EVERY COWBOY HERO EVER
Created By: Some Guys
First Appearance: Some Comic
Role: Cowboy Hero
Group Affiliations: None (most of the time)
PL 8 (105)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7
DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1
AWARENESS 3
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+9)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Cowboy) 6 (+7)
Insight 4 (+7)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Pistol) 1 (+10)
Stealth 4 (+7)
Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Equipment 3 (Cowboy Gear), Improved Critical (Pistol), Improved Initiative, Quick Draw, Minion 3 (Horse), Ranged Attack 5, Tracking (Visual)
Equipment:
"Pair of Colt Pistols" Blast 5 (10) -- (11)
- AE: "Lasso" Snare 4 (Feats: Reach 4) (Flaws: Touch Range, Limited to One Target) (8)
"Cowboy Gear" (2)
Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Colts +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Lasso +7 (+4 Affliction, DC 14)
Initiative +7
Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +6, Will +6
Complications:
Responsibility (Man Out of Time)- A time-travelling character, the Two-Gun Kid has been all over, and is usually unable to get home.
Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 17 (105)
-Among the many, MANY genres that were once extraordinarily popular, but are now mostly-dead, Western Comics have had tough going for decades now. Western Stories were popular even back in the late 1800s, thanks to traveling acts like Buffalo Bill's sideshow, along with various legendary figures like Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid and others. Hell, the "Wild West" concept had gone into legend pretty much while it was still going on, to the point where people imagine the era to be a lot more violent than it actually was. The advent of Wild West MOVIES only furthered this, and while there were Western Comics as far back as the 1930s, things REALLY hit a peak in the '50s.
-Marvel's Publisher/Owner, Martin Goodman, was naturally right there to capitalize on it. Goodman, a HUGE skinflint who was always out to make a quick buck, was notorious for basically scrapping the entire line of comics at once, then declaring that every book the company published was now to be from some NEW fad genre. So in the '40s they had Superhero Books and Funny Animal Books, then there was Romance & True Crime, and in the 1950s, suddenly "Atlas Comics" (Goodman changed the name a bit, too) was in the Western Comics craze, inventing the Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Outlaw Kid, Ringo Kid & Western Kid (you may notice a theme here) all within one calendar YEAR of each other! Now THAT is how you leap onto a trend!
-This is a reminder of how much more... BIG the comic book industry used to be, in terms of genres published by major-ish companies. Numerous genres were flying about all the time, with some going through peaks and valleys, and DC, Timely/Atlas/Marvel, Quality, Fawcett and others were all quick to try them ALL. It was a more free-wheeling era with lots of potentially-diverse stuff. The issue? All those old genres started dying off, one-by-one. SUPERHEROES actually died off for a chunk of the '50s but for a few hangers-on, but they came roaring back in the late 1950s thanks to DC's output. But the others? True Crime faded away. Horror, a HUGE genre in the '50s, died thanks to the Comic Book Code (formulated after
The Seduction of the Innocent took aim at the lurid bylines of Horror & True Crime books. Funny Animal books died except for the Disney-related stuff, for the most part. Romance Comics died sometime in the 1960s. Western Comics became less and less popular as well, though some were still active in the '60s- few made it out of the 1970s alive, however. After a point, the entire industry consisted of two genres: Superhero Comics, and Teen Romance Comics (and the only one of THAT was
Archie!).
-The fact that most of the other companies died didn't help matters, as now there was just a Big Two, and you weren't gonna see many genres come back now that they were a big, comfy duo. However, that wouldn't stop the occasional spurt (hee hee) of "Hey, let's try ____ Genre Comics again!"- after all, many of the old-school creators at Marvel & DC were once fans of, or workers on, those other genres. The 1970s saw Marvel reprint a lot of Western stuff, and try to bring back Horror in a big way, for example. Unfortunately... while Horror was successful for a bit (and is pretty big on the Indie scene now, especially if you include all of the "Zombie" stuff in genre), Westerns were basically dead and gone. Every attempt to bring them back has been, at-best, short-lived (this kind of goes along with Hollywood, which has very few popular Westerns anymore, either). The occasional comic will carry some genre elements (
Preacher is basically a Western/Superhero Story Genre Mash-Up, with grotesque sex humor and excessive gore), but all of the Western heroes have become part of what BatgirlIII has described as "Characters from genres that nobody wants to read anymore". Your Jungle Adventurers (Ka-Zar), Space Romance Guys (Adam Strange) and Western Heroes among them.
-You'll see some small-scale stuff at the lower-end Indies, of course. And licenses are big business (-ish) for the Indies, so the occasional Western-themed license might do okay for a bit. And HORROR has certainly become big in cases like
The Walking Dead. But for the most part, this is a Dead Horse Genre in the comic book industry, doomed to failure every time someone gets it in their head to replicate it. Major Comic Books in America just kind of became "Superhero Only" after a point, with only a few successful books breaking out of that mold. Does that mean it's not worth trying, and it will NEVER happen?
MEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHthat's iffy, but I still find it absurd every time someone tries to release a Western Comic from the Big Two. I just kind of chuckle and go "Really? Did it become 1955 again and nobody told me?"- it's like trying to resurrect Pogs or something nowadays. But Heaven knows we've seen weirder Genre Resurrections in Hollywood.
-Truth be told, though, it's not a genre that even remotely interests me. I've liked the occasional Western (
Tombstone,
Rango), and reading UP on the actual Wild West is quite entertaining, but I couldn't care less about the adventures of The Douchebag Kid and his horse Thunderbutt, fighting big bad outlaws and whomever the frig. So the Great Western Comics Revival of 2063 will have to become a thing without me, I'm afraid.
-Every Marvel Western Hero is fundamentally the same guy, with the occasional different statline. Most of them have almost cheekily the same name- somebody HAD to have made fun of this back in the day. This is like if the 1930s saw a horde of superheroes ONLY named "_____man", like Superman & Batman were joined not only by Hawkman & Doll-Man, but by Flashman, Robinman, Wonder Womanman, Captain Americaman, The Human Torchman, and Green Lantern-Man. Most are PL 8 (enough to be a high-end character in a "Wild West" setting, where most enemies are barely Mooks), but a couple are PL 7. I decide this difference based entirely off of how familiar I am with the character, and whether or not they were successful. Hey, Popularity Power is totally a thing.
THE OUTLAW KID (Lance Temple)- PL 8 (108): Expertise (Law) 6 (+8) [3]
Created By: Doug Wildey
First Appearance: The Outlaw Kid #1 (Sept. 1954)
-The Outlaw Kid, a later addition to the ranks, was an Old West Lawyer and Civil War veteran living on a ranch with his blinded father. He swore to his pappy never to take up a gun again, but found himself forced to in order to set things right on the fronteir. His series lasted for nineteen issues, ending in 1957. The book is apparently most-notable for providing an early example of the work of animation designer Doug Wildey's. During a 1970s revival (in the form of a book of reprints), his book was the most-popular, and when the original Wildey stuff ran out, they commissioned new stories by various others- sales soon dropped, and they began RE-reprinting Wildey's work! He reappeared in a 2000-era
Blaze of Glory series, under John Ostrander- here, a grim 'n' gritty Outlaw Kid develops a split personality over the guilt of his father dying from shock upon discovering his secret identity. He dies in the last issue.
THE MASKED RIDER (Jim Gardley)- PL 7 (102): Ranged Attack 3, Dodge +10 [-3]
Created By: Al Anders
First Appearance: Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939)
-Among the oldest of the old-school, The Masked Rider (no really) was Timely Comics's first Western character, fighting lawlessness with his horse Lightning.
KID COLT I (Blaine Colt)- PL 8 (105):
Created By: Stan Lee & Pat Tumlinson
First Appearance: Kid Colt #1 (Aug. 1948)
-Now THIS guy had a crazy run- the longest-running cowboy character in American comic books, lasting for a THIRTY-ONE YEAR STRETCH (!!!) from 1948-1979 (though it should be noted the last thirteen years were mostly reprints). Wrongly-accused of murder, Blaine Colt (who killed his father's murderer in a fair gun battle) had gone on the run as an outlaw, and acted as a vigilante in order to restore his reputation. And yes- astonishingly, his tales lasted all the way through to the start of the Silver Age, being published alongside rookie acts like
The Fantastic Four and
Spider-Man. Keep in mind that back then, Marvel could only produce a handful of titles per month, as per their deal with DC Comics (who held their publishing rights)- Kid Cold must have been a big seller to even keep going!
-Colt appeared to die in
Blaze of Glory, but this was revealed to have been a hoax, as he reappears as an elderly man in Skaar's sojourn into the Savage Land. A remake of sorts came out in 2009, written by Tom DeFalco, but it was just a one-shot.
CALEB HAMMER- PL 8 (105):
Created By: Peter B. Gillis & Jim Day
First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #54 (June 1980)
-A more-modern character, the gritty Caleb Hammer appeared in a one-shot in 1980, and languished in obscurity until 2000's
Blaze of Glory. He chases the outlaw Kid Colt, but joins his side when he learns that the kid is good, and avenges his murder at the hands of a bounty hunter.
X-Force #37 features his death, via flashback- the External mutant known as Absalom was a wannabe gunfighter/outlaw in his day, and challenged the aged Hammer to a gunfight. The man shrugged him off and politely said no... and Absalom shot him in the back. He even admits now "That was not the way a man like Caleb Hammer was meant to die."
THE BLACK RIDER (Matthew "Doc" Masters, aka The Black Mask, The Cactus Kid)- PL 8 (108): Treatment 6 (+8) [3]
Created By: Syd Shores
First Appearance: All-Western Winners #2 (Winter 1948)
-One of the cooler names in the bunch is that of the Black Rider, who eventually took over the title, which received his own name. It changed back by issue #32, now called
Gunsmoke Western. The Cactus Kid is a former outlaw who reforms after facing down a gang of killers- the governor of Texas, convinced that Masters has learned his lesson, pardons him if he agrees to go to medical school. Now "Doc" Masters was living as a town physician, but eventually donned a black mask to disguise his identity, so that he could fight outlaws without disclosing his shameful past to the townsfolk. He appears in a flashback helping out the Ancient One (back when he was probably just the Middle-Aged One), and got a one-shot in the 2000s written by Steve Englehart of all people.
THE RINGO KID (_____ Rand)- PL 8 (105):
Created By: Joe Maneely (unknown writer)
First Appearance: The Ringo Kid Western #1 (Aug. 1954)
-This guy only appeared for a couple of years in the mid-1950s, but was planned for a revival under Steve Englehart in the '70s (Englehart was big business back then, so Marvel kept giving him series to do- unfortunately, they decided to do more superheroes and less cowboys, and so it was axed). The Ringo Kid was half-white & half-Comanche (or Cheyenne- they switch a lot), treated as an outcast because he was a "half-breed". With his sidekick Dull Knife (one of his mother's people), he rode the horse Arab and fought injustice.
TEX TAYLOR- PL 7 (102): Ranged Attack 3, Dodge +10 [-3]
Created By: Syd Shores (unknown writer)
First Appearance: Wild West #1 (Spring 1948)
-Tex Taylor was the son of the best cattleman in the state of Texas, but when his father was murdered by the corrupt "Cattlemen's Protection League" after refusing their extortion attempt, he became a lawman, killing the men responsible. His book only lasted a couple of years, disappearing in 1950.
THE RAWHIDE KID (Johnny Bart, aka Johnny Clay)- PL 8 (105):
Created By: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Bob Brown
First Appearance: Rawhide Kid #1 (March 1955)
-The Rawhide Kid is one of Marvel's most well-known Western heroes- his initial series only lasted sixteen issues over a few years, but returned after another few in 1960, with a new persona. Rawhide was a short kid who took advantage of his foes' underestimation of him, and fought against various cheats & toughs over the years. The Atlas & Silver Age versions kind of "mesh" after a point. No less than Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were on this newer series, so you can imagine it became popular enough to last for a bit- Jack drew it until the very start of his new success drawing Marvel's new heroes. The book, in fact, lasted until 1973! A controversial mini-series came about in 2003, featuring the character reimagined as an gay man.
THE WESTERN KID (Tex Dawson)- PL 7 (102): Ranged Attack 3, Dodge +10 [-3]
Created By: John Romita (unknown writer)
First Appearance: The Western Kid #1 (Nov. 1954)
-Another 16-17 issue run went to the Western Kid (these numbers might seeem like a coincidence until you read about how publisher Martin Goodman would demand new books and cancel old ones all at once, based off of what was currently popular. He had a stallion named Whirlwind and a white German Shepherd named Lightning- he was a classic do-gooder adventurer.
THE GUNHAWKS (Reno Jones & Kid Cassidy)- PL 7 (102): Ranged Attack 3, Dodge +10 [-3]
Created By: John Romita (unknown writer)
First Appearance: Gunhawks #1 (1972)
-
Gunhawks was a bit more modern than the other books, and featured Kid Cassidy as a plantation owner's son, working alongside an ex-slave in Reno Jones. They fought for the Confederate States during the Civil War (Jones fought because the Union soldiers had kidnapped his lover Rachel), and the two stuck together after the war as wandering gunfighters. In the sixth issue, Cassidy was shot and killed, with Jones being blamed for the crime. The series thus became
Reno Jones, Gunhawk, making Reno the SECOND black character to have his own self-titled series at Marvel. However, this was also the last issue. John Ostrander would write a sequel series in 2000, showing that everything was all TOTALLY dark and extreme, as Cassidy was actually a Klansman in disguise, and Reno became the Ghost Rider in order to stop him, killing Cassidy and then retiring.