Wild Western #40

Kid Colt Outlaw

Kid Colt comes to the aid of his friend Sally just as she is being attacked by a gang of outlaws led by her father, a decorated army major. Getting Sally to cover, Kid Colt learns that her father and his men had left the fort weeks earlier on a routine check up and went missing. When they found that her fathers men were slaughtered by a band of Native Americans her father was not among the dead leaving them to believe that he was captured by them, but he failed to turn up for weeks until recently when he tried to attack his own daughter. Kid Colt agrees to help Sally solve the mystery and takes her home to safety.

Not far away the gang of outlaws has camped out for the night. Sykes warns his partner Matson that the Major is crazy and that will only lead to trouble but Matson refuses to give up the Major due to the fact that he is an expert tactician. They soon leave to stage an attack on a train carrying a load of loot soon after unaware that Kid Colt has tracked them down and is secretly following them. Knocking the last man in their posse, Kid Colt ties him to a tree and forces him to reveal their plans. Hearing the train whistle, the Kid races off to intercept the outlaw gang.

The Kid rushes in as the outlaws attack the train gunning down some of the gang, but he is out numbered and knocked off his horse and taken prisoner. Sykes is about to kill Kid Colt when the Major orders him to stand down. When Sykes refuses to follow "orders", the Major tries to stop him and is punched out. This knocks the sense back into the Major who shoots Sykes allowing Kid Colt to break free. They fight it out with the rest of the gang who soon surrenders under their combined fire power.

The Major then takes the outlaws prisoner revealing to Kid Colt that he lost his senses after a blow to the head with a tomahawk. With the outlaws captured and the Major's memory restored to normal, Kid Colt takes the military man back to his home where he is happily reunited with Sally.

Recurring Characters

• Kid Colt

• Steel

The Secret of Ra-Mal!!

Riding along the range, the Ringo Kid comes across a dead man on a horse. Examining the body, the Kid finds half of a Native American map. Believing that this is what the man died for, the Ringo Kid prepares to give him a decent burial. Meanwhile, not far away Driscol, the man who shot the stranger -- named Gilky -- dead realizes that he only has half of the map, which shows the location of the treasure of Ra-Mal, which he has been searching for during the past two years. Angry, he sends his men to follow Gilky's trail and recover the half of the map he managed to escape with. They soon encounter the Ringo Kid as he is burying Gilky's body and try to take the map away from the Kid by force, but he shoots them dead.

Curious as to why the map is important, the Ringo Kid uses a smoke signal to summon his childhood friend Dull Knife who explains that the map dives the location of an ancient tribe of sun worshipers who also worshiped Ra-Mal an evil spirit. Knowing where the ancient temple is, Dull Knife agrees to show the Ringo Kid where its located.

When they arrive at the long abandoned village of the sun worshipers, the Ringo Kid uncovers a secret passage way to the idol of Ra-Mal and goes inside to look despite Dull Knife's warning that the place is filled with evil. The pair uncover hidden treasure below the idol. Dull Knife notes that the passage could be flooded by an ancient river hidden below. Suddenly they are confronted by Driscol and his men who had followed them to the treasure. The Ringo Kid shoots it out with the gang, but outnumbered he and his Comanche friend fight through them and flee just as the ancient river begins to flood into the chamber, leaving Driscol and his men to drown. With the treasure now lost and Driscol dead, the Ringo Kid and Dull Knife ride off content that nobody will be killed over the treasure ever again.

Recurring Characters

• Ringo Kid

• Dull Knife

• Arab

An Act of Death!

The Black Rider witnesses the Watson City banker Preston Wills jumping into Moonhawk Creek in an attempt to commit suicide. The Black Rider saves the man from drowning and revives him, telling the disturbed banker to go seek medical attention from Doc Masters in town. Taking the banker into town, the Black Rider slips away to change into his alter ego and hears the bankers story: When his bank was most recently robbed, he recognized one of the robbers as his own estranged son, and so filled with guilt over how his boy turned out the shamed banker attempted to commit suicide. Masters tells Wills that suicide is not the answer and that there are other ways to stop the outlaws and steer his son away from the life of an outlaw.

That night as the Black Rider, Matthew Masters searches for the gang and soon arrives in Powderhorn City just moments after the gang robbed the bank there. trying to follow their trail he cannot find it due to the gang using a map to brush away their trail. While not far away at the gangs hideout, Preston's son refuses to take part in robbing his father's bank a second time. Saxon and his men knock the boy out, planning on dealing with him after the robbery. As they prepare to leave, the Black Rider locates their hideout. When the gang leaves, the Black Rider goes into the cabin and kills the guard keeping an eye on the boy and frees him.

The boy admits that he is ashamed of joining up with Saxon and agrees to help the Black Rider stop them from robbing the bank. When the gang tries to blow up the front of the bank with a keg of explosives, the Black Rider arrives with guns blazing and tosses the explosives back at the outlaws killing them in the blast. In the aftermath of the battle, the Black Rider takes the boy back to Leadville where he is reunited with his father.

Recurring Characters

• Black RIder

• Satan