deaf. cowboy was the quicker draw, beating the Although not credited, chances are the long underwear crowd out. The last standby, Charlton Westerns were written by Joe All-American Comics’ All-Star Comics (which Gill, a dyed-in-the-wool Irishman and self- featured the first major team in professed “hack” writer. Entering the comics the Justice Society of America), gave way to industry with best pal (of All-Star Western. Mike Hammer fame) in the early ’40s, Joe After reading this assemblage of stories, became the head writer at Charlton and put together by Steven Brower, you’ll see stayed there until they closed shop in ’86. why they were all the rage, whether for story There, he wrote every genre of story from quality or sheer kitsch factor. There were romance to superhero to crime to Western. I more publishers in the Golden Age of comics was lucky enough to know Gill a few years than badmen in a saloon, and they produced before he died in 2007; he was a helluva Westerns of all flavors and levels. character, always equipped with a wisecrack Several of the stories herein were and sound writing advice. published by , once one of Charlton was also a last resort for the largest publishers of comics in the United struggling artists in the ’50s, which made it States. Founded in Seymour, by possible for them to occasionally score artists a former Italian bricklayer and a disbarred like Mike Sekowsky, future of attorney he’d met in prison, Charlton held America artist, who contributes the Masked the distinction of housing everything from Raider story here. His use of solid blacks and editorial to distribution under one roof. geometric shapes gives his work a kinetic The downside to Charlton is that they paid nature that pops off the page. Charlton later the worst rates in the business; as a result, boasted a post-Spider-Man in

5 their ranks, as he returned to his first major responsible for giving the legendary Eisner Western Comics home in comics in the mid-’60s to draw The his start in comics. When Eisner met Iger in Steven Brower and Blue . the late-’30s, the latter was editor of a comics Although they only have one entry here, magazine called Wow, What a Magazine!, and o sooner had the era ended than it was Magazine Enterprises produced many of gave Will his first work. After the mag folded, N romanticized in the arts. Automobiles the best and most offbeat Western comics the two went into business together packaging had barely replaced horse driven wagons ever made. It wasn’t just because of their comics as Universal Phoenix, with Eisner when a plethora of cowboy films entertained assemblage of talented, top-level ; doing all of the art and Iger pounding the the masses alongside melodramas and much was undoubtedly owed to the Editor- pavement to find wannabe comics publishers comedies. The earliest silent Westerns in-Chief and top man at ME, Vin Sullivan, to sell their stories to. appeared as soon as the technology who was the first to discover and It’s a mighty good thing that the cowboy to create them was available. There was Joe Shuster’s in the submissions was around to help keep comics aloft the less-than-one-minute-long Cripple Creek and 1952 and went on to a starring role in a slush pile, and inadvertently helped launch throughout the early ’50s. It didn’t hurt Bar-Room Scene (literally the prototypical long-running TV series, as did Rogers. the entire superhero genre. With their flag that the Western was experiencing a wave barroom scene), and Poker at Dawson City, More serious Western fare hit the screen Western title Best of the West, ME Westerns of popularity through Western characters set during the Alaska gold rush underway as well, starring non-cowboy actors, such as featured stars who were crossed between like The , Cisco Kid, , at the time, both produced in 1899. In 1903, director John Ford’s classic Stagecoach (1939) superhero and cowboy, wearing masks and and , and stars such as the first commercial film, The Great Train starring . Others followed: costumes while also living with alter egos. , the King of the Cowboys. Even Robbery, written and directed by Edwin S. Northwest Passage (1940) with Spencer Tracy; Their top characters were the first depictions of his , Gabby Hayes, had Porter, gave birth to the genre. D.W. Griffith and Dodge City (1939), and Virginia City Rider, who wore a spooky luminescent a long-running presence in comics: a former experimented with the form in the Twisted (1940), starring English actor Errol Flynn as costume and used magic to spook the Shakespearean actor, Hayes removed his Trail (1910), with ; The Last a cowboy. He then portrayed General Custer baddies; Redmask, the superhero identity dentures and played a laughable prospector Drop of Water (1911); and Fighting Blood (1911). in director Raoul Walsh’s romanticized of cowboy star ; and the masked type, a Little Tramp for the Old West, The first feature-length Western was biography They Died with Their Boots On (1941). cowgirl Black . and we also have him here. Their time the six-reel (1913), directed by Of note as well were director/producer Our ME entry here is from Dan’l Boone, was running out, however, as new genres Augustus E. Thomas. Cecil B. DeMille’s first Howard Hawks’ collaborations with John featuring the legendary frontiersman, with were getting ready to overtake them in Cold motion picture was The Squaw Man (1914). Wayne on four films, Red River (1948), Rio art by Joe Certa. While he was never War America. Soon real-life cowboys and legendary Bravo (1959), El Dorado (1966), and Rio considered a huge name, Certa dutifully Kids were giving up their six-shooter Western figures appeared in films, such Lobo (1970). Perhaps the genre reached its worked in comics from the ’40s through cap pistols for toy guns, or growing up as Cody in The Adventures of zenith with Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon in the ’70s, drawing Martian for DC and embracing the new adult Western in the Buffalo Bill (1914). 1952, starring in the ultimate Comics, the syndicated Straight Arrow strip, form of the long-running TV and This burgeoning genre soon introduced shoot out. and also working at on radio programs. Many of them just moved on the first Hollywood cowboy star, William Over on radio the genre flourished as TV adaptations, including the Dark Shadows to rock ‘n’ roll when exploring the prairies S. Hart, who appeared in over three-dozen well with a wealth of Western shows airing: comic. While his work has a certain stiffness of adolescence. The superhero came back films from 1914 until 1925. Next up was The American Trail, Death Valley Days, Frontier to it, it is far from lacking in charm. Certa with a vengeance in 1956, as the was Gilbert M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson, Town, ’s Melody Ranch, Gunsmoke, was one of many talented journeymen who revamped for a new generation of National starting with Broncho Billy and the Baby (1915), Hopalong Cassidy, The Roy Rogers Show, Tales was like a character actor, always delivering Comics readers, bringing the rest of his and ending with The Son-of-a-Gun (1919). of the Texas Rangers, , and Tom a solid job yet never considered a star. superhero buddies back to life in a superhero But by far the best-known and lasting star Mix Ralston Straight Shooters, to name a few. Not even a character actor, even though revival. Pretty soon, the cowboy was was Tom Mix. Beginning in 1916 he often And with the advent of the new technology he assisted Will Eisner on The Spirit, Manny replaced with new versions of dusted-off old produced and directed his own films and of television Western programs flourished, Stallman’s art is so stiff and off-putting that superheroes at National, and revolutionary bridged the gap between the silent era including: The Adventures of Jim Bowie, The it instantly delves into kitsch territory. His angst-ridden ones at Comics. and “speakies.” ushered in the Cisco Kid, The Adventures of Kit Carson, The Lone work on the truly bizarre “Little Eagle” But for now, let’s pretend there are no “singing cowboy,” spawning stars such as Ranger, The Roy Rogers Show, The Adventures story presented here is a great example of a power rings or radioactive bites, and Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, and Roy Rogers, a of , Hopalong Cassidy, Annie platypus of a character. Another (and even we’ll grab a spot at the saloon bar or around member of the singing group the Sons of the Oakley, Death Valley Days, Zorro, Gunsmoke, greater) Eisner connection in this book is a campfire in the middle of the desert, and Pioneers. Another successful singing cowboy , The Rifleman, Bat Masterson, Have Jerry Iger, who drew the “Annie Oakley” parlay with these old-school, print cowboys was William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd, who Gun—Will Travel, and Wagon Train, among story for Charlton and is the person most (and girls). Yeehaw! appeared in almost 70 films between 1935 many others.

6 7 Considering their success on film and scrambling for new material. Soon, matinee radio, and later on TV, one would think that Western stars had comic series based on them: Westerns appearing in newspaper comic Gene Autry, Monte Hale, Gabby Hayes, Tim strips would be natural, but the converse is Holt, Lash LaRue, Tom Mix, Tex Ritter, Roy true. There was Texas Slim by Ferd Johnson Rogers, John Wayne, et al, all had their own (later of Frank Willard’s Moon Mullins fame), titles. Historical and mythological figures which began in 1925, and was revived in were also well represented: Annie Oakley, 1940 under the new title, Texas Slim and Buffalo Bill, the Cisco Kid, Daniel Boone, Dirty Dalton. And Broncho Bill by Harry , Jesse James, Kit Carson, O’Neill debuted in 1928 as Young Buffalo Bill , Wild Bill Hickcock. In and continued until 1950. But those were the addition, new Western characters and titles exceptions. It wasn’t until the mid-1930s that were created, such as: Bullseye and Boy’s the genre began to take hold. ’s Ranch by Simon and Kirby; Mort Weisinger King of the Royal Mounted, illustrated by Allen and Mort Meskin’s at DC; The Dean, and Bronc Peeler both debuted in 1935. Hawk at Ziff-Davis; and the Two-Gun Kid, Kid , created by writer Stephen Slesinger Colt Outlaw, and over at Atlas. and artist Fred Harman, began in 1938. Big Within the stories of this anthology Chief Wahoo (which began as The Great Gusto) the usual Western tropes appear—the by Elmer Woggon, and The Lone Ranger, sharpshooter, the kid, the gunslinger, the adapted from the radio show by Fran Stricker city slicker, the posse, the pony express, the and Charles Flanders, soon premiered as jailbreak, the stagecoach holdup, barrooms well. Also making their debut in the ’30s were aplenty—but there are many surprises in store Garrett Price’s White Boy, Ed Leffingwell’s as well. And while the portrayal of Native , and Vic Forsythe’s Way out West. Americans belies the mindset of the time in In February 1937, more than a year which these comics were created, there’s before Superman’s debut in actually quite a variety of how their story is #1, the first Western comic book premiered, told. There are “good” Indians (usually those published by the Comics Magazine Company, who assist the white man), peaceful tribes, titled Western Picture Stories, featuring art by and warring factions. Treaties are in threat the legendary Will Eisner. However, this of being broken and peace is laid claim to. series lasted only four issues. The same Another subgenre of the Western comic month another Western comic book, Star was a combination of two disparate ones that Ranger #1, was published by Chesler/Centaur became popular after the war: Romance and Publications and ran for 12 issues. It later Cowboys. I would be remiss not to include became Cowboy Comics and then the title was one here, the familiar tale of the “sassy” gal changed again to Star Ranger Funnies, which in need of taming. Still, although several of lasted until October 1939. In April of the these stories contain familiar clichés, these same year Dell published Western Action tales are imbued with charm and surprises. Thrillers, but it lasted only one issue. The Often these stories display excellent art and first Western photo comic cover featured dynamic page design as well. Roy Rogers, Dell’s Comics #38 Created mostly by men working in in April 1944. The same year Cisco Kid crowded offices, or cramped Comics, a one-shot comic book by Baily apartments throughout the city, the tales Publishing appeared. of the range, barroom brawls, shoot outs, But it wasn’t until 1948 that Western wagon trains, campfires, bank robberies, comic books came into their own. After the are all collected here for us to enjoy once war, interest in superheroes diminished as real again, preserved before they fade into heroes returned home, and publishers were the sunset.

8 9 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 50 51 52 53 68 69 70 71 94 95 96 97 This PDF is NOT the entire book

GOLDEN AGE WESTERN COMICS Edited by Steven Brower Foreword by Christopher Irving

Published by

To be released: April 2012

This PDF of Golden Age Western Comics is only a preview and an uncorrected proof . Lifting images from mechanical files is strictly prohibited. To see the complete version, please contact Nina Ventura, Publicist: [email protected]

This PDF is NOT the entire book

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