Wild Western #34

Fury At Fargo Pass!

Riding along the range, Kid Colt stops at a cabin to ask for some water and is refused by the couple that live there, the man of the house threatening to shoot the Kid if he doesn't leave immediately. However further down the trail, the woman who lives there catches up to him. She apologizes for how they acted saying that they have been having money trouble of late. She then expresses her concern that her husband Rad has gone into town to meet with a local trouble maker named Burk Coyle because he is desperate to make easy money, even signing up to work with an outlaw and that they are plotting to rob a stagecoach.

Knowing that Burk Coyle is bad news, Kid Colt decides to go down to the Frontier Saloon in town to try and talk sense into Rad. Kid Colt arrives at the saloon just as Rad and Burk are discussing details. Seeing Kid Colt again angers Rad who tells the outlaw hero to stop following him. Coyle gets in the Kid's face and a fight breaks out. While Kid Colt is busy disarming Coyle and his men, one of the outlaws men sneaks up behind him and breaks a bottle over his head. Kid Colt is then tossed out in the street. He is found by Rad's wife who had followed after him and takes Kid Colt to the nearby doctors office.

After getting medical attention, Rad's wife tells Kid Colt that she overheard Coyle and he men were heading for Fargo Pass to ambush the coach. Following after them, Kid Colt finds Rad alone and the two fight it out, Rad is knocked out and Kid Colt goes to stop Coyle and his gang as they attack the coach, mowing them down with his gun. As the coach rider is a friend of his, Kid Colt arranges to get Rad a job as a stage driver solving his money troubles.

Recurring Characters

• Kid Colt

• Steel

Cat Rondo

Arrowhead watches as a wagon train passing through Pawnee territory under guard by US Army soldiers and contemplates attacking it for trespassing on his people's land when suddenly it is attacked by a group of outlaws disguised as Native Americans. Not recognizing the men as impostors, Arrowhead rushes to the scene and causes a grass fire between the soldiers and the outlaws that keeps them separated enough to learn the truth. Arrowhead drives the attackers off, but he is blamed for the attack. Before he can convince them of his innocence, they are attacked by a Crow war party. As the Crow are enemies of the Pawnee people, Arrowhead sides with the settlers and helps them defend their wagons.

While the wagon train manages to escape, Arrowhead and the soldiers are captured and taken to the Crow camp. There Arrowhead is forces to run through a gauntlet of the Crow's greatest warriors including their chief and easily fights his way to freedom. Getting on his horse Eagle, Arrowhead circles back and attacks again, freeing the soldiers and escorting them back to the Blanchard settlement. There Arrowhead witnesses as the leader of the soldiers confronts Cat, the outlaw in charge of the men who attacked the wagon train earlier. Cat shoots the soldier dead, but he and his men are slaughtered by the vengeful Arrowhead. As he leaves, the people of the settlement hail him as a hero and consider him a friend, however Arrowhead -- sworn enemy of white settlers -- tells them that he has no need of their friendship and warns them to stay off Pawnee land in the future.

Recurring Characters

• Arrowhead

• The Crow

• Eagle

Black Rider

Dr. Matthew Masters steps out of his medical office when suddenly Marie Lathrop races in on her backboard wagon with an injured Native American who needs immediate medical attention. Masters takes the injured man into his office and examines him and finds that the man's tongue has been cut out. Matthew sends Marie to go get her father, just in case there is any tensions between the local tribes and the people of Leadville as a result of this injured man. When Marie leaves, Masters changes into the Black Rider intending to ride out to the Lathrop ranch to try and fallow the injured man's backtrail.

Meanwhile, as Marie rides home she comes across some men who ask her if she's seen a Native American. She tells them about the man she dropped off at Master's medical practice and they take her prisoner and go to silence the Native. At that time, the Black Rider arrives at the Lathrop ranch and Jim tells the Rider that Marie hasn't returned home yet. Sensing trouble, the Black Rider rides back to the doctors office just in time to catch the men who kidnapped Marie as they enter the building. Masters guns down the men and takes the injured Native to the Lathrop ranch to rest.

The Black Rider then follows the backtrail which leads him to a cave where Native Americans are being forced to mine. He attacks, gunning down the men in charge and frees both Marie and the Native Americans, whom he tells can take the riches in the mine for their own.

Recurring Characters

• Black Rider

• Marie Lathrop

• Jim Lathrop

• Satan

Two-Gun Kid

The Two-Gun Kid returns to his home town an finds that it hasn't change a bit since he left it as a young man. He stops at the local graveyard to pay respects to his father Sam Destry. After that he goes to the local blacksmith to get new horseshoes for Cyclone. He begins asking the blacksmith about his father, not revealing his true identity. The Kid learns that his father had a rich gold prospect. When outlaw Luke Olin and his men came to Destry to force the location of the gold, Destry gunned the men down and challenged Olin to a draw out in the hills. However, Olin betrayed Destry, bringing his posse along with him and Sam was shot dead. The blacksmith finishes his tale by saying that he heard that Destry's son left town heartbroken and heard rumors that the boy became the Two-Gun Kid.

The Kid asks the blacksmith if he knows where his father's guns were kept and was surprised to find that the blacksmith had them for safe keeping. Taking his father's guns, the Two-Gun Kid tracks down the men who murdered his father, including Luke Olin and guns them all down, avenging his father's death.

Recurring Characters

• Two-Gun Kid

• Cyclone

Continuity Notes

• The origin that the Tw, o-Gun Kid gives here is refuted by two other contradicting stories that appeared in Two-Gun Kid #41 and 48. No official explanation has been provided for these conflicting origins. My assumption is that, much like other western heroes in the Marvel Universe, these conflicting origins are due to the “fictionalization” of their lives in dime novels, or the Kid is intentionally giving a false account here for other reasons. Regardless of the reason, the origin provided in this issue is not recognized as the “official” origin for Clay Harder. The origin that is widely accepted as “correct” is the one in Two-Gun Kid #48 as it has been retold many times.