RESOLVED: The Rawhide Kid is my favorite western comics character and one of my favorite comics characters period. This is why I’ve written over a hundred columns about him. Something about his short stature, but large courage, honor and fighting skills speaks to me. After rereading the Kid’s earliest adventures when Marvel reprinted them in a pair of Marvel Masterworks and an Essential Rawhide Kid volume, I decide to reacquire every Rawhide Kid comic, reread them and write about them. We’ve reached the title’s extended twilight. We’ve seen the last new Rawhide Kid story that will appear in the now-bimonthly reprint series. This is the 137th installment of my “Rawhide Kid Wednesday” columns.
The Rawhide Kid #150 [March 1979] has a new cover by Tony DeZuniga. This is the next-to-last issue of the long-running title. Which is, at least, going out with some spiffy new covers by some of Marvel’s top artists.
The issue reprints “The Gun and the Arrow!” (14 pages) from Rawhide Kid #98 [April 1972]. The cover to that issue was pencilled by Larry Lieber and inked by Bill Everett. The story was written and pencilled by Larry Lieber with inks by George Roussos. I wrote about this story on August 24, 2016. You can read that column here.
The inside front cover is an ad for Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1978 remake of the 1956 movie. There were two other remakes and a fourth is currently in development. The original movie scared the crap out of me. I watched it in the auditorium of Sts. Phillip and James Church and School.
The Church would show movies on Sunday afternoon to give parents a break from their kids and make a few bucks selling tickets, candy and popcorn. The original concept was to present good and wholesome films. We kids didn’t want to see those. So, slowly but surely, the movies changed from various inspirational tales of folks overcoming adversity with faith and such to thrillers in which science dealt (or tried to deal with) adversaries like Gorgo, the Giant Behemoth, Martians declaring war on our world and alien pod people. Now that was how to spend a Sunday afternoon!
There were two-and-a-half pages of classified ads and a smattering of half-page ads recruiting readers to sell cheap crap of one kind or another or cutting out the middleman and selling directly to those readers. Several full-page ads offered more novelty items, celebrity posters, toy soldiers, even more novelty items and more opportunities to make money selling stuff.
Comics fandom was growing and there were 28 ads for comics retail, up three from the previous issue. There was also an ad offering 3 mil comics storage bags at three bucks per hundred.
A full-page house ad touted the new Shogun Warriors title by writer Doug Moench and artist Herb Trimpe.
Heroes World had its usual full-page pitch. They offered Battlestar Galactic items and Marvel super-hero stuff.
The usual full-page Marvel subscription ad was updated with a new drawing by Marie Severin. If you subscribed to any two titles, you also got a Spider-Man marking pen.
Pizzazz was represented by the same full-page ad that had blandly been pitching the magazine for several issues.
New to this issue was a half-page ad combining a pitch for all five Spider-Man comics - “America’s Number One Super-Hero” - with useful information on Marvel’s subscription service.
The launch of Power Man and Iron Fist, which kept the numbering from Luke Cage’s now-cancelled solo series, got the full-page house ad treatment as well. I guess combining the two titles worked out because the new series would run 59 issues.
The Outlaw Kid reprint comes from The Outlaw Kid #16 [March 1957]. Joe Maneely was the cover artist.
“Treachery on the Trail!” (4 pages) was drawn by Doug Wildey. The writer has not yet been identified. This is the third reprinting of the tale. It also appeared in Outlaw Kid #7 [August 1971] and #23 [August 1974].
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
This is another fast-paced story. The Outlaw Kid sees a stagecoach being robbed. The Kid’s drives them off with his return gunfire. One of the coach’s drivers has been wounded. The injured man can’t travel, but the stage was carrying a $20,000 payroll to the town.
The Kid will take the stage back to town to get a doctor and also deliver the payroll. The robbers follow him.
The Kid outsmarts them by cutting lose the stage from its horses. The robbers flee for their lives.
The Kid gets the payroll to town safely. In his secret identity as rancher Lance Temple, his girlfriend Belle tells him she would like him to be a little bit like the Outlaw Kid.
SPOILERS ENDED
SPOILERS ENDED
SPOILERS ENDED
SPOILERS ENDED
The “Bullpen Bulletins” page starts with Stan Lee using his “Stan’s Soapbox” column to talk about the creation of Irving Forbush. You can read that amazing revelation below along with the rest of the page. As I’ve mentioned before, the Jim Shooter era Bullpen pages do nothing for me.
The Rawhide Kid #150 [March 1979] has a new cover by Tony DeZuniga. This is the next-to-last issue of the long-running title. Which is, at least, going out with some spiffy new covers by some of Marvel’s top artists.
The issue reprints “The Gun and the Arrow!” (14 pages) from Rawhide Kid #98 [April 1972]. The cover to that issue was pencilled by Larry Lieber and inked by Bill Everett. The story was written and pencilled by Larry Lieber with inks by George Roussos. I wrote about this story on August 24, 2016. You can read that column here.
The inside front cover is an ad for Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1978 remake of the 1956 movie. There were two other remakes and a fourth is currently in development. The original movie scared the crap out of me. I watched it in the auditorium of Sts. Phillip and James Church and School.
The Church would show movies on Sunday afternoon to give parents a break from their kids and make a few bucks selling tickets, candy and popcorn. The original concept was to present good and wholesome films. We kids didn’t want to see those. So, slowly but surely, the movies changed from various inspirational tales of folks overcoming adversity with faith and such to thrillers in which science dealt (or tried to deal with) adversaries like Gorgo, the Giant Behemoth, Martians declaring war on our world and alien pod people. Now that was how to spend a Sunday afternoon!
There were two-and-a-half pages of classified ads and a smattering of half-page ads recruiting readers to sell cheap crap of one kind or another or cutting out the middleman and selling directly to those readers. Several full-page ads offered more novelty items, celebrity posters, toy soldiers, even more novelty items and more opportunities to make money selling stuff.
Comics fandom was growing and there were 28 ads for comics retail, up three from the previous issue. There was also an ad offering 3 mil comics storage bags at three bucks per hundred.
A full-page house ad touted the new Shogun Warriors title by writer Doug Moench and artist Herb Trimpe.
Heroes World had its usual full-page pitch. They offered Battlestar Galactic items and Marvel super-hero stuff.
The usual full-page Marvel subscription ad was updated with a new drawing by Marie Severin. If you subscribed to any two titles, you also got a Spider-Man marking pen.
Pizzazz was represented by the same full-page ad that had blandly been pitching the magazine for several issues.
New to this issue was a half-page ad combining a pitch for all five Spider-Man comics - “America’s Number One Super-Hero” - with useful information on Marvel’s subscription service.
The launch of Power Man and Iron Fist, which kept the numbering from Luke Cage’s now-cancelled solo series, got the full-page house ad treatment as well. I guess combining the two titles worked out because the new series would run 59 issues.
The Outlaw Kid reprint comes from The Outlaw Kid #16 [March 1957]. Joe Maneely was the cover artist.
“Treachery on the Trail!” (4 pages) was drawn by Doug Wildey. The writer has not yet been identified. This is the third reprinting of the tale. It also appeared in Outlaw Kid #7 [August 1971] and #23 [August 1974].
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
This is another fast-paced story. The Outlaw Kid sees a stagecoach being robbed. The Kid’s drives them off with his return gunfire. One of the coach’s drivers has been wounded. The injured man can’t travel, but the stage was carrying a $20,000 payroll to the town.
The Kid will take the stage back to town to get a doctor and also deliver the payroll. The robbers follow him.
The Kid outsmarts them by cutting lose the stage from its horses. The robbers flee for their lives.
The Kid gets the payroll to town safely. In his secret identity as rancher Lance Temple, his girlfriend Belle tells him she would like him to be a little bit like the Outlaw Kid.
SPOILERS ENDED
SPOILERS ENDED
SPOILERS ENDED
SPOILERS ENDED
The single-page Marvel/Hostess single-page comics advertisement is “The Incredible Hulk Changes His Mind!” He’s angry at puny humans, but cools down when a young boy gives him Hostess Cup Cakes. I’ve posted a scan of the page below.
There is only one more issue before The Rawhide Kid finish its long run. I’ll write about that issue next Wednesday.
Tomorrow, I’ll be writing about one of my not-so-recent adventures. That will be followed by more reports on my more recent adventures at conventions and elsewhere. I hope to get current on those trip reports before the end of the month.
Thanks for stopping by. See you tomorrow.
© 2018 Tony Isabella
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