Two-Gun Kid #1
Introducing the Two Gun Kid
The Two-Gun Kid and his horse Cyclone ride into the town of Sundown, Arizona. There a stray bullet zips by knocking off the cowboy's had. Suspecting trouble, Two-Gun rushes to the saloon where the shot rang out from and finds a man shot in the arm for refusing to take a drink with another. Two-Gun confronts the shooter and a heated exchange takes place. When the shooter tells Two-Gun to draw the hero refuses, telling the man he will die. The shooter then slaps Two-Gun in the face, prompting the gunfighter to beat him senseless. Suddenly a woman comes in looking for the man Two-Gun beat up, and when she finds out what happened she slaps Two-Gun in the face, calling him a beast and carrying her man home. Two-Gun is then approached by the sheriff who explains that the man he beat was named Brett Dawson, the big man in town and a tough hombre to boot and that the girl is his girl Gloria who doesn't realize how bad her man is. The sheriff then recommends that Two-Gun leave town, but the Kid decides that he's going to stick around for a bit.
This proves to be harder than usual since the innkeeper refuses to rent him a room and when he takes Cyclone to the blacksmith to be reshoed the blacksmith refuses to serve him. The Kid demands some answers and the blacksmith tells him that Brett Dawson owns the majority of the mortgages in town, and he inherited them from his father when they died. While his father was a nice man, Brett has proven to be a tyrant who has been known to force people from their property if they don't abide by him and the entire town is stuck with how to deal with him. With this information, Two-Gun Kid decides to pay Brett Dawson a visit.
At the Dawson home, Brett has just slapped down his girl Gloria for snooping into his business. When he begins deciding what mortgages to foreclose on, Gloria finally realizes what an awful man her husband-to-be is and flees the house. Furious, Brett chases after her and decides if he can't have her, nobody will and drags her over to the plateau to send her to her death. Just then the Two-Gun Kid arrives and approaches Dawson's ranch hands demanding to speak to their boss. When they refuse and attempt to rough the Kid up, Two-Gun quickly lassos them up and strings them up in a tree. He then spots Brett rushing off on a horse with Gloria screaming for help and races after them.
They arrive at the plateau where Brett forces Gloria to cross a rope bridge which he begins cutting through to make her death look like an accident. Two-Gun arrives and shoots the knife out of Brett's hand and tosses Brett a gun to draw with. However, Two-Gun Kid is a faster draw and shoots the gun out of Dawson's hand. Defeated Dawson attempts to make a run for it across the bridge causing the ropes to snap. Two-Gun manages to lasso up Gloria, but Brett falls to his death. With the crisis over and the people of Sundown free from Dawson's tyranny, Two-Gun Kid pays his farewells and rides off.
Recurring Characters
Two-Gun Kid
Cyclone
The Sheriff
The Sheriff is spending his quiet day playing checkers with one of the locals when he hears someone beating up on a horse. Outside he sees local tough Bat Miller beating a horse for not following his commands. Not willing to stand for it, the Sheriff grabs the whip out of Miller's hand and pops him in the face. The Sheriff then warns Bat about beating an animal again, and threatens to throw him in jail if he catches him doing it again. Bat grabs his horse and storms off, vowing to show the Sheriff who's top man in town. While the Sheriff and a local talk about the likelihood of Bat ending up in jail.
The following day, the Sheriff sees Bat's horse tied up on a hitching post in town and pets the horse, telling the horse that he bets that Bat will regret beating on it someday and then goes to the town jail. Meanwhile, Bat Miller holds up the local bank. The gun shots rouse the Sheriff who rushes out to see what happens and witnesses Bat Miller making a run for the bank. When one of the locals asks the Sheriff why he is not chasing after Miller, the Sheriff asks him only to wait. Sure enough, when Miller jumps onto his horse to try and make a getaway, the horse bucks him off and then begins stomping on Miller with it's hooves, foiling his robbery and making it easy for the Sheriff to apprehend him.
Recurring Characters
Blaze Carson
Continuity Notes
Blaze Carson is referred to as the Sheriff in his early stories, he is not named until Blaze Carson #1.
The Code of the West
Dry Gultch, Nevada has been plagued with a series of bank robberies that has kept the town living in fear, and the sheriff unable to catch the gang responsible. 20 minutes after the most recent robbery, Sheriff Winn gathers a posse to go out looking for the thieves and bring them to justice. Out on the range they run into the Two-Gun Kid. Sheriff Winn immediately accuses Two-Gun as being part of the gang due to the fact that he has a bag of gold tied to his gun belt. Despite the Kid's professions of innocence, the Sheriff convinces the locals that he is guilty and decides to string the gunslinger right where he stands. However, the Two-Gun Kid is faster at the draw than the men seeking to hang him and manages to give himself enough covering fire to remount Cyclone and flee the scene. Although the lynch mob gives him chase they eventually lose him, and then finally recognize that he is the Two-Gun Kid. While the locals don't think that Two-Gun could be a thief, the Sheriff tells them that nobody is beyond suspicion.
Ahead, the Two-Gun Kid is stopped by Kitty Winn, the Sheriff's daughter who tells him that she thinks his innocent and that her father has become suspicious of anyone while trying to catch the bank robbers. Two-Gun Kid decides to clear his name and Kitty agrees to help him. She takes him to an abandoned shack in Hidden Valley to hide out in. Two-Gun then rides over to Sheriff Winn's house and ropes him up and forces him to go back to the cabin. There, Two-Gun explains that he is going to keep the Sheriff there for three days and prove his innocence when the next bank robbery happens. However, three days later they return to town and learn that no robbery has been committed in their absence. The Sheriff orders Two-Gun apprehended, and when the Kid tries to flee he falls off his horse when he's grazed in the arm by a bullet and is arrested.
After being patched up in jail, Two-Gun is visited at his cell window by Kitty who hands him a file he uses to cut through the bars. He then manages to rid away from those who seek to recapture him and hides out in town waiting for the next eventual robbery. Sure enough, the gang robs another bank, but this time the Two-Gun Kid is there to stop it, shooting the gun out of the gang leader's hand. When the gang tries to gun Two-Gun down, the cowboy manages to cut them all down. Their leader tries to escape by jumping through a window, but he is shot to death by Two-Gun as well. In the aftermath of the battle, the Two-Gun Kid removes the leaders bandanna revealing him to be Sheriff Winn, much to the dismay of Kitty.
Two-Gun explains he suspected the Sheriff due to his accusations and the fact that there was no robbery when the two of them were in the cabin. Saddened that her father is dead, Kitty still thanks him for stopping the bandits robbing their town. With his job over, the Two-Gun Kid then rides off into the sunset.
Recurring Characters
Two-Gun Kid
Cyclone
