If It Ain't the Injun, It's The Horse!

Cover painting by Hank Hartman

Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe it's just the The Ranger never sets foot in town until he's ready to round up the bad guy, or less'n he's disguised as an old prospector, but whatever the reason, it seems like none of the Masked Man's faithful companions can get anywhere near a town without one of 'em is gettin' lynched.

This time, it's the horse. From Lone Ranger #19,











This story originally appeared in Dell's Lone Ranger #111 September, 1957 (where it was 2 pages longer!)


Cover painting by Hank Hartman


Cover painting by Hank Hartman as it originally appeared on Dell's Lone Ranger #110

Those About Turok, We Salute You!

This cover art was originally used for issue #30, December 1962, the first Gold Key issue

Well, the people have spoken! By an overwhelming majority, y'all voted in favor of having Turok, Son of Stone added to the mix here at OUATITWIC. Apologies to the one reader who voted no.

I was raised on dinosaur books and Marx plastic cowboys. So a comic book that combined dinosaurs and Indians completely blew my mind- even after having seen Star Wars !

Turok, for those of you who've been living in a cave (yeah, I said it) is a frontier-era plains Indian. He and his young companion Andar took a wrong turn one day while hunting and ended up in a "lost valley" full of dinosaurs and cave men. Of course, Turok and Andar have never heard of dinosaurs, so y0u'll have to forgive them for naming them things like "honkers".

Turok fisrt appeared in Dell's Four Color Comics #596 in a story by Gaylord DuBois and drawn by Rex Maxon (bonus points to reader Elias Montakis for his spot-on knowledge of Turok history) . Apparently, DuBois had re-worked the story from a discarded script for Red Hawk.

And now, "A Vision of Home" written by Paul Newman (race cars, salad dressing and comics??) and drawn by Alberto Giolitti.









This story originally appeared in issue #42, November 1964:

Gold Key Comics!: LANCER No. 3, September 1969

My amigo, Mykal Banta, that blogger's blogger and all-around nice guy, has done it again. It being post another fantastic Western comic at his blog Gold Key Comics.




Gold Key Comics!: LANCER No. 3, September 1969

But wait, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Mykal also had a great Western post at his companion blog The Charlton Story:



The Charlton Story: THE GUNFIGHTERS No. 53, June 1979

THE Masked Rider of the Plains- Accept No Substitutes!

The Lone Ranger debuted on the radio in January of 1933. He would gain a syndicated comic strip in 1938 and make his first appearance in a comic book in 1939. Most of his early comic book adventures were simply color reprints of the daily comic strip. In 1948, Dell comic began publishing a regular Lone Ranger comics series (again, mostly reprints at first) which would come and go as the company became first Gold Key and then Whitman.

Today's offering is Gold Key's Lone Ranger #23 from 1975. Notice that by this time the appearance of the Lone Ranger and Tonto are very deliberately modeled on Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels from the Lone Ranger TV show, still in syndicated re-runs at the time.














Update! I just found out that Pappy, over ta Pappy's Golden-Age Comics Blog, just posted a far cooler Dell Lone Ranger by Tom Gill. Be sure to check it out :



http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2010/06/number-754-tom-gills-lone-ranger.html

More Recommended Readin'- Judge Colt, Gunsmoke

Howdy, Y'all. Things are busy here at the Bias Ranch, what with my gettin' a new job that cuts my free time down considerable. Why, I hardly have time to keep up my bloggin'. I plan to post sumthin' here ever' Monday, Wednesday and Friday, best I can. But, if'n y'all cain't wait a whole day for more Western comics, y'all can mosy right on over to my amigo, Mykal Banta's blog "Gold Key Comics" and read the following rollickin' tales of frontier livin':


http://www.goldkeystories.com/2010/02/judge-colt-in-hangman-judge.html



http://www.goldkeystories.com/2010/01/judge-colt-time-of-assassin.html



http://www.goldkeystories.com/2010/04/judge-colt-no-4-september-1970.html



http://www.goldkeystories.com/2010/03/gunsmoke-no-4-august-1969.html

And, if thet weren't enuff, The Groovy Agent over t' "Diversions of the Groovy Kind has several rootin', tootin' tales of desperadoes, buckaroos and owlhoots posted:



http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/search/label/weird%20western%20tales