Two-Gun Kid Primer
Series Overview
The Two-Gun Kid was the first of many westerns that came near the end of Timely Comics publication history. The series primarily featured a cowboy named the Two-Gun Kid, his real name was Clay Harder. The series ran for 10 issues before going on a hiatus until 1953. In addition to Two-Gun Kid stories, the series also featured backup stories featuring the Sheriff/Blaze Carson, Tex Taylor, Arizona Annie, and Kid Colt. One issue featured a backup story from the Annie Oakley comedy series. Issue #7 introduced the Two-Gun Kid’s boy sidekick, Rusty Randolph.
Is Clay Harder a Real Guy?
Some of you out there might already know that Clay Harder’s existence is questionable. In Two-Gun Kid #60, they introduced Matt Hawk a new Two-Gun Kid. In that story, Hawk stated that he was inspired by the original Two-Gun Kid, who is stated to have been a fictional character in dime novels. For the longest time it was assumed that Clay Harder was a fictional character. However the Blaze of Glory limited series stated that Marvel western stories from the 40s to the 60s were actually dime novel adaptations of famous outlaws. Although they were based on real stories, there were a number of fictional embellishments and so on. As such, it’s possible that Clay Harder may have been a real person after all. Marvel has not said anything one way or the other, but I don’t see why this couldn’t be the case.
Index Scope
This section only covers the Timely era Two-Gun Kid comics. Issues #11 through 59 can be found in the Atlas Comics index and issues #60 to 101 will eventually be added to the Marvel era index.
This index will be skipping text stories and any humor related western tales (IE: Annie Oakley)
