The 65th anniversary of a series that may have been more significant than you realize…
By PETER BOSCH
So which comic began the Marvel Age of Comics?
Was it, as almost everyone would say, Fantastic Four #1? The Incredible Hulk #1? Journey Into Mystery #83? Let me give you a hint: It was about a teenager whose Uncle Ben was murdered. No, not that teenager and not that Uncle Ben. I am talking about The Rawhide Kid #17, which was released in early May of 1960, 65 years ago.
The Rawhide Kid #17 (Aug. 1960). Script: Stan Lee. Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers.
Prior to that issue, the title character was a nameless blonde gunman who was like many other comic book Western heroes at the time: fast on the gun, handsome, tall, and manly. That Rawhide Kid debuted in the March 1955 first issue of the title (just called Rawhide Kid then) and came to an end with the 16th issue, cover-dated September 1957.
Rawhide Kid #1 (Mar. 1955). Art by Joe Maneely.
After three years, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (with Dick Ayers inking) resurrected the title (still under the Atlas name) and gave us a brand new, more complex and dramatic feature.
“Another offbeat fact for the historians among you — just before recreating the Rawhide Kid, Jack and I had been doing a ton of crime, horror and monster strips with no continuing heroic characters,” Stan Lee wrote in the intro to Marvel Masterworks: Rawhide Kid Vol. 1. “I suspect that the Kid was our first attempt to get away from one-shot stories and start creating a hero that we could turn into a successful series. So, in a sense, you might consider the Rawhide Kid as the forerunner of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Spidey and all the rest.”
Splash page for The Rawhide Kid #17. Script: Stan Lee. Art: Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
In The Rawhide Kid #17 (gaining “The” in the indicia with the new run), the Kid was now a teenager named Johnny Bart, living on a ranch with his uncle Ben Bart, an ex-Ranger, in Rawhide, Texas. When we first meet Johnny, he is 14 years old and Ben is teaching him everything about gunplay.
Script: Lee. Art: Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
Shortly after Johnny’s 18th birthday, while he’s in town getting supplies, Ben is murdered…
Script: Lee. Art: Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
…and it falls upon Johnny to avenge him. With great power comes great responsibility.
Script: Lee. Art: Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
At the end of the first story, the Kid rides away with a mission to protect people in other places. However, a hitch in those plans happens in the last Rawhide Kid story of that issue (there were three altogether). Johnny uncovers a scheme of stealing cattle by a so-called respected rancher. The bad guy draws on him and Johnny is forced to respond, shooting him in the arm.
Unfortunately, the local sheriff rides upon the scene only in time to see Johnny doing the shooting and is ready to arrest him. Though a witness defends Johnny, the sheriff still demands the Kid go with him. Being young and headstrong, Johnny jumps on his horse and gallops away, determined to live as an outlaw rather than ever be locked up.
From that point on, wherever he rode, he tried to remain unrecognized in order to avoid arrest, as well as to stop others from wanting to make a reputation by challenging him to a gunfight. However, even when just passing through a town, he would encounter bullies who threatened him or others.
The Rawhide Kid #19 (Dec. 1960). Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
The storytelling was stronger and Jack Kirby’s artwork on those early issues was just as good as his later superhero tales. There was no quick dashing it off just because it was a Western comic book. A Rawhide Kid fight scene was every inch the match for those appearing in later Marvel superhero comics.
The Rawhide Kid #18 (Oct. 1960). Script: Lee. Art: Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
Enjoy the below in celebration of the Rawhide Kid’s – and the Marvel Age of Comics’ – 65th anniversary.
The Rawhide Kid #21 (Apr. 1961). Who says you need a complicated background to enjoy a comic? Art: Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
The Rawhide Kid #29 (Oct. 1960). Script: Lee. Art: Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks).
The Rawhide Kid #29 (Oct. 1960). A second great splash by Kirby (pencils) and Ayers (inks). Script: Lee.
Of course, given Marvel’s predilection for crossovers, it was inevitable The Rawhide Kid would encounter two other of the publisher’s Old West heroes, Kid Colt and the Two-Gun Kid Among these were:
The Rawhide Kid #40 (Feb. 1966). Pencils: Kirby. Inks: Sol Brodsky.
The Rawhide Kid #50 (Feb. 1966). Pencils: Larry Lieber. Inks: Carl Hubbell.
—
MORE
— 13 COVERS: It’s the 70th Anniversary of the Original RAWHIDE KID.
—
May 8, 2025
RAWHIDE KID #17 wasn’t Stan & Jack’s first attempt to revive & revise one of Atlas’ older western heroes, though. That would have been BLACK RIDER RIDES AGAIN #1 (Sept. 1957). Those Kirby Black Rider stories were later reprinted in WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #10-12 (1972). For whatever reason, Stan & Jack never continued the revival of Black Rider past the first issue.
May 8, 2025
PS — Interestingly, John Severin, who had done the cover for BLACK RIDER RIDES AGAIN #1 in 1957 *also* did the cover for the reprint of the first story “The Legend of the Black Rider” in WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #10.
May 8, 2025
I hope one day Hasbro makes Marvel Legends 6″ action figures of their Western heroes. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have Legendary Riders sets of them with their horses. For example: Rawhide Kid + Nightwind; Kid Colt + Steel; Two-Gun Kid + Thunder; Ghost (Phantom) Rider + Banshee; and Red Wolf + Ranger + his wolf, Lobo. (The closest available figures are those 4″ Buckaroos sets from Chicken Fried Toys’ Dime Novel Legends line.)
May 9, 2025
I’d be happy to have Marvel Legends figures of the western heroes even without the horses. A horse is a big, elaborate hunk of plastic to articulate, so you’d probably only see those if Marvel Legends committed to an entire sub-line of western characters. Hey, they could even do the western supervillains!
May 8, 2025
The western heroes of the comics have long been overlooked in regard to their significance in comics. In the late 50’s and early 60’s you could tune into amazing western series every night of the week. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Maverick, Rawhide, Wyatt Earp, Cheyenne, Big Valley – the list goes on and on. Westerns were a staple at the movie theaters at this time as well. The comic industry would have folded in the 50’s if not for the western genre.
May 8, 2025
You’ve sold me on The Rawhide Kid being the first Marvel Age comic. My brother read the 70s reprint issues and I enjoyed a couple of them, too. Thanks for the insight.
May 8, 2025
I was always happy to pickup a Rawhide Kid reprint issue off the old spinner rack back in the 1970s, enjoying his adventures just as much as traditional superhero fare.