Kind of a ho-hum cover. Not much thought put into a "stand-off" cover that had been done to death up to that point.



While Larsen's mistrust of a known outlaw--and white man (of the period) was a sensible reaction, the flashback which was (in part) to establish his behavior was clearly not going to show the kinds of cruel treatment and language post-Civil War black people had to endure, which was far more than the shoot-at-your-feet-to-dance western trope seen in endless TV shows, movies and serials. Although the period of Western Expansion saw the migration and involvement of many black people (criminally uncredited by much of academia and the "progressive" entertainment industry, including what would be called "gunslingers," they still had to watch their step, as any town population could turn into an instant lynch party if a black person "stepped out of line," which brings this back to the Larsen flashback; yes, there were black gunslingers in real life, but for Larsen to be the "i'm not taking it" type, it implies he's had a history of using the gun against white people. If that was the case, this issue's plot would have unfolded long before "Day of the Outcast."

But, this is a comic, and strict adherence to history was not a priority--or I should say, this comic was not going to go as far with hard, realism-based racial commentary as--for example--O'Neil and Adams would with John Stewart in his debut Green Lantern / Green Arrow issue (#82). By the way, that GL/GA issue would be published one month after this Rawhide Kid book ("Beware My Power" from January, 1972). The contrasts in handling a serious topic such as race could not be more glaring.




Yeeahhh...that was not going to happen, and in that period of American history.



What nonexistent justice system did Rawhide believe in? More often than not in the period this tale was set in, if a black person--especially male--was set up for a crime he did not commit, he was going to be killed, or spend a very long time in prison. A "fair shake" for a black man set up in this manner was about as improbable as seeing a unicorn riding a motorcycle in deep space.



Larsen's reply and bitterness were the one part of this script that held any truth.



I seriously doubt it. While early 70s Sam Wilson/The Falcon had experienced / expressed his own struggles with racism in the pages of Captain America and the Falcon, it would not be until the debut of Luke Cage in June of 1972 that a black Marvel character with Larsen's kind of worldview would ever be granted more attention as a comic headliner.



Agreed.




Not in this title.

Hadn’t thought of that. All I could think of was that it was a variation on that old Western favorite, Ringo.

But it sounded less than inspiring to me from the get-go because I remembered that same Tim Conway show Rob mentioned.

We’ve met our next two Western Team-Up partners before. We looked back at Ghost Rider early on in this thread, when he showed up under the name of Night Rider in Giant-Size Kid Colt #3. He was one of the main features in the early days of Western Gunfighters, trading top billing with Gunhawk, who was introduced in issue 1. We’ve already also looked at the other new features introduced there, The Renegades and Fort Rango. Now, let’s see what was happening with the other “new” strip running there, the continuation of Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider had been cancelled with issue 7, the November 1967 issue. The final lead story ended with the tease that the following issue would feature “Hurricane”:



But the story in WG #1, which claims to pick up after “the brief interval since the final issue of Ghost Rider” instead features “The Return of the Tarantula”, by Gary Friedrich, Dick Ayers, and Tom Sutton:



The Tarantula was GR’s nemesis from issues 2 and 5 of his original Marvel run, a master at using his bull whip to commit his crimes. The Ghost Rider story in this issue of WG runs for 10 pages, while the stories from the earlier Ghost Rider series ran 17 pages, typically. The creative team returns for another 10 pages in the next issue with “Tarantula No More!” Was this material originally prepared three years earlier to run in Ghost Rider #8? It’s certainly possible that additional pages were created to change a 17-pager into two 10-pagers. But that implies a change of plans, since readers were promised “Hurricane” in the never-published #8.

“The Man Called ‘Hurricane’” was, though, published in Western Gunfighters #3, and it’s by the same team that was handling the series in 1967—Friedrich and Ayers with inker Vince Colletta. It’s highly likely that this installment was prepared for an unpublished issue of GR. While this story runs only 10 pages, it shows evidence of having been severely edited, with a rushed ending. Perhaps it was abandoned unfinished back in 1967 upon cancellation, or maybe it was edited to fit WG’s shorter page count. Maybe this and the Tarantula story were run out of order from what would have been published in 1967, or maybe they had shuffled plans in 1967 to get the Tarantula back sooner, or maybe the Tarantula story was newly crafted for 1970 and the older Hurricane story rescued from the write-off drawer for use in issue 3. I don’t know, but I do know that all three episodes were true to the tone of the 1967 GR book, which leaned heavily on the super-hero characteristics, with costumed villains, including, as we see here, super-powered villains in typical mask and costume.

“Hurricane”, whose real name, unsurprisingly, was “Harry Kane”, was originally introduced as a Two-Gun Kid villain, in an issue that the footnote doesn’t identify (it was Two-Gun Kid #70, July 1964).



Hurricane was a super-speedster, powered by an Indian potion. He used his speed for running and as a super-quick draw with a six-shooter. Dick Ayers devotes a page to demonstrating the villain’s powers:



Meanwhile, the Gunhawk feature sat out issues 2-3, as had the other new features introduced in the premier issue. He returns in issue 4, but not in a solo this time:

Western Gunfighters #4, February 1971



Cover by Herb Trimpe

“The Gunhawk…the Killer…and the Ghost Rider”, 10 pgs
By Gary Friedrich/Dick Ayers

Summary:



Well, that’s 30% of the pages right there. Given the inconsistencies in the content of these first few issues, I have to wonder whether this is an indication that a longer Ghost Rider/Gunhawk story has been edited into two installments, with this trio of full-page images added as padding.

When the story really gets underway, Gunhawk is holding the fellow from page 2 at bay, his arms up as he sits astride his horse. Gunhawk accuses him of shooting at him, but the “Killer” claims that Gunhawk fired first—why, he’s not even carrying a gun! Gunhawk finds a revolver on the trail, whick “Killer” declines to claim, even though his holster’s empty. Pulling the man off the horse, Gunhawk proceeds to slap him around a bit, drawing the attention of the nearby Ghost Rider, who doesn’t like the look of these proceedings.

GR disarms Gunhawk with the traditional bullet-to-the pistol shot, and “Killer” goes for the dropped firearm. Gunhawk’s got a second six-shooter to pull on the “Killer”, threatening to plug him if he picks it up.

But pick it up he does, drawing on the Gunhawk as his well-aimed shot—again, to the pistol--deprives Gunhawk of his second weapon. Turns out that “Killer” is guilty as accused of trying to take out the Gunhawk, in pursuit of a rep that will make him “one’a the top guns in the west! And nuthin’s changed my mind about that, so…adios…Gunhawk!” (So why didn’t he take the easier shot in the first place?)
Now it’s Ghost Rider’s turn to intervene again, drawing “Killer”’s five remaining shots, none of which land, probably because “Killer” is a bit spooked by the Spectral Lawman. He’s spooked even worse when Ghost Rider pulls his “floating head” act, and “Killer” departs the scene, vowing never to shoot anyone again. Gunhawk’s not nearly as gullible, having seen through the Ghost Rider’s “supernatural” act:




Ghost Rider refuses to abandon his unearthly routine, even after being exposed, and after clearing up the circumstances that led him to intervene, GR permits the Gunhawk to carry on. But Gunhawk leaves him with a little warning: “I’m a bounty hunter…and the only reason I’m here…is to collect a reward on your head!”

And to close the tale, Gunhawk arrives in Bison Bend and gets acquainted with some of Ghost Rider’s neighbors, in particular, Clay Riley, the former Tarantula, now suffering from amnesia after his recent clash with Ghost Rider. He introduces himself to the townspeople and lets them know what he’s here for: collecting the reward on Ghost Rider’s head. The tease for next issue warns the reader: “Only One Shall Survive!” We’ll see about that…

Comments:

While the following issue suggests I was not on the right track with my speculation about this being an edit of a longer story, what we've got here is not much of a yarn. Yes, Dick Ayers was known to occasionally be off in his pacing, but this story really wasn’t a story as much as an encounter, and an awkwardly staged one at that, with Ghost Rider seeming to disappear from the action before re-injecting himself into it.

According to the (more interesting) cover, “you demanded it—the Ghost Rider and Gunhawk together in one story!!” If so, they didn’t choose to run any of those demands in the series’ first letters page in this issue—the only demand mentioned is the demand to learn the names of the characters in “The Renegades”!

Unrelated to Western Team-Ups, this issue does have the only appearance of “Outcast”, one of Barry (Windsor) Smith’s earliest efforts for Marvel (inked by Sam Grainger). The 10-pager ends with the note: “This strip was conceived by Roy Thomas and executed by Smith and [scripter Steve] Parkhouse nearly two years ago! Want to see more of the mysterious, tormented youth known only as…The Outcast? Then let us hear from you, wrangler!”

The Outlaw Kid


‘Round about this time, August 1970, to be specific, Marvel added another reprint title to their Western line-up, The Outlaw Kid. It ran 9 issues, reprinting stories from the original run from 1954-1957, including the Outlaw Kid stories from issues 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18, and 19. The covers were all new, starting off with a beauty by John Severin, then a string of nice looking jobs by young Herb Trimpe, and bringing back John Severin to close out issue 9 (declared on the cover to be “The Kid’s Last Stand!”).

Evidently reader response was positive, largely due to the high quality artwork of Doug Wildey, who had been the original artist. The original series ran for 19 issues, leaving 10 more to be mined, but perhaps Marvel didn’t have any useable materials from which to reprint those issues, because they went unused. But sales demanded that the Outlaw Kid ride again, and so he did, returning for 7 issues beginning with #10.

Dick Ayers would be taking the place of Doug Wildey as artist, abetted by inkers George Roussos and Jack Abel, with the unrelated Friedrichs handling the scripts—Mike on issues 10-12, Gary on issues 13-16.

As we saw early on in this thread, Outlaw Kid sought to bring more of Marvel’s superhero sensibilities to the Westerns. Described on the covers as a Western in the tradition of Spider-Man, the Outlaw Kid had a secret identity wearing his masked costume, but it also relied much more heavily on issue-to-issue continuity than most of its peers. Marvel wanted to draw readers into an ongoing continuing saga to entice a steady audience rather than provide self-contained short adventures suitable for casual sampling. One of the techniques was the final panel tease, and it’s in Outlaw Kid #11, August 1972 that we find the one of most interest here.

Behind this Gil Kane/Vince Colletta cover:



…is the story “Railroaded!” Lance Temple and his girlfriend Belle Palmer are discussing a poster announcing a reward for the Outlaw Kid. Lance thinks this is going too far, that Outlaw has saved the town many times when the sheriff couldn’t, but Belle disagrees, complimenting Lance on his peaceful, considerate nature, so unlike that of the Outlaw Kid!

And there, of course, is our driving emotional conflict, because Lance is in fact the Outlaw Kid, as revealed in the previous issue’s origin story. This issue’s story ends with Lance earning an even worse reputation than he already had, attracting the attention of a newcomer to town:



This was August, 1972, two months prior to the debut of the new Gunhawks title, which must have already been well into preparation and had laid claim on the “Gunhawk” trademark. So our old acquaintance from Western Gunfighters was renamed “Bounty-Hawk”. The only hint to his prior incarnation will come from the dialog seen here, to be reiterated next issue: “He’s been called an ordinary gunhawk…”

The Outlaw Kid #12, October 1972
“In the Claws of Bounty-Hawk”, 20 pgs
Mike Friedrich, writer
Dick Ayers, artist
Jack Abel, inker
Artie Simek, letterer



Cover by Dick Ayers and Frank Giacoia

Summary:

Since this series is incorporating superhero-style issue-to-issue continuity, Outlaw Kid opens the tale by synopsizing the situation he finds himself in after the previous installment: he’s feuding with Jack McDaniels railroad company, he’s wanted as an outlaw and he’s despised by half of his home base of Caliber City.

In the background, the railroad bridge collapses in a blast of dynamite, and Outlaw, on his horse Blazer, heads to the scene to investigate. The train, stalled ahead of the destroyed bridge, is at the mercy of the Red Vest Gang, an ongoing menace in this series. Outlaw arrives and starts shooting, and the four Red Vesters hightail it, knowing that the Outlaw Kid is too tough to tangle with. Outlaw’s got a personal grudge: the gang’s responsible for his father’s blindness. They don’t all escape; Outlaw brings one Red Vester down with a shot to the leg, and another drops his irons and straight up surrenders. They don’t have much to reveal except the obvious: the boss wants to rule by force and intended to finance the gang’s efforts via the train robbery.

Well, Outlaw’s just gonna take the loot himself, since he figures McDaniels has been overcharging the farmers that use his trains to transport their crops! But he only takes half, which he redistributes to the overcharged townspeople in dark of night! The Robin Hood act makes him feel good about himself and starts to win over the good folk of Caliber City.



Jack McDaniels, meanwhile, is offering a good payday for our old pal Bounty-Hawk. The scarred mercenary has little use for McDaniels, and tells him so, but the money’s good and the reward is legitimate. A job’s a job, right?



Lance Temple rises the next morning and feeds his blind Pa a line about having been out with his girl Belle. But Lance isn’t the only one with a secret: Pa appears to have been digging in the mud, but he denies it—claims he tripped in a mud-hole!

The sheriff of Caliber City is no happier about having Bounty-Hawk stalking prey in his town than Sheriff Brooks was about having him hunting the Ghost Rider in Bison Bend. ‘Hawk is putting up wanted posters with a $5000 reward, and that riles up Lance Temple plenty “My blood boils at my treatment in this town of ingrates! It’s McDaniel’s doing, no doubt—the slimey gopher!” Yes, Lance has an anger management issue, and he acknowledges it to himself, before whistling out the secret signal summoning Blazer from his hideaway in the stable of the Irish blacksmith who owes Outlaw his life.

The Outlaw Kid makes a public warning at the railway station: “My patience wears thin! Either the town lays off—or this town will face the wrath of the Outlaw Kid!”
And the Outlaw Kid will face the high precision aim of Bounty-Hawk, who (you guessed it!) shoots the pistol from Outlaw’s hand, then leads him at gunpoint to his fate.



Outlaw’s got something up his sleeve…well, in his hat, actually…an explosive pellet that generates a cloud of smoke, permitting him to get his fists on the Bounty-Hawk! A rigorous battle ensues, and appears to end when Bounty-Hawk regains access to his six-shooter, while Outlaw remains unarmed.



But Outlaw’s pistol is within reach, and suddenly the fistfight becomes a shoot-out, with Outlaw keeping the bullets flying just long enough to summon Blazer to his side. Now the shoot-out becomes a horse race!



The horse race leads the pair of ‘em into Red Vest territory, where the mysterious boss (who wears a full red jacket, not just the vest!) picks off the Outlaw Kid with a shot to the shoulder. He spots Bounty-Hawk coming in behind Outlaw, and ‘Hawk’s about as much a thorn in his side as Outlaw.

With that, the horse race becomes an ambush as the Red Vest gang hail bullets at the Western Gunfighter, ultimately dynamiting the bridge that he and Outlaw are riding on, hoping to “kill three birds with one blast—the city—the Bounty-Hawk and the Outlaw Kid!”



Outlaw plunges into the river, clings to a fallen beam while Blazer swims alongside—can he reach the shore with his injured shoulder? Not if the boss has any say, and his rifle gives him plenty of say from his high vantage point!

Running down to shore to check on the victims, the Red Vesters find Outlaw and ‘Hawk sprawled out…but they’re playing possum! The pair rise unexpectedly and subdue the two gang members who came to confirm what they hoped would be a successful double murder.



The Red Vest boss flees like a coward, but he’s not without some successful accomplishments, namely cutting off Caliber City with the railroad and the main trail taken out of commission.
All that’s left is the parting, and we can all write this scene from memory: Bounty-Hawk’s not about to turn in a man who saved his life. He rides off, allowing the Outlaw Kid the opportunity to evade arrest. We’re left with a farewell between the two Western legends, and a teaser for the next issue, promising to explain the mysterious diggings of Outlaw’s pa “Hoot” Temple, the identity of the Red Vest Gang boss, and more of Belle Palmer and Jack McDaniels…



Comments:

I haven’t devoted much space to the concept and character of the Outlaw Kid, who only sneaked in a team-up late in the game. This issue provides a taste of the ingredients that made him a “Western Spider-Man”: masked mystery man keeping his secret identity as a crimefighter hidden from the blind old father who disapproves of violence, in his home town of Caliber City, living a quiet, peaceful civilian life with a pretty girlfriend…all of which, surprisingly, were elements of the original run that this comic had been reprinted. Marvel had a more substantial foundation for this revival than they’d had on many of their cowboy characters from the 50’s, who’d had a simple, interchangeable quality to them.

The one standard component they couldn’t resist introducing was making the Kid an outlaw; in the original run, despite his nickname, the Kid was acknowledged as a keeper of the peace in Caliber City, “outlaw” only in his anonymous and unofficial capacity as a lawman. The 70’s incarnation not only earned an undeserved and controversial reputation for being a lawbreaker, but, as we see here, embraced his status, engaging as a Robin Hood of the West. Also added to the blend were the recurring villains who’d be a thorn in his side for the short revival, and the overwrought bad attitude.

When the series proved less successful than the reprints (the letters page in this issue includes one from a reader who wrote in to tell them not to revive the series when the all-new content was announced!), the feature didn’t just abruptly convert back to reprints: the series came to a conclusion, with Lance Temple revealing his identity to the people of Caliber City and retiring from the role forever.

Of all the Western Team-Ups on the agenda for this expanded version of my review thread, this appears to be the last one in the classic vein, where two characters from their own solo features meet up. This one includes most of the standard tropes we’ve seen again and again, from the conflict leading to a fistfight culminating in letting an “outlaw” go on his way peaceably. The biggest curiosity is that former headliner Gunhawk is presented as if he were a new character being introduced into the story, not the one-time lead from feature that saw its last installment just 9 months earlier, in a comic that was still on the stands, if only in a reprint format at the moment. Marvel was footnote-crazy back around then; one would think an acknowledgment of “You might remember meeting this scar-faced man in black under a different name in Western Gunfighters!” would have seemed worth adding.

Coming Attractions:

We’ll be circling around back to where we started, after a visit back to Fort Rango!

Shoulda been in season 1......