RIP Jack Davis

On July 27, Jack Davis passed away. He was yet another artist featured by Atlas in the 1950s. My favourite Davis work at Atlas were his westerns - he did a few Rawhide Kid stories and drew the adventures of a lesser-known character the Gunsmoke Kid, who had an interesting backstory (I wrote up the Gunsmoke Kid's biography for Marvel Westerns: Outlaw Files). His loose, jangly style gave his western comics a little more jive than most. When his characters leapt into action, you felt the thrill.

But Davis isn't remembered mainly for his Atlas work, but rather his EC stories. Personally, I don't feel he entirely fits in with the other horror artists of the day - there's something a little too upbeat about his lines versus those of Graham Ingels or Bernie Krigstein. Still, he did produce one of the most notorious horror stories of the 50s - "Foul Play" - which, come to think of it, is probably more acceptable under his pen than most of the other EC artists ("Foul Play" is the story where a baseball player is torn up and his body parts used to decorate the ball field).

EC's Mad Magazine turned out to be the perfect place for him; in fact, even before I knew his name I associated his art with Mad (ditto Sergio Aragones). Whether it was a Davis-drawn commercial advertisement or motion picture poster, to me Davis was Mad. He was one of the first to join the Usual Gang of Idiots and he shall be missed.

The allure of the vigilante hero

"We do not need to get good laws to restrain bad people. We need to get good people to restrain us from bad laws."

-G.K. Chesterton

Another tribute to Colin Smith's Too Busy Thinking About My Comics II; image from Rawhide Kid#36 (1963): "the Prisoner of Outlaw Town!" by Stan Lee & Dick Ayers.

The Crowd Roars!

"It's interesting to watch the people on the high wires at the circus and you hope they don't fall. But, if they did, that would be interesting too."

-Stephen Vincent Benet

Another tribute to Colin Smith's Too Busy Thinking About My Comics II.

A Tale of Two Custers

General George Armstrong Custer and his pitiable Battle of Little Big Horn: it's a popular historical tale ripe for the improvement which can only be found through the pages of a Marvel western hero comic book. So it is I bring you "Massacre at Medicine Bend!" from Rawhide Kid#60 (1967) by Gary Friedrich, Dennis O'Neil and Dick Ayers.

The Rawhide Kid meets with a Sioux leader named Bald Eagle who wants to make peace with the army before things get out of hand; the Kid brings his request to General Custer himself, but the Kid has to conceal his own identity, being a wanted man.

Custer isn't particularly inclined to believe the Kid's tale, but if there's any chance of averting a massacre, decides it might not be a bad idea. Unfortunately, when Custer heads to the appointed meeting place some Sioux agitators (and a white man selling them guns) start a fight; Custer winds up thinking the Kid was part of a conspiracy to have him murdered.

Considering this, he's rather merciful, simply ordering the Kid to leave and not return. To set the timeframe for this tale, we learn in closing the infamous Battle of Little Big Horn occurred just one week later. This dangling subplot would eventually be picked up in Rawhide Kid#91 (1971), just 31 issues after (even in western comic books, Marvel-time applies). This time, we peer in on "The Outlaw, the General, and the Little Big Horn!" by Roy Thomas and Dick Ayers.

The Rawhide Kid has returned to the Black Hills to find his never-before-heard-of cousin, son of the Kid's uncle Ben who died in his origin story; the Kid somehow thinks his cousin's testimony could clear him of being an outlaw, even though his cousin wasn't present when the Kid's uncle died... and never mind the Kid becoming an outlaw had nothing to do with his uncle's death (a sheriff saw him shoot a cattle rustler and didn't understand the circumstances; the Kid refused to be arrested, fled the sheriff and thus became an outlaw).

In the week since they last met, Custer has been to his stylist to have his hair curled. Fortunately, he hasn't been taking his lithium and doesn't recognize the man he promised to try for treason just seven days earlier. The Rawhide Kid has two factors in his favour:

1. He didn't give Custer his real name or alias last time.
2. The colourist has camouflaged him by colouring his hair blond.

Custer hires Johnny Bart to be a scout for the army. Unfortunately...

...Yep, Custer woke up sober that day. Soon he'll be asking himself, "where was this wanted poster last week when I needed it?"

Thus it transpires that the Rawhide Kid is sent to the stockades; Custer rides out to Little Big Horn to meet his appointed massacre and the Kid's cousin is amongst those who perish. What a senseless waste. Of trees.

It's a good thing both stories were drawn by Dashin' Dick Ayers and edited by Smilin' Stan Lee or some continuity errors might have crept in!

Unearthed: Rawhide Kid#94

Having invoked Larry Lieber's Rawhide Kid two days ago, I feel the need to examine some of his work a little more closely - especially for the benefit of those of you who haven't read his Rawhide Kid stories; so, let's turn back time to 1971 and "Day of the Outcast," written and drawn by Larry Lieber.

"Don't make me slap leather!" Rawhide declares on the cover; he must have had premonitions of being written by Ron Zimmerman. One is quickly drawn to the African-American cowboy on the right - definitely an unusual sight in popular fiction, especially in 1971. To remind you a little about how comic books were at the time, Larry's brother Stan had developed numerous major black characters in his Marvel titles of the day: Gabe Jones, Black Panther, Bill Foster, Joe Robertson, the Falcon; Stan had affected some genuinely thoughtful stories about race in the 1960s (Daredevil#47's "Brother, Take My Hand" and Avengers#32's "The Sign of the Serpent"). In just a few months, Luke Cage: Hero for Hire would become Marvel's first black hero with his own book (followed by Gunhawks, another problematic Marvel western series). Given the standards brother Stan had raised, one would expect something of a smiliar stature, based on the cover.

Am I spoiling the journey by telling you right now, this book does not deliver?

We open on a typically pastoral western scene as Rawhide Kid sees a man thrown from his horse. The ever-helpful Kid rides up to assist the stranger, but the fallen man - Rafe Larsen, the black man from the cover - recognizes him as a famous outlaw and comes up from the ground swinging, assuming Rawhide is trying to rob him. Rawhide hits him back, then asks, "why it's so hard for you to believe that I only wanted to help you?" Rafe answers, "Because yore white -- and I'm black!" Rafe proceeds to lecture Rawhide about how the Civil War ended slavery, but not oppression. "I've been freed -- but not from hate, bigotry, and cruelty!" In flashbacks, we see white men firing their guns at Rafe's feet to make him dance; he resolves to carry his own guns and practices until he's a perfect shot. "From here on out, men will call Rafe Larsen 'Mistuh!'"

Hearing Rafe is bound for Paradise Flats, Rawhide asks to accompany him but Rafe still sees no reason to trust him. "Yore still a white man! And I don't trust white men!" Riding into Paradise Flats, Rafe immediately draws attention from the locals; three of them demand Rafe drop his guns. "If yuh want muh hardware, try takin' it," Rafe rejoins. Rafe shoots at all three men, killing one and blasting the guns from the hands of the other two (a typical comic book western hero trick). Witnesses affirm to the sheriff how Rafe wasn't the one who started the fight, but the sheriff suggests Rafe should abandon his guns all the same. Rafe ignores the advice; the two surviving men begin plotting their revenge.

Rafe enters a hotel where a clerk declares he "won't rent to black men!" Rafe points a gun at the clerk until he supplies him with a room. The two stray gunmen set out and murder a man who just won a poker game; they take his money and watch, plant just the watch in Rafe's hotel room and claim to the sheriff they saw Rafe murder the man. The sheriff searches Rafe's room and finds the watch; he demands Rafe turn himself in, but Rafe leaps out the window and runs for his horse. Just then, Rawhide comes into town (it's not clear why he fell hours behind Rafe). Rawhide has no idea what's going on, but decides "Runnin' away won't help you!" So he shoots Rafe's guns out of his hands and lets the sheriff arrest him.

What?

The same Rawhide Kid who runs from the law every other issue doesn't think other outlaws deserve the same consideration? Even though he had no idea Rafe was running from the law in this instance? For all he knew, Rafe was being chased by a gang of thieves. It's a fairly common trope in these western hero books for the outlaw protagonist to convince another young outlaw to turn himself over to the law and avoid the same mistakes the hero once made, but in this case Rawhide is completely ignorant of the situation.

Rafe is locked up in the jail, but the two murderers start riling up the townsfolk into a frenzied lynch mob, declaring they should "save the town the expense of a trial." The sheriff tries to defend Rafe, but he's knocked out and the mob drag Rafe from his cell. Fortunately, Rawhide Kid butts in again and with guns drawn, forces the mob to let Rafe go (back to his cell). "Every man, white or black, is entitled to his day in court! It's just as simple as that!" By now, Rawhide has a suspicion of who killed the man - the two men who survived the gunfight with Rafe earlier. Somehow the sheriff hadn't thought of this, even though he was on the scene immediately after the first killing and saw the two survivors, then thought nothing strange of it when those two men pinned the second murder on Rafe. Rawhide chases down the first gunman, but before he can confess, the second gunman shoots his pard in the back (apparently that was easier than ambushing Rawhide? criminals are a stupid, cowardly lot). Rawhide catches the second gunman and receives a full confession.

In the wrap-up, Rafe is set free. "But only until the next town... and the next passle of haters!" As Rafe rides away, we discover the sheriff knew all along the Rawhide Kid was also an outlaw, but didn't do anything about it. There are some unfortunate implications there...

Parting thoughts: On the one hand, Rafe's distrust of white people is justified in that every white man we meet hassles him (or tries to kill him). On the other hand, his introduction to Rawhide at the start of the story - his utter paranoia preventing him from trusting Rawhide - paints Rafe in the wrong. Throughout, Rawhide Kid is never in the wrong; fair enough - it's his book. But the story doesn't challenge him or his beliefs in any way. He wants to be Rafe's friend; he wants to keep Rafe from running from the law; he wants to keep a mob from killing Rafe; he wants to prove Rafe innocent of murder. The aforementioned "Sign of the Serpent" milked some good drama from the Avengers reacting to racism, but Rawhide only cares to see Rafe receive his day in court. The racism of the mob and the killers does nothing to alter Rawhide's reactions. The Rawhide Kid is fine the way he is - it's Rafe who needs an attitude adjustment, as if he'd only been friends with the Kid he'd have presumably had an easier time in Paradise Flats.

Finally, there's the closing moment where the sheriff reveals he knew who the Rawhide Kid was. So, the sheriff arrests Rafe after two white men with reason to hate Rafe deliver an unlikely testimonial; but the notorious white man outlaw Rawhide Kid comes to town? Heck, he's no problem - he even helped the sheriff arrest Rafe! Just a good ol' boy.

Given Marvel Comics' track record with race at the time and how marginalized the western comic books had become by 1971, there was a real opportunity here to let something fly in under the radar - something a lot more explosive about race, given the real world time frame the story was set in (and real world events influencing popular culture). Ultimately, I'm afraid all the story seems to say is, "Racism is bad; but, uh, we're cool, right? You know I'm not racist, yeah?"

"...And what I do isn't original."

For the month of July, I'll be experimenting with daily blogging; regardless of how long I maintain it, you can be sure it'll lack a coherant direction; why change the blog's non-identity now?
 
The point has been made that while Len Wein created Wolverine, he wasn't the one who made the character popular; the popular characterization was developed by Chris Claremont. Claremont didn't ignore what Wein had established, but he grafted on new developments for Wolverine (his long life, old enemies, love of Japanese culture, drinking problem, lust for Jean Grey) which became standards for Wolverine's personality.

Naturally, this leads me to Wolverine's predecessor: the Rawhide Kid.

Above panel from Rawhide Kid#73 (1969), "the Manhunt!" by Larry Lieber
 
Who created the Rawhide Kid? His earliest stories were by Dick Ayers, but the character was heavily revised by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers in the late 50s. Even then, the person who put the most amount of work into the character's series wasn't one of these three men - it was writer & artist Larry Lieber, from 1964-1973.

Above panel from Rawhide Kid#113 (1973), "A Gunman no More!" by Larry Lieber
 
Yet for all the years Lieber spent with the Rawhide Kid, he wasn't particuarly interested in making his mark on the character; there's an immense amount of "sameness" in these stories - the Rawhide Kid gets a job and hopes he can quit being an outlaw; the Kid falls in love with some damsel; the Kid finds a surrogate parent(s); the Kid battles some way-too-on-the-nose comic book Natives... Only occasionally would Lieber break up the monotony with something unusual, such as when the Kid joins forces with his two brothers (issue #100). At a time when Marvel's super hero comics were trying to challenge the audience's expectations of what could happen in a super hero story, the Rawhide Kid was quietly plodding through more-of-the-same adventures.

Above panel from Rawhide Kid#69 (1969), "And Now -- Executioner!" by Larry Lieber
 
Strangely, Lieber himself is just the merest footnote in Marvel Comics history, even though he's Stan Lee's brother, a rare writer/artist who was seemingly left to his own devices and still with us today. Perhaps that's because while other Marvel talent were on the super hero books, Lieber put most of his efforts into the western line. For all that I think Lieber's efforts lacked originality, I'm fascinated at the style he developed - particuarly in his art, which was clearly inspired by Jack Kirby. Lieber was not the first Kirby ape at Marvel (nor the last), but that he was aping Kirby on a title Kirby helped popularize while Kirby was still at the publisher and then later after he was gone, is interesting. If Lieber had been drawing Daredevil or X-Men, we'd have more to say about him now. As it is, one of the more prolific talents from the so-called "Marvel Age of Comics" is, to this day, largely forgotten.