Confederate Comics GRAY GHOST "Point of Honor" Part 1

A Civil War Confederate Guerilla with His Own TV Series?

Yep, it happened...

...and here's a story from the two-issue comic book based on it!

To be Concluded
FRIDAY
at our 'brother" RetroBlog, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!

The series portrayed Mosby as a Robin Hood-type rogue who just happened to serve the Confederacy.

He's shown to be a man of honor and moral conviction, and the matter of the actual reasons for the Civil War is never addressed!

This never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics #911 (1958) is illustrated by Ray Bailey and George Woodbridge, who later became a regular contributor to MAD Magazine.

The adaptation's writer, however, is unknown...

The story is adapted from Ep 3 of the 39-episode TV series!

Sadly, little physical evidence exists of the 1957 all-but-forgotten syndicated show besides the two issues of Dell's Four Color Comics!

Trivia: the best-known performer (to the contemporary audience) in this episode was Angie Dickenson as Edie!

Please Support Western Comics Adventures!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Gray Ghost
Life of Colonel John Singleton Mosby

BRAVADOS "Ride to Vengeance!" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

...Entering a small town, Gideon sees someone he thinks is Jonas Payne, sadistic commander of the Confederate POW camp where Gideon spent part of the Civil War!

The man claims he's not the Confederate, and the other Bravados pull Gideon off the guy before the enraged cowboy can kill him!

Returning to the bar, Gideon tells the story of how he met Payne and why he carries such a hatred for the man.

(Quick aside: If Gideon is the focus of this story, why is Josh Reno the focus of the cover scene?

Was the creative staff afriaid to show a black cowboy beating up white cowboys?)

And so, the saga of the Bravados ends.

There are rumors of unpublished material for almost all the Skywald color comics, but only a few horror stories for the b/w line have ever surfaced.

Pity...

Visit the
Western Comics online store...

 ...for duds and provisions!

BRAVADOS "Ride to Vengeance!" Part 1

After a three-issue run in Wild Western Action...

...the Bravados graduated to their own title!

Exactly what they will do is the subject of tomorrow's post!

Considering the current controversy about Confederate memorial statues, it's ironic we're presenting this never-reprinted tale with a Confederate atrocity theme now, isn't it?

The same creative team (writer Len Wein, penciler Syd Shores, and inker Mike Esposito) who handled all the previous Bravados stories do the work on this, the final Bravados adventure from 1971!

"Wait!", you may scream.

"Didn't you say the Bravados had just received their own title?"

Yep!

"So this first issue is the only issue?"

Yep?

"Why?"

The exact reason is unknown, but all of Skywald's color comics were cancelled in September, 1971.

The company continued another couple of years by concentrating on b/w comic magazines such as Psycho, Nightmare, Hell-Rider, and Crime Machine going head-to-head with Warren and Marvel's b/w lines.

Visit the
Western Comics online store...

 ...for duds and provisions!

WESTERN TRUE CRIME "Quantril: the Killer's Killer"

Yes, William Quantrill's name is mis-spelled in the title...

...but it's the least of the errors in this incredibly-inaccurate telling of the Lawrence Massacre, which occurred exactly 150 years ago today!

This never-reprinted tale from Fox's Western True Crime #4 (1949) has so many inaccuracies that I can't begin to detail them!
You can check out this site about the real massacre to see just how the comic story veered from fact!
Despite that, it's a wild tale featuring art by Johnny Craig, an-up-and-comer who would become a major illustrator for the legendary EC Comics line of the early 1950s on such titles as Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Weird SuspenStories!

Visit the 

Real-Life Westerners store...
...for duds and provisions!