Wild Western #11
Trapped by the Fox!
The Black Rider hears gunshots just outside of town where along the coach route and leaves on his horse Satan to investigate. No sooner is the Black Rider gone that the Fox and his gang of outlaws storm the town and take it over. The coach attack was all a plot to eliminate the Black Rider, and should the hero survive the coach attack the Fox and his men will eliminate him when he returns to town. Spotting Marie Lathrop spying on them, the Fox grabs the girl and takes her as his hostage.
Meanwhile, the Black Rider arrives at the coach to find the drivers dead and is soon ambushed by some of the Fox's men. Rushing the men, the Black Rider forces them to surrender and explain their leaders plot. In order to slip into town undetected, the Black Rider changes back into his civilian identity of Matthew Masters and is easily able to get back into town. Easily able to slip away from the Fox, Masters changes back into the Black Rider and gets the drop on the Fox, gunning down his men. In a draw to the finish the Black Rider proves to be the superior gunfighter, killing the Fox. With the crisis over, the Black Rider rides off so he can assume his civilian identity once more and gets rebuked once more by Marie Lathrop for being a "coward".
Recurring Characters
Black Rider
Marie Lathrop
Jim Lathrop
Bobby Lathrop
Satan
The Island that Knew No Law!
Kid Colt rides into the town of Borderville along the US/Mexican border. There he witnesses a bunch of outlaws pushing people around and questions the sheriff about them. The sheriff explains that they are part of a gang of men that live on Badmen's Island, located off a shallow river into Mexico, leaving lawmen unable to arrest them.
Kid Colt decides to do something about it and roughs up the outlaws, and then introduces himself to them. Impressed by Kid Colt's outlaw status they invite the gunslinger back to their hideout on Badmen's Island. There Kid Colt meets the gangs leader who instantly accepts Kid Colt's membership into the group. He tells Kid Colt that they plan on robbing a payroll coach coming out of Barrow's Bend. Seeking to stop this, Kid Colt sneaks out that night and tosses a note tied to a rock in to the Army's outpost office trying to warn them of the planned robbery, but the sheriff dismisses the expose as a trick. The next day when the robbery goes off unopposed, Kid Colt manages to convince the other outlaws not to kill the coach drivers. Later he explains to their leader that he insisted on no killing as it would encourage the coach company to put more armed guards on the coaches.
Perplexed on how to stop the gang, Kid Colt rides back into Borderville and is captured by a posse and arrested. He finds himself locked in the local jail and before he can think of a way out he is busted out by the outlaws who bring him back to Badmen's Island. Kid Colt comes up with a solution to stop the outlaws and suggests to their leader a "brilliant" plot to rob Borderville blind: Staging a fake gold strike to lure the people out of town while they rob it. The gang leader agrees to the idea and the next day, Kid Colt disguises himself and goes into town and sells the locals on the idea of gold being found up river from town. Leading the gold seekers into building a dam.
As they are busy, Kid Colt rushes to the army and warns them of the robbery of town. The army arrives Borderville just as the outlaws are fleeing. They chase after them and are surprised to find that the river that separates Badman's Island from the US mainland has dried out, thanks to the well that Kid Colt tricked the locals into building. The army then quickly rounds up the outlaws and thank Kid Colt before he leaves. As the soldiers are clearing up wanted posters hanging up in the leaders office, they note that one of them is for the man who helped him, realizing his identity, but the captain of the army decides to let Kid Colt go free.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt
Steel
The Brimstone Badmen!
Two-Gun Kid and Rusty Randolph are riding into the town of Brimstone with a herd of cattle to sell for their friend Pop Saunders. Two-Gun Kid explains to Rusty that Brimstone is a law abiding town where the law controls all. When they arrive at Jim Calvert's cattle buying office they find it in the midst of a robbery. Before Two-Gun can stop the thieves he is pistol whipped and knocked out. As the Kid is coming around the sheriff enters the office and accuses the Kid and Rusty of robbing the cattle dealer and attempts to arrest them.
However, Jim Calvert comes around and pleads Two-Gun's case, convincing the sheriff that he had nothing to do with the robbery. However the sheriff informs Two-Gun that he has to turn over his guns as there are no guns allowed in the city limits. Although he had just been robbed, Jim Calvert had put aside Pop Saunders money and pays the pair before they leave for the hotel. After checking in his guns with the desk manager, Two-Gun is in the middle of explaining how the law in Brimstone will look out for them when they find the outlaws who robbed Calvert waiting in their hotel room to steal their money as well. During the fight, Rusty gets into trouble distracting the Two-Gun Kid long enough to get knocked out again.
The pair are revived by Jim Calvert who escorts them to the local saloon and tells them about the law in Brimstone. Inside, Two-Gun and Rusty recognizes the sheriff's deputies as the men who attacked them earlier. Rushing back to the hotel to get his guns, Two-Gun is stopped by the sheriff who explains that he is the mastermind behind the robberies.
Two-Gun easily bests the sheriff in a fight and recovers his guns. He then rushes back to the saloon and guns down the men who robbed him. When the sheriff arrives and tries to shoot the Kid in the back, Two-Gun proves to be the better shot and kills him as well. With the crooked law defeated, Two-Gun and Rusty recover their stolen money and ride out of town. Along the way, Two-Gun comes to reconsider his position deciding that sometimes people need to be able to protect themselves.
Recurring Characters
Two-Gun Kid
Rusty Randolph
Cyclone
Continuity Notes
This is the last appearance of Rusty Randolph. His fate is unrevealed.
The Riddle of the Blood-Red Ruby!
In London England, a museum is robbed by a jewel thief named Clyde Mackey who steals the Sultan's Ruby and flees to the United States to hide out.
Days later, in a sleepy western town, Tex Taylor and his friends read about the robbery in the local paper. As fate would have it, Mackey arrives in town shortly thereafter. He insults Tex Taylor and his pals by ordering them to carry his bags and insulting their intelligence. Tex loses his temper and tries to fight Mackey, but the jewel thief easily defeats the cowboy with the use of his walking stick. As Mackey walks away, Tex vows to show the Brit a thing or two about the west.
That night, Clyde decides to try and swindle some of the locals out of money in poker games. However as he plays against some of the locals they soon realize that he is cheating with the help of cards that he has hidden up his sleeve. Clyde gets into a fight which Tex quickly diffuses his his superior fighting skills.
Suddenly, a gold prospector named Old Brad bursts in telling everyone that he has found gold, giving Clyde the idea to rob him. Old Brad agrees to take Wyoming, one of the locals along with him to register the papers. Tex later decides to go Marble City after the two men hoping that he can celebrate with them. Instead, Tex finds them murdered outside of town and Old Brad's papers stolen.
Riding on to Marble City and catches Clyde Mackey at the registration office. Realizing that Mackey murdered his friends, Tex easily beats Clyde in a fight even when the Englishman unsheathes the sword he has hidden in his cane. Tex beats Clyde and finds the stolen ruby in his possession and turns him over to the sheriff.
Recurring Characters
Tex Taylor
Fury
Continuity Notes
Starting next issue, Tax Taylor starts calling himself the Prairie Kid. No explanation is given, but I figure it was to give him a more exciting name and to differentiate him with the similarly named Tex Morgan.
The River That Couldn't Be Crossed!
Tex Morgan is riding on the range when he happens upon a ranch owned by a girl named Nancy Wilson and is impressed by the quality of her herd. She informs him that she intends to take the cattle across Bloody River to sell the cattle in nearby town.
However, Lobo soon arrives with a gravely wounded man he found along the river. The injured man explains that he and his ranch hands were attempting to cross Bloody River to sell cattle when they were suddenly attacked by a gang of men who slaughtered his ranch hands and killed their cattle. With this not being the first time this has happened, Nancy is worried as she desperately needs to sell her cattle in order to pay the back wages she owes her ranch hands. Tex and Lobo agree to help Nancy get her cattle across the river. They begin working the cattle across the miles to the river and come across a dead cow and realize that there is another cattle run ahead of them.
That night as they camp out, the cattle are attacked by wolves and Tex saves Nancy from being trampled by a stampede then rounds up the cattle with Lobo. The next day as they continue their travel they come across yet another man who is barely alive following an attack on Bloody River. Tex Morgan buries the man after he dies and decides to investigate things with Lobo.
That night they try to cross the river and are shot at by a lone sentry, who Tex shoots dead. He soon rides into town and stops into the King Jack Saloon. There he is invited to speak to King Jack, the saloon owner. King explains he heard about Tex's shooting and offers him to work as part of his gang which keeps ranchers from bringing their cattle across Bloody River so he can sell his own beef at a marked up price. Tex refuses and threatens to kill Jack, warning him to stay out of the way of Nancy's cattle drive.
The following morning, Tex and Lobo lead Nancy and her ranch hands across the river and are faced with opposition from Jack's men. During the fight, Tex knocks Jack off his horse and the two fight in the river. Nancy tries to shoot Jack but does not have clear shot. Soon, Tex is the victor of the fight having drowned King Jack. In the aftermath of the fight, Tex learns that the stampeding cattle trampled his men to death. With the battle over, they are able to lead the cattle the rest of the way into town for sale.
Recurring Characters
Tex Morgan
Lobo
Lightning
Cloud
Continuity Notes
This is technically the last appearance of Tex Morgan. However, an new character named Red Hawkins starts appearing in Apache Kid #53. That character has a Native American sidekick named Tall Father. They look strikingly like Taylor and Lobo (the only difference is Hawkins wears a read shirt). Also, these characters have horses that share the same names of those ridden by Morgan and Lobo. My assumption is that they are the same characters and the name change was an attempt to make the character sound “more exciting” and differentiate him from the similarly named Tex Taylor. I think it’s still the same character, but that’s speculation on my part. However, the change of identity is plausible when you consider the fact that Tex Morgan and Lobo are outlaws.
