Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier (usually anywhere west of the Mississippi River) and typically set during the late nineteenth century. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published from the late 1940s through the 1950s (though the genre had continuing popularity in Europe, and persists in limited form in American comics today). Western comics of the period typically featured dramatic scripts about cowboys, gunfighters, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, and Native Americans. Accompanying artwork depicted a rural America populated with such iconic images as guns, cowboy hats, vests, horses, saloons, ranches, and deserts, contemporaneous with the setting.
Origins Western novels, films, and pulp magazines were extremely popular in the United States from the late 1930s to the 1960s.
Western comics first appeared in newspaper strips in the early 1900s. One of the first examples was Lariat Pete, a humorous strip created by John Campbell Cory, which circulated from 1901 to 1903 and was occasionally illustrated by Dan McCarthy and George Herriman. Victor Forsythe also introduced humorous takes on the genre with Bad Bill the Western Wildcat (1911) and Tenderfoot Tim (1912–1914), both published in the New York World. In October 1927, J. Carrol Mansfield, best known for the educational strip High Lights of History (1924–1942), launched Buffalo Bill, Scout of Scouts, a daily continuity strip recounting the formative years of young Billy Cody. In June 1927, Harry O'Neill's Young Buffalo Bill (later changed to Buckaroo Bill and then, finally, Broncho Bill), distributed by United Feature Syndicate. After O’Neill’s departure, Fred Meagher continued the feature briefly, and the title was later replaced by the actual Buffalo Bill strips (1950–1956).
Starting in the 1938, Red Ryder, Little Joe, and King of the Royal Mounted were syndicated in hundreds of newspapers across the United States. Garrett Price's White Boy (later changed to Skull Valley) was another syndicated strip from the 1930s.Markstein, Don. "Whiteboy," Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed Nov. 23, 2011.
The first Western stories to appear in the comic books were in the mid-1930s: National Allied's New Fun Comics #1 (Feb. 1935) ran the modern-West feature "Jack Woods" and the Old West feature "Buckskin Jim"; Centaur Publications' The Comics Magazine #1 (May 1936) ran the feature "Captain Bill of the Rangers"; and David McKay Publications's Feature Book #1 (May 1937) and a single issue of King Comics (also 1937) featured King of the Royal Mounted reprints before Dell took over licensing of the character. Dell Comics' The Funnies published a run of short adaptations of B-movie Westerns starting in vol. 2, issue #20 (May 1938). Whitman Comics' Crackajack Funnies ran regular Western features (including Tom Mix stories) beginning with issue #1 in June 1938.
The first stand-alone Western comics titles were published by Centaur Publications. Star Ranger and Western Picture StoriesSexton, Lansing and Sexton, Andrea. "Cowboy Comic Books - an Overview: Tim Holt," The Old Corral. Accessed July 25, 2011. both debuted from the publisher in late 1936, cover-dated Feb. 1937. Star Ranger ran for 12 issues, becoming Cowboy Comics for a couple of issues, and then becoming Star Ranger Funnies. The series ended in October 1939. Western Picture Stories ran four issues in 1937. Dell Comics published Western Action Thrillers #1 shortly thereafter (cover-date Apr. 1937), and began publishing Red Ryder Comics,Schelly, Bill and Keith Dallas. American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2013), p. 17. initially reprinting the long-running comic strip, in 1941. Edward “Tex” O’Reilly, the creator of the fakelore figure Pecos Bill, collaborated on the Pecos Bill comic strip with cartoonist Jack A. Warren (also known as Alonzo Vincent Warren) distributed by George Matthew Adams Service from 1936 to 1937.
In 1939, the Associated Features Syndicate, run by Robert W. Farrell, launched the newspaper strip Lightnin' and Lone Rider. Written by Farrell and illustrated by two young artists at the beginning artist: Jack Kirby and Frank Robbins, the strip was later reprinted in Eastern Color Printing's Famous Funnies.
"Golden Age": 1948–1960 Western comics became popular in the years immediately following World War II, when superheroes went out of style. Adult readership had grown during the war years, and returning servicemen wanted subjects other than superheroes in their books. The popularity of the Western genre in comic strips and other media gave birth to Western comics, many of which began being published around 1948.Rhoades, Shirrel (2008). A Complete History of American Comic Books. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, p. 47.
Most of the larger publishers of the period jumped headfirst into the Western arena during this period, particularly Marvel Comics and its forerunners Timely Comics and Atlas Comics. Kid Colt Outlaw debuted in 1948, running until 1979 (though it was primarily a reprint title after 1967). The company soon established itself as the most prolific publisher of Western comicsMarkstein, Don. "Two-Gun Kid," Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed Dec. 19, 2011. with other notable long-running titles, including Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, and Wild Western.
The six-issue 1950 Harvey Comics series Boys' Ranch, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, was a seminal example of the Western comics genre. DC Comics published the long-running series All-Star Western and Western Comics. Charlton Comics published Billy the Kid, Cheyenne Kid, Outlaws of the West, Texas Rangers in Action, and the unusual title Black Fury, about a horse that roamed the West righting wrongs. Both Dell Comics and Fawcett Comics published a number of Western titles, including The Lone Ranger (Dell) and Hopalong Cassidy (Fawcett, later continued by DC after Fawcett folded in 1953). Many issues of Dell's Four Color featured Western stories during the 1950s. Avon Comics published a number of Western comics, the most notable titles being based on historical figures like Jesse James and Wild Bill Hickok. Youthful published the Western titles Gunsmoke, Indian Fighter, and Redskin (later known as Famous Western Badmen). And Toby Press published its own Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine.
However, this popularity drew the attention of psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, whose book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), he argued that most Westerns were nothing more than crime stories in different clothing. He also condemned the advertisements for guns and knives in these magazines, arguing that this association between advertising and violence helped normalize aggressive attitudes among young readers. His moralist campaign, combined with U.S. Senate hearings, led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority (CCA) in 1954, a strict censorship code that devastated the Western genre. The Code's rules were designed to respond directly to Wertham's criticisms, banning excessive violence, torture, bloodshed, corrupt authority figures, moral ambiguity in heroes, horror, the supernatural, and the sensual portrayal of women.
Characters The first Western hero published by Timely Comics was the Masked Raider, beginning in 1939.
Timely/Atlas/Marvel favored Western characters with the word "Kid" in their name, including the Apache Kid, Kid Colt, the Outlaw Kid, the Rawhide Kid, the Ringo Kid, the Two-Gun Kid, and the Western Kid—as well as the more obscure heroes the Prairie Kid, the Arizona Kid, and the Texas Kid. Other companies followed suit, with DC's Stuff the Chinatown Kid and the Wyoming Kid; Charlton Comics' Billy the Kid and the Cheyenne Kid; and Dell's the Cisco Kid.
Black Rider and Phantom Rider were two other Marvel company characters from the genre's peak. Other early DC Comics Western characters included Johnny Thunder, Nighthawk, Pow Wow Smith, Tomahawk, the Trigger Twins, and Vigilante. A new version of the Lone Rider was launched in 1951 by Robert W. Farrell through his publishing house, Farrell Publications. The character was subsequently relaunched under the title The Rider in 1957.
In 1950, the Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper geared toward Black audiences, launched a new color comic section through the Smith-Mann Syndicate, which supplied several strips featuring Black characters. Among them was The Chisholm Kid, a comic strip about a Black cowboy illustrated by Carl Pfeufer, the longtime artist of Fawcett's Tom Mix comics.Harvey, R. C. The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History (University Press of Mississippi : 1996), p. 54. The strip ran in the newspaper from August 19, 1950, to August 11, 1956.
Dell Comics, known for publishing The Lone Ranger, introduced Lobo in 1965 . Created by D. J. Arneson and Tony Tallarico, this Western hero is widely regarded as the medium's first African-American character to headline his own comic book series, making him the second Black Western protagonist in comics history, following The Chisholm Kid.
Cowboy actor comics
Tom Mix's prolific comic book presence was an extension of his popular radio show, The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters (1933–1951), in which actors voiced his part. This radio success directly spawned his first comics: a single-page advertisement in New Fun #1 (February 1935) where the cowboy star endorsed "official Tom Mix Zyp-Guns." His first proper narrative appearances followed in Dell Comics' The Comics, Popular Comics and Crackajack Funnies from 1936 to 1939. This was succeeded by a direct mail-order series from Ralston Purina, the sponsor of his popular radio series; from 1940 to 1942, the company produced nine issues of Tom Mix Comics and three issues of Tom Mix Commandos Comics, available to fans in exchange for cereal boxtops.
The years 1946–1949 saw an explosion of titles "starring" Western film actors and cowboy singers. Almost every star, major or minor, had their own title at some point; and almost every publisher got in on the action: Fawcett published Allan Lane, Monte Hale, Gabby Hayes, Lash LaRue, Tex Ritter, and Tom Mix comics; Dell published Gene Autry, Rex Allen, Roy Rogers, and Wild Bill Elliott comics; Magazine Enterprises published Charles Starrett and Tim Holt comics; Toby Press published a John Wayne title; and DC produced short-lived Dale Evans and Jimmy Wakely titles. (Dale Evans and Reno Browne were the only two Western actresses to have comics based on their characters.) Most of the cowboy actor titles featured photo covers of the stars; most series had been canceled by 1957.
Faux cowboy actors
Publishers sometimes used models to portray “faux cowboy” heroes. Actor and model Steve Holland posed as Bob Colt, a fictional Fawcett cowboy who appeared in ten issues (1950–1952). Timely Comics used the same trick with Tex Morgan, Tex Taylor and Rex Hart. In a notable instance, Timely editor Stan Lee himself dressed up as the title character for the cover of Black Rider #8 (March 1950).
Creators Since Westerns were such a popular genre in the 1950s, many of the period's notable creators spent at least some time doing Western comics.
Writer Paul S. Newman and artist Tom Gill had an 11-year stretch on Dell's The Lone Ranger, a 107-issue run that marks one of the longest of any writer/artist team on a comic-book series. Larry Lieber spent nine years as writer-artist of Marvel's Rawhide Kid. France Herron and Fred Ray were the long-time writer and artist of DC's Tomahawk. Gaylord DuBois excelled in writing Western comics featuring realistic animals: he wrote the entire run of The Lone Ranger's Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver, the entire run of National Velvet under both the Dell and Gold Key imprints, and many other animal stories for a number of publishers.