Western Comics Adventures

Halloween on the Prairie VALLEY OF GWANGI Conclusion

2026-10-03T07:00:00.000-04:00

Art by Frank McCarthy from the American release poster.

It's 1910, and a palentologist, along with members of a traveling rodeo, have stumbled on a lost valley in the American Southwest that harbors presumed-extinct prehistoric creatures who do not take kindly to strangers!

(You want more? Go reread the previous chapters!)

Let the mayhem ensue...

Though the comic adaptation writer is unknown, the art is by Jack Sparling, who handled everything from Westerns to romance to sci-fi/fantasy, so he was well suited to a movie adaptation with all three elements!

The last half of the movie is a real showcase for Ray Harryhausen's classic stop-motion animation techniques as he handles both real and imaginary creatures with equal aplomb, making them really come alive!
Here's an early Halloween TREAT (NO Trick!): The Whole Darn Movie HERE!

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Halloween on the Prairie THE VALLEY OF GWANGI Part 1

2026-10-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

What happens when you combine cowboys and dinosaurs?

In comics you end up with this, which we presented HERE!

In movies, especially ones with SFX by Ray Harryhausen, you get...

A prehistoric creature alive today?
Impossible!
Tomorrow, more impossible things at Our "Brother" RetroBlog, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!

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Christmas on the Prairie TARGET COMICS "Bull's Eye Bill"

2025-12-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

Yes, they celebrated the Yuletide in the Old West...

...although technically, this tale's about the contemporary (1940s) West!

Though the series started with a standard late-1800s Old West setting, after creator/writer/illustrator Bill Everett left, new writer, Bea Holmes, and artist L. Kennerly, began inserting contemporary references and technology.

By the time of this tale from Novelty's Target Comics #12, the series was firmly-set in the present-day.

In fact, in the very next issue, Bull's-Eye Bill was recruited by the Army for special duty to prevent sabotage at Western bases!

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

Baker's Western Tales COWGIRL ROMANCES "Stars Fell on Arizona" / MOVIE COMICS "Mitzi in Hollywood Meets Sonny Sagebrush"

2025-02-18T07:00:00.011-05:00

You Didn't Think We Wouldn't Run a Romance Tale...

...with a Western theme like this one from Fiction House's CowGirl Romances #10 (1952) during our Matt Baker tribute, did you?

OK, pretty straightforward tale of a starry-eyed girl living near a movie location, getting to appear in the movie, meeting her screen idol, and not finding true love, right?

But, that's not how it started out!

This is actually a re-use of lovely Matt Baker art for an earlier ongoing series, Mitzi in Hollywood, about a struggling actress looking for her big break in Hollywood!

This particular episode from Fiction House's Movie Comics #4 (1947) was about working as an extra on a Western movie set...and though the art is the same, the original script was quite different...

Sadly, this was the final issue of Movie Comics, so no more Mitzi adventures ever appeared...except as heavily-modified reprints like our lead story!
Though Matt Baker is best-known as a cheesecake/glamour girl artist, he was, in fact, quite proficient in other genres, such as Westerns, as well as sci-fi, war, adventure, and even horror!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Baker's Western Tales QUICK-TRIGGER WESTERN "Trail of the Owlhoot!"

2025-02-06T07:00:00.011-05:00

Here's Everything You Want in a Western Yarn...

...a stalwart hero, a sneering villain, a confused kid, and a beautiful woman caught in the middle, all illustrated by a guy noted for...wait for it...romance comics and cheesecake/good-girl art!

This never-reprinted rootin'-tootin' action-packed adventure from Atlas' Quick-Trigger Western #18 (1957) was penciled and inked by pioneering Black artist Matt Baker!

Though many associate him only with beautiful women like the voluptuous Phantom Lady

or the protagonists of love stories

...the guy could produce high-adventure, kick-butt material when given the chance!

And we're giving him the chance, this month!

Watch for it!

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Cowboys vs Nazis SPACE WESTERN COMICS "Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes in 'Tomorrow the Universe' "

2025-01-25T07:00:00.014-05:00

We Have Already Seen...

Note: Curiously, there's no mention of the Martians, including their (of course) beautiful princess, Spurs and the Space Vigilantes had already encountered in previous stories!

Yeah, it's just business as usual for Spurs and his crew!

Written by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by Stan Campbell, this never-reprinted, beyond bonkers, tale from Charlton's Space Western Comics #45 (1953) was part of a pop culture trend in sci-fi fantasy that included movies like They Saved Hitler's Brain, and even a Twilight Zone episode, "He Lives!"

Cowboys vs Nazis SPACE WESTERN COMICS "Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes in 'Madman of Mars' "

2025-01-24T07:00:00.073-05:00

You've seen Cowboys and Indians, Even Cowboys and Aliens...

...but cowboys and Nazis...in outer space???

To Be Concluded (appropriately enough)...Tomorrow!

Written by Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and illustrated by Stan Campbell, this never-reprinted, beyond bonkers, tale from Charlton's Space Western Comics #44 (1953) was part of a pop culture trend in sci-fi fantasy that included movies like They Saved Hitler's Brain, and even a Twilight Zone episode, "He Lives!"
The comic itself, a mashup of Western cliches and the flying saucer fad of the 1950s set in the then-present, ran only six wacky issues before reverting to its' original title, Cowboy Western Comics!
As for how cowboy rancher (and US government vendor) Spurs Jackson ended up in outer space, well, you can read the beginning of his stellar saga HERE!

(You know you want to!)

Weird West DURANGO KID "Curse of the Bakala!"

2024-10-30T07:00:00.152-04:00

We Conclude Our Contribution to CountDown to Halloween 2024...

...with a with a never-reprinted story that may, or may not, have happened!

You be the judge!

Illustrated by Joe Certa, this tale from Magazine Enterprise's Charles Starrett as The Durango Kid (yes, that's the comic's full title) #15 (1952) was part of a brief trend at the publisher putting horror elements into all the non-humor/romance comics!
ME also published the original Ghost Rider, which had such aspects already included.

As to the ongoing movie character the comic adapted...

The Durango Kid (1940) was the already-existing identity of a famous vigilante assumed by Bill Lowry to track down a killer.
(We never saw the original user of the name.)

In the subsequent 65-film b-movie series, while actor Charles Starrett always played the character, the secret identity had various names including Bill Blayden, Kip Allen, Steve Lindsay, Steve Williams, Jeff Waring, Steve Ranson, and Steve Brand, among others.
By the time the comic adaptation started in 1949, the publisher decided to use "Steve Brand" as the character's secret identity, though the movies continued to change the secret identity to the end of the film series in 1952.
The comic continued to 1955, when the publisher began scaling back as comics entered a downturn due to the "Seduction of the Innocent" mania created by Dr Fredrik Wertham.

Visit Our Fellow Countdown to Halloween 2024 Blogathon Posters by Clicking

HERE!

Weird West MASKED MARVEL "Creeping Death!"

2024-10-23T07:00:00.077-04:00

The colorful masked hero who looks like a Dia De Los Muertos Sugar Skull...

...returns in another never-reprinted adventure...this time in a ghost town!

The Masked Marvel appeared in the entire 16-issue run of GunSmoke, but never had the cover, except in the background of one cover as a "Wanted" poster on a wall!

This story is from Youthful's GunSmoke #10 (1950), and, like all the other Masked Marvel tales, we have no idea who the writer, artist, or writer-artist is!

Trivia: This Masked Marvel was the fourth hero to have the name, but only the third comic book character!

The first was a Golden Age masked mystery-man in Centaur's Keen Detective Funnies as well as his own short-lived title.

The second was another mystery-man who battled Prize Comics' Frankenstein Monster in several stories before disappearing.

The third was a Republic Pictures 1943 movie serial hero with the gimmick that the audience didn't know which of several good-guy detectives he was...though the audience knew from the beginning who the villain was.

(Usually, a serial audience had to figure out which of several potentially-evil suspects was the mystery villain!)

BTW, you can read the other Masked Marvel tales we've presented HERE.
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Weird West BLACK DIAMOND WESTERN "Bingbang Buster and His Horse Hedy in "Swish!"

2024-10-15T07:00:00.080-04:00

The Weird West Encompasses Many Strange Occurrences...

...not all of them supernatural (or even terrestrial) in origin!

This superb example of cross-genre lunacy from Lev Gleason's Black Diamond Western #21 (1950) is the work of legendary writer/artist Basil Wolverton, who never saw a concept he couldn't spoof.
Though better known for his serious sci-fi/horror work, Wolverton loved doing humor, with a lot of fun details and signage filling the panel with what fellow artist Jack Cole called "eyeball kicks", primarily in his long-running Powerhouse Pepper strip!
Interestingly, MAD comics, which really popularized this sort of wild storytelling, didn't debut until 1952, which indicates they imitated Basil, not the other way around!
He later did work for them both in their comic book and magazine incarnations!

The Bingbang Buster strip ran in from #16 to #28, and is Wolverton's only Western comics work!

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Weird West ORIGINAL GHOST RIDER "Claws of Horror!"

2024-10-08T07:00:00.068-04:00

No More Fake Ghost Riders!
Here's the Real Deal...

...in hand-to-claw action against a flying demon..or is that demoness?

Penciled by Dick Ayers, inked by Ernie Bache and likely scripted by Gardner Fox, this never-reprinted story from Magazine Enterprises' Tim Holt #30 (1952) was typical of the "Haunted Horseman's" exploits, though there were a couple of tales involving the supernatural, which we already ran HERE and HERE!

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Weird West JIMMY WAKELY "Phantom Brander"

2024-10-01T07:00:00.007-04:00

What if the Original Ghost Rider was evil instead of good?

Art by Gil Kane

Well, he'd probably be a lot like this hombre, who appeared in the final issue of DC's Jimmy Wakely!

The "Phantom Brander" was a near-exact clone of the Original Ghost Rider...

...down to the use of phosphorescent paint and misdirection to convey a "supernatural" effect against his opponents.

Jimmy Wakely was one of numerous "singing cowboys" (like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers) popular during the 1930-1950s in b-movies and radio.

Like many other Western stars, Jimmy had a comic book featuring himself in action against various menaces, but in a clearly present-day Western setting.

This particular story, illustrated by Gil Kane and Bob Lander, was from Wakely's final issue, #18, in 1952.

Gil Kane would later do numerous covers in the 1970s featuring Marvel's version of the Old West Ghost Rider aka Night Rider aka Phantom Rider.

(Marvel kept changing the Western character's name to avoid confusion with the more-popular motorcycle-riding hero!)

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KITTY CARSON: RUFF RIDIN' GAL SHERIFF "Search for Gold"

2024-07-18T07:00:00.002-04:00

For the Ruff Ridin' Gal Sheriff's final appearance on this blog...

...we're dealing with one of the classic situations of Old West stories...robbers attacking an isolated settler!

This never-reprinted tale by Bob Powell from Harvey's Kerry Drake Detective Cases #18 (1950) is definitely set in the late 19th-early 20th Century, not 1949-1950, as the earlier stories were!

The Final Chapters in Our Re-Presentation of Kitty Carson Will be at

Heroines!
Now and Friday!

KITTY CARSON: RUFF RIDIN' GAL SHERIFF "Frontier...Justice?"

2024-07-17T07:00:00.034-04:00

After Her Previous 4-Page Episodes were Set in the "Present Day" (1949)...

...the "Ruff Ridin' Gal Sheriff" both loses a page per story, and is thrown back to the Old West!

Even with one less page than she previously-had, Kitty proves as ingenious as any lawman in this never-reprinted tale from Harvey's Kerry Drake Detective Cases #16 (1949), illustrated (and likely written) by Bob Powell!

Continue Kitty's Quest Against Crime!
Go to
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Now!

KITTY CARSON: RUFF RIDIN' GAL SHERIFF "Indian Revenge"

2024-07-16T07:00:00.015-04:00

Indians (aka Native Americans or First Americans) are just people, too...

...as demonstrated in this never-reprinted story from Harvey's Kerry Drake Detective Cases #15 (1949)!

Will we see Peter White Wing again?

Only time will tell...

BTW, Though the event is mentioned in the opening panel, the strip never showed Kitty avenging her father's death!

Continue Kitty's Quest Against Crime!
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KITTY CARSON: RUFF RIDIN' GAL SHERIFF "StageCoach Murders"

2024-07-15T07:00:00.002-04:00

Let's Begin a Blogathon with a Never-Reprinted Tale of Law Enforcement...

...set in the then-present of 1949, and featuring a time-lost heroine!

Debuting in Harvey's Kerry Drake Detective Cases #12 (1949), this series, illustrated (and likely written) by Bob Powell ran through #20.

BTW, Though the event is mentioned in the opening panel, the strip never showed Kitty avenging her father's death.

Continue Kitty's Quest Against Crime!
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Heroines!
Now!

FRONTIER DOCTOR "Storm Over King City" Part 1

2024-06-26T07:00:00.008-04:00

A 1950s Old West TV series about a man who didn't carry a gun?

Yep, and this never-reprinted one-shot comic tale is adapted from one of the episodes!

To Be Concluded Thursday at...

Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!

This adaptation of the episode "Storm Over King City" in Dell's Four Color Comics #877 (1958) was illustrated by Alex Toth, whom Old West comics fans remember as the artist on the comics based on Disney's Zorro TV series!
The writer, however, is unknown,
As for the 1958-59 syndicated TV series' protagonist...
Though he did not carry a gun, Dr Bill Baxter was not a wimp by any measure.

The medical man used his wits, medical knowledge, his fists, and, occasionally, other people's shooting irons, to aid those who needed help.

Rex Allen, who played Baxter, performed as a rodeo rider while in high school.

After graduation, he took up singing, first in vaudeville, then on radio, becoming a popular country/Western singers.

Like most of his contemporaries, he soon was doing Western b-movies as a singing cowboy nicknamed "The Arizona Cowboy", teamed up with comedy-relief sidekicks including Buddy Ebsen and Slim Pickens.

After a couple of dozen films, Rex tried to make the transition to TV with Frontier Doctor, but the show was cancelled after a single season.

But Allen made yet another transition, and became a successful voice-over artist and narrator, primarily for Disney film and tv productions.

TRIVIA:

Besides Frontier Cowboy, Rex had his own self-titled comic book series from Dell Comics that ran for thirty-one issues!

Allen was a cousin of Gunsmoke cast member Glenn Strange, who played bartender Sam Noonan.

Rex's son, Rex Allen, Jr., is a successful singer.

There's a Rex Allen Museum in Willcox, Arizona!

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Romance on the Range ADVENTURES IN ROMANCE "Stopgap: the Saga of Coby Nash"

2024-02-14T07:00:00.013-05:00

Though not strictly a "Western romance" title......St John's anthology Adventures in Romance was an attempt to mix several genres with romance...including contemporary high adventure, swashbuckling pirates, and, as you'll see, Westerns...to attract both male and female readers!

Despite running romance strips in almost every genre (except horror and sci-fi), the book only lasted two issues.

Illustrator Leonard Starr spent a decade in comics before moving on to newspaper comic strips, first as an assistant on Flash Gordon, then as the creator/writer/artist of the long-running Mary Perkins: On Stage!
He's best known to contemporary audiences as the creator/writer/designer of the animated TV series ThunderCats!

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Cowgirl Bride

FESS PARKER: DANIEL BOONE "Murderer's Cave"

2024-02-02T07:00:00.152-05:00

Yes, the cover title actually was Fess Parker: Daniel Boone...

...because, by the time this TV show debuted in 1964, there had been several other comic book series about the legendary frontiersman and the comic's publishers wanted readers to know this comic was based on the TV series starring the guy who previously-played Davy Crockett!

As this never-reprinted tale from Gold Key's Fess Parker: Daniel Boone #2 (1965) demonstrates, racism was a part of the fabric of America from the very beginning!

Admittedly, the authorities are British, since the story takes place before the American Revolution, but even our Declaration of Independence calls Native Americans “the merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.”
So it's not surprising the judges take the word of disreputable, uneducated White settlers instead of the sworn testimony of an Oxford University graduate who was half-Cherokee/half-British!
It's rumored that this story, written and illustrated by Fred Fredricks, was based on an unused TV series plot.
It certainly reads as more sophisticated than the usual comic based on a movie or TV show.
Note: writer-artist Fredricks had produced all the stories in issues 1 and 2 (including this one).
Issue #3 had one story by him...which was partially-redrawn, and then he was gone from the series which ran another twelve issues.

Coincidence?

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RED MASK...or...MAVERICK??? Either Way, He's the "Man Who Lost Yesterday!"

2024-01-20T07:00:00.002-05:00

We told you the tale of how 1940s Western movie star Tim Holt became comic book hero "Red Mask" HERE!

But that Masked Western Hero went through another metamorphosis, which we'll detail at the end of this story!

While this somewhat-cliched story of amnesia and imposters from Magazine Enterprise's Tim Holt #37 (1953) is a decent enough tale, what happened next was downright pitiful!

In 1971, fledgling comic publisher SkyWald, desperate for filler for their comics, used photostats and printing films from defunct comics publishers to add reprints behind 20-page new stories in their double-sized 52-page, 25-cent books!
In some cases, they used the material without any change.
In this case, Butch Cassidy #1 (1971), they re-titled the tale's lead character, and re-colored the story.
However, as you'll see, neither the editor nor proofreader did a very good job, as most of the captions and word balloons identifying the hero as "Red Mask" weren't altered!
Even the first paragraph calls him both "Maverick" and "Red Mask"...

Note: Skywald reprinted other Red Mask stories without trying to re-name the character!

Christmas on the Prairie SUPER-STAR HOLIDAY SPECIAL Jonah Hex in "Fawn and the Star"

2023-12-22T07:00:00.014-05:00

Unseen since publication in 1980...

...this over 40 year-old Yuletide tale offers us insight into how and why Jonah Hex turned into who he was!

Written by Michael Fleisher, penciled by Dick Ayers, and inked by Romeo Tanghal, this story appeared in DC Special #21 (1980): Super-Star Holiday Special, an anthology featuring all-new Xmas tales starring Batman, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Sgt Rock, Jonah Hex, and the hosts/stars of DC's mystery comics.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Halloween on the Prairie GUNSMOKE "The Thing!"

2023-10-17T07:00:00.004-04:00

While this comic's backup series Masked Marvel, featured a costumed hero pretending to be a ghost...

...the title strip's protagonist faced an actual supernatural threat, albeit, not the one shown on this purely-symbolic cover by H C Kiefer!

Bet you didn't see that plot-twist coming, did ya?

Illustrated by Doug (Jonny Quest) Wildey, this never-reprinted tale appeared in Youthful's Gunsmoke #16 (1952), the final issue of the series.

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Halloween on the Prairie "WereWolf Goes West"...in B/W AND Color!

2023-10-01T07:00:00.022-04:00

Two years ago, we presented "Vampire Goes West"...

...so, this time, it's a lycanthrope in the Weird West during the Halloween season...with a surprise guest-star tossed-in!

Appearing in the HTF tabloid Monster Times #24 in 1973 (where it was printed at full original art size), this tale featuring a cameo by the Masked Rider of the Plains and his Faithful Indian Companion was penned by Nicola Cuti and rendered by Frank Brunner.

Then, we discovered it had been reprinted in Eclipse's Unknown Worlds of Frank Brunner #2 (1985)...

...in full, bloody cool, color!

It's a Halloween season treat (no trick) to you, faithful readers!

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Romance on the Range ROMANCES OF THE WEST "Cowboy or the Playboy?"

2023-02-14T07:00:00.007-05:00

Did she want a man...or a real man?

This "modern" Western tale (set in the then-present day of 1949) has the answer!

This never-reprinted tale from Timely's Romances of the West #1 (1949) was one of Marvel mainstay John Buscema's earliest assignments, and only his second romance tale!

Do You Know About LOBO...the FIRST Black Character to Star in His Own Mainstream Comic?

2023-02-01T07:00:00.030-05:00

In 1966, the year The Black Panther debuted in Marvel's Fantastic Four #52...

...Dell Comics went them one better, introducing the first Black hero to get his own comic!

Other Black characters had their own series (one one-shot features) in anthology titles, but Lobo was the first to have his name AS the comic's title!

Lobo combined a couple of popular plot concepts...

Man on the Run for a Crime He Did NOT Commit

Exemplified by then-hit tv series The Fugitive, Lobo was framed, but couldn't prove his innocence.

Lone Western Hero

A loner wandering the Old West, righting wrongs was an especially popular genre in tv Westerns.

Variations on the theme included gamblers (Maverick) and martial-arts experts (Kung Fu)

Note: the tv series Branded also combined both the Loner and Man Framed themes!

...as well as a new concept:

Prominent Black character

Black characters (except for sterotypes like Amos 'n Andy) were few and far between on tv until the mid-1960s, and even then only as supporting characters (usually servants).

1960s urban dramas like Naked City and East Side, West Side, which dealt with current social themes had Black guest stars including James Earl Jones and Diana Sands, but no Black regulars.

Star Trek (1966) had both a Black regular (Lt. Nyota Uhura) and Black actors in prominent roles as scientists and high-placed officers/officials (admirals, etc,).

But, at that point, there were no tv series with a Black lead or Black title character!

(Diahann Carroll's groundbreaking series Julia didn't debut until 1968, two years later!)

So, Lobo was, to say the least, a daring experiment, albeit one with as many popular themes as possible to maximize sales potential!

Dell writer/editor Don (DJ) Arneson and artist Tony Tallarico felt the time was right, and managed to convince their publisher to take a chance.

You can read Arneson's tale of Lobo's creation HERE.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

Many vendors refused to put a comic with a Black hero on their racks, and the book had an almost 90% return rate.

Lobo the comic ran only two issues.

It's rumored that a script and unfinished art exist for a third issue, but that's never been confirmed.

You can read both issues of Lobo

and