Publication Dates: December 1971 – August 1972
Number of Issues Published: 5 (#1 – #5)
Color: Color
Binding: Saddle-Stitched
Publishing Format: was ongoing series
Publication Type: magazine
Pages 36 Indicia Frequency Bi-monthly
Authors:
Script:
Stan Lee,
Pencils:
John Romita, Al Williamson , George Tuska,
John Severin , Dick Ayers,
Bill Everett,
Inks:
John Romita, Gray Morrow, George Tuska,
John Severin , Ernie Bache,
Colors:
Marie Severin ?,
Letters:
Sam Rosen, Dick Ayers, Morrie Kuramoto
The Western Kid is a fictional Old West character appearing in
American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was the
star of Western feature published by Marvel’s 1950s precursor, Atlas
Comics.
Tex Dawson, the Western Kid, debuted in Western Kid #1 (cover-dated
Nov. 1954), from publisher Atlas Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics.
The character was created by an unknown writer and penciler-inker John
Romita Sr., who the following decade would become one of Spider-Man’s
signature artists. The feature, drawn exclusively by Romita, ran through
issue #17 (Aug. 1957), with cover art by Romita, Joe Maneely, John
Severin, and, for one cover each, Carl Burgos, Russ Heath, and Syd
Shores.
The character resurfaced as the lead feature of the omnibus title
Gunsmoke Western #51 (March 1959), in a story written by Atlas/Marvel
editor-in-chief Stan Lee and drawn by Dick Ayers.
Western Kid reprints appeared in Marvel’s 1970s omnibus series
Western Gunfighters #3-6 and 17-33 (Dec.1970 – Sept. 1971, Sept. 1973 –
Nov. 1975).
In-between, the character starred in the reprint series The
Western Kid vol. 2, #1-5 (Dec. 1971 – Aug. 1972) — the first issue of
which sported a new cover by original artist Romita — and in Rawhide Kid
#105 (Nov. 1972) and Gun-Slinger #1-3 (Jan.-June 1973), a series
reflecting the character’s temporary new name. The first issue, with a
cover drawn by Jim Steranko, was titled Tex Dawson, Gun-Slinger.
The character returned in Apache Skies (2002), a four-issue
miniseries starring the Rawhide Kid and two persons called the Apache
Kid: Dazii Aloysius Kare, and his wife, Rosa. This was a sequel to the
miniseries Blaze of Glory (2000), which specifically retconned that the
naively clean-cut Marvel Western stories of years past were merely dime
novel fictions of the characters’ actual lives.
Tex Dawson, a.k.a. the Western Kid, was a clean-cut Old West cowboy
with a stallion named Whirlwind and a white German shepherd dog named
Lightning. Unlike such fellow Atlas Western stars as Kid Colt and the
Rawhide Kid, he was not hunted by the law for a perceived crime, and
unlike the Two-Gun Kid or the Outlaw Kid, he wore no mask. Wandering the
range as a do-gooder adventurer, the Western Kid was respected by
sheriffs and marshals, whom he often helped, and idolized by children.
(https://westerncomicsblog)
