DEATH VALLEY "Deadly Double Cross"

Here's a never-reprinted tale of six-gun justice deferred...

...by the talented team of then-up and comers, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito!

Anthologies without ongoing characters were a popular format for Western comics, allowing for life-or-death situations that sometimes actually resulted in a tale's feature characters ending up on Boot Hill!

The first issue of Comic Media's Death Valley (1953) was a showpiece for Andru and Esposito to demonstrate their storytelling prowess in all four stories.
While there's no author listed on any of the indexes for this issue, it's not unreasonable to believe Ross and Mike also wrote these four tales!
Besides the one we're running today, we presented the other stories HERE, HERE and HERE.

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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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DEATH VALLEY "Long Winded Killer"

Anthologies without ongoing characters were a popular format for Western comics...

...allowing for life-or-death situations that sometimes actually resulted in a tale's feature characters ending up on Boot Hill!

The first issue of Comic Media's Death Valley (1953) was a showpiece for Ross Andru and Mike Esposito to demonstrate their storytelling prowess in all four stories.
Besides the one we're running today, we presented two other stories HERE and HERE.

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DEATH VALLEY "Trail of Vengeance"

It's one of the oldest tales (with variations) in the Western genre...

...but the art team of Andru & Esposito tell it with real flair in only seven pages!

Don't ya just love a happy (though bittersweet) ending?

The first issue of Comic Media's Death Valley (1953) was a showpiece for Ross Andru and Mike Esposito to demonstrate their storytelling prowess in all four stories (one of which we presented HERE).
But, next issue, ongoing characters were introduced, and Don Heck became the primary illustrator for the remainder of the title's run.

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DEATH VALLEY "Inferno"

Despite the fact this story appeared in a comic called Death Valley...

...it doesn't take place in Death Valley, nor did the Real-Life Westerner the tale is about ever go to Death Valley!

Billy the Kid has been one of the most popular (and controversial) Real-Life Westerners ever to appear in the media.

Portrayed as everything from a psychopathic killer to a misunderstood teen-ager, he's been the subject of movies, radio and TV shows (both as the title character, and as a guest-star), theatre productions, novels, and no less than a half-dozen comic book titles as well as several hundred comic stories.

(He even fought Dracula in the 1966 b-movie Billy the Kid vs Dracula and traveled thru time in an episode of The Time Tunnel!)
This particular never-reprinted tale was published in Comic Media's Western anthology series Death Valley #1 (1953), penciled by Ross Andru and inked by Mike Esposito.
The writer is unknown.

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featuring Billy the Kid!