This collection reprints Rawhide Kid #17-35. Stories are written by Stan Lee, and penciled by Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, Al Hartley, Paul Reinman, Jack Davis, Gene Colan and Sal Brodsky.
I had been looking forward to reading some Silver Age Western material, and this collection looked to be a good choice. I'm not the biggest fan of Western's in the world, but I'd enjoyed collections of Jonah Hex and Bat Lash, so I figured this would probably be pretty interesting.
It wasn't.
I can't say this is terrible. Given the perception of the readership at the time, these formulaic, shopworn tales were pretty much how things were. The art is professional. The stories would likely capture the imagination of your average 8 year old in 1960. The text pieces (which I will admit I did not read) were likely eagerly perused on a rainy day in the summer. It's professional comics.
That doesn't mean it's good. Even for an 8 year old in 1960.
Much of the problem lies with the Rawhide Kid himself. He's about as interesting as a turnip. Given that he had no supporting cast save his horse Nightwind, it's up to him to carry most of these stories, and there's just not enough personality there. Imagine Tonto without the Lone Ranger--actually, I kind of like that idea, so let's switch it around--if the Lone Ranger didn't have Tonto to play against, he'd be kind of a boring character in many ways, and I doubt the character would enjoy the enduring legacy he does today. The Rawhide Kid is the Lone Ranger without Tonto--even worse, without any sort of purpose or goal in life other than living until the next day. Sure, he's courageous and stalwart and a little hot-tempered, but unfortunately there needs to be something more to make him compelling. A quest to clear his name, a villain that always eludes him--just something. Maybe they came up with a hook in later issues to make it more interesting, but in these efforts there's not much going on.
It's not entirely all bad. Sprinkled throughout the various 4, 6, 8 and 10 page stories are a handful of tales that don't involve the Rawhide Kid, and if nothing else it's a nice change of pace. Also, I have to say that it seemed that the stories improved a little when Jack Davis took over as the primary artist on the series--somehow, his more cartoonish style makes some of the antics work just a little better. Not enough for me to recommend this collection, but better.
Oh yeah, something else. Despite the number of bullets flying throughout these stories, I think the only person that dies via gunshot wound is the Kid's adopted father. Perhaps it's the way that Westerns have been depicted over the last 30 years, but that simply seems preposterous. I know it's a comic book, and perhaps if the gunplay had been even more ridiculous it would have gone over better, but in 2012 it just didn't work for me. Yes, I'm aware that this is a book that was aimed squarely at children, but there were so many comics from that time period that do still hold up for adults that it's sad to see a collection of such mediocre work as this.
I cannot recommend this collection, not even for historical purposes.
Replies
Sorry you didn't like it, Randy. Tonto appeared solo in a series from Dell, in stories drawn by Alberto Giolitti.
Oooh, Giolitti.
I have a few comics with his work. The first one I was aware of was a BORIS KARLOFF story he did about a swamp monster. (If you saw it, it would kill you. The natives all wore blindfolds when it was coming, so it would pass them by.)
When I looked at that again after decades, at first, I thought it was was Paul Gulacy. Later, when I found out who Giolitti was, I began to wonder if halfway thru his run on MOKF, Gulacy's didn't switch from doing Steranko to doing Giolitti? There was a noticeable change in his drawing around issue #25, and then he inked #29 himself... WHOA!
I've also got a western he did (or was it a TARZAN? I should check...) Amazing he never did any work for Marvel-- or Warren.
I've only seen a little of Giolitti's work myself, Henry, but I found it impressive.
According to Mike's Amazing World of Comics Rawhide Kid #17 came out after Green Lantern's Showcase try-out but before the debut of his title. Dell published a Rawhide issue of Four Color the same month, along with other TV western-linked comics. Charlton was publishing a number of western titles, and DC still had a couple of bimonthly westerns in addition to Tomahawk (but one wouldn't survive the year, and the other was cancelled about a year later). Marvel's other westerns were Kid Colt Outlaw, Two-Gun Kid, and Gunsmoke Western. Jack Keller was drawing Kid Colt's feature, and John Severin the Two-Gun Kid's (this was Marvel's first Two-Gun Kid, not the masked version).
Rawhide Kid #35 came out the same month as Fantastic Four #17, and was the last Jack Davis issue. Dick Ayers took over the lead feature the next month.
So THAT's why we got stuck with "George Bell" on the FF??? (Too bad Stan didn't get him to do the western instead.)
But then, I guess Ayers wanted to PENCIL. It's a shame "The Marvel Method" deprived us of so many talented pencillers back then, as the only ones Stan wanted to work with tended to be those who could write their own stories. And the best George Roussos art I've ever seen was when he did pencils AND inks, instead of butchering someone else's pencils. (The same goes for Tony DeZuniga.)