Gun Roars in Gila Pass!

Stopping in a local saloon for directions, Kid Colt breaks up a fight over a card game by throwing a cheater named Blackie out on his hear. He then asks the bartender for directions to Seth Barker’s home. When he arrives he finds two men shooting at Barker’s home and chases them off. Inside, he finds Seth Barker in bed. He tells the Kid that he’s dying. He tells Kid Colt that the men outside were the Thrasher Twins and they have been trying to chase him off his land. He has been holding out because he wants to give his land over to his nephew and the Kid to take care of him. Kid Colt is shocked to learn that Seth Barker’s nephew is Blackie, the cheat he encountered in the saloon. That’s when Seth dies from his illness.

Suddenly, Blackie Barker enters the house and reveals that he has partnered up with the Thrasher Twins. When the trio tries to gun down the Kid, he makes a quick escape and decides that he has to get Blackie back on the straight and narrow for his uncle’s sake. Meanwhile, Blackie and the Thrasher Twins ride into town where they tell the sheriff that Kid Colt murdered Seth Barker. While everyone is hunting for Kid Colt in town, the outlaw hero gets the drop on both of the Thrasher Twins and ties them up.

He later finds Blackie Barker in the saloon trying to convince the locals that Kid Colt killed his uncle. That’s when the Kid comes in and confronts Blackie, disarming him. When the sheriff comes in, Kid Colt starts shooting around Blackie in order to scare him into telling the truth, that his uncle died of illness. Injured during this ordeal, Kid Colt is taken to a doctor while Blackie is arrested. When Blackie calls Kid Colt a liar for not looking after him, Kid Colt says he has, since jail time will teach him a valuable lesson and hopefully he’ll go straight once he gets out.

Recurring Characters

Kid Colt, Steel

The Making of the Man!

At the age of fifteen, Blaine Colt is called into his father’s den where he is given a present, his first gun. Blaine's father tells the boy that he’s old enough to carry his own firearm but tells him that having a gun is an important responsibility. He advises his son that a gun is only as good as the man who uses it. As he learns to use the gun around the ranch his education on proper gun use is continued. His father concludes his lesson by telling Blaine that only a bully and coward uses a gun against his fellow man.

Going into town for provision, the youth who would one day become Kid Colt witnesses as a pair of boys are bullying another. Blaine comes to the other youth’s aid and when one of the bullies tries to draw his gun, Blaine is the faster draw and shoots the gun out of his hand. He is shocked when everyone is afraid of him because of how fast he was with his gun. Returning home, Blaine realizes that once a boy gets a gun he stops being a boy and has to learn to be a man.[1]

Recurring Characters

Blaine Colt, Dan Colt

Continuity Notes

1. This story conflicts with the events in a flashback in Kid Colt #4. That story states that Blaine was taught how to shoot with his brother, Jeb. The story above makes no reference to Kid Colt having a brother. An explanation for these conflicting stories is given in Blaze of Glory #1. In the story, it is said that a lot of previous tales about famous gunslingers were actually dime-store novels published about them and are rife with inconsistencies and errors. Publication wise this is used to explain away the conflicting stories about Marvel’s various western heroes in stories that were published during the golden and silver age of comics.