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THE OLD WEST: AMERICA'S FRONTIER
Provides information on the history of the American West along with photos and links to other Old West related sites.

LONE STAR JUNCTION
A Texas and Texas history resource.

Buy From:
TALES OF WONDER: REG: $34.99 • LTD: $38.49

SADDLE UP, BUCKAROOS!

It’s time for the Marvel Masterworks to tame the wild, wild West with the one and only Rawhide Kid! Back before Stan “The Man” and “King” Kirby spun stories of sensational super heroes, they told the tale of a young man who bore two Colt six-shooters and his mission to bring law to the American frontier. After his Uncle Ben Bart was killed at the hands of outlaws, Johnny Bart made it his personal mission to bring justice to the town of Rawhide.

Packed full of shootouts and showdowns, renegades and rustlers, guns and girls galore, these Western yarns will be sure to please you in the Mighty Marvel Manner! We guarantee you won’t be able to hold on to your ten-gallon hat when you read the tale of the Terrible Totem, the Kid’s battle against the bank robbing Bat, and the war with Wolf Waco! Lasso your copy today, True Believer!

Collecting Rawhide Kid #17-25.

There may be some confusion as to why Marvel is choosing to start the first Rawhide Kid Masterworks volume with Rawhide Kid #17 instead of the first issue. The answer is actually quite simple, in a confusing kind of way!

The first "Atlas Era" Rawhide Kid series premiered with issue #1, which came out in March 1955 and continued over a span of sixteen bi-monthly issues until it closed up shop in September 1957. The series featured a cowboy by the name of Rawhide Kid (imagine that!) who took care of business the way gunslinging cowboys do; it was typical western fare of the time.

Almost a full three years later, in August of 1960, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby premiered a brand new Rawhide Kid, with a new look and a new identity: Johnny Clay, the orphaned boy later Johnny Bart (thusly named after his surrogate father, a fellow by the name of Uncle Ben Bart...starting to see a Marvel Age connection here?) They kept the name and numbering sequence of the original series, though, so the premiere of Johnny Bart was in Rawhide Kid #17, and that's where this Marvel Age Masterworks volume begins!

Without giving too much away, in Lee & Kirby's Rawhide Kid one can easily see the spawning of the Marvel Age of Comics, in writing style, character dynamics, and Jack Kirby's exciting layouts. It was only a year later that Fantastic Four #1 bowed, but Rawhide Kid and his Western contemporaries shouldn't be given short shrift when it comes to asserting when the "Marvel Age of Comics" truly began. In the minds of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the development of the Marvel Age Hero had already begun- but instead of passing through cosmic rays and gaining super-powers, he was riding a horse and slinging six-shooters.

In addition to all the great Rawhide Kid stories that take place in this volume, there are also several western inventory stories (at the rate of one per issue, usually five-pagers) by guys like Don Heck, Dick Ayers and Paul Reinman. For those who are only familiar with Don Heck's '60s era super-hero work, his stories will come as a revelation! His artwork shines through with the rustic charm of old western settings and cowboy adventures.

Perhaps one day we'll see an Atlas Era Rawhide Kid Masterworks line, reprinting the first sixteen issues of the original Rawhide Kid. But until then, we've got an awesome new line of Masterworks to look forward to, reprinting Johnny Bart's adventures as the Rawhide Kid, and giving us a glimpse into the origins of the Marvel Comics we so cherish.

-- by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted
Rawhide Kid #17-25

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.

Website design by Doug Roberts and John Rhett Thomas. All images on this site are copyright of Marvel Comics. This site is for reference purposes and promotion of the Masterworks line of books as well as Marvel Comics and their properties.