Monday, June 24, 2013

DRAW! Facts About Gun-Fighting

There's nothing quite like a well-done historical feature...
...especially when it's drawn by fantasy illustration legend Frank Frazetta, when he was just starting out in 1950!
Here's a really cool bonus...the original art for the feature...
This feature appeared twice within six months in John Wayne Adventures #2 and Billy the Kid #1.
Beginning Next Week...
In honor of the new Lone Ranger movie opening July 3rd,
July will be Lone Ranger Month on this blog
Lots of kool stuff including never-reprinted comics stories!

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Monday, June 17, 2013

DEATH VALLEY "Alone"

Coming-of-age in the Old West wasn't easy...
...besides the usual teen-age angst, there were owlhoots who would shoot you as soon as look at you...
After the first issue of Comic Media's Death Valley (1953) (which was a showpiece for Ross Andru and Mike Esposito), the second issue was an all-Don Heck art showcase.
The remainder of the series featured several artists per issue including Heck and Andru & Esposito.
Heck also did all the covers from #2 to the final issue.
Though none of the stories in Death Valley #2 (1953) have been reprinted, the splash page from this story was adapted into a cover for Charlton's Kid Montana in 1957!

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Monday, June 10, 2013

DAISY'S RED RYDER GUN BOOK "How to Saddle and Mount"

For all you tenderfoots (tenderfeet?) who never rode a horse...
...convenient instructions and demonstration from the legendary Red Ryder, star of comic books, newspaper comic strips, dramatic radio, and movies.
(But not TV!
There were two different pilots shot in the 1950s for a Red Ryder TV series.
Neither sold!)
Now, was that so hard?
This lesson in equestrianism was taken from the Daisy's Red Ryder Gun Book published in 1955 by Daisy Manufacturing Co.
Yes, the same Daisy who produced numerous versions of BB guns from the 1930s to the present.
But not the "Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time" seen in the movie A Christmas Story.
The 1938 rifle didn't have the compass and timepiece as seen HERE.
The "How to Saddle and Mount" feature was written and illustrated by Red Ryder creator Fred Harmon and his studio, and appears to be exclusive to this HTF one-shot.
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Monday, June 3, 2013

JOHN WAYNE "Ghost Guns"

The Duke ain't afraid of nothing...
...as this story, one of the few to be published twice during the run of Toby's John Wayne Adventures, shows!
Neither the writer nor artist for the story that appeared in both #12 (1951) and #21 (1953) of John Wayne Adventures is known.
In the 40s and 50s, a number of Western movie, radio, and tv stars (not characters, stars) had comics based on them, including Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, Charles Starrett, Tim Holt, and Lash Larue. Even co-stars and sidekicks like Dale Evans and Gabby Hayes had titles!
Stars like Buster Crabbe and John Wayne also had comics which primarily ran Western tales, but also did stories based on the other genres they appeared in.
In the case of The Duke, his title also had WWII and high adventure stories.
Interestingly, all the stories featured John Wayne as John Wayne, not as a character like Rooster Cogburn or Ethan Edwards!
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