The Rawhide Kid (real name:
Johnny Bart, originally given as
Johnny Clay) is a
fictionFiction is a branch of literature which deals, in part or in whole, with temporally contrafactual events...
al
cowboyA cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler,...
in
Marvel ComicsMarvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
'
shared universeA shared universe is a fictional universe to which more than one writer contributes. Work set in a shared universe share characters and other elements with varying degrees of consistency. Shared universes are contrasted with collaborative writing, in which multiple authors work on a single story....
. the
Marvel UniverseThe Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles published by Marvel Comics take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and Captain America....
. The Rawhide Kid was a heroic gunfighter of the 19th Century American West, who was unjustly wanted as an outlaw. He is one of Marvel's most prolific
WesternThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
characters, rivaled only by the
Two-Gun KidThe Two-Gun Kid is a fictional character, a cowboy gunslinger in the Wild West of Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:...
and
Kid ColtKid Colt is the name of two fictional characters in the Marvel Comics' universe. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous western themed comic book series published by Marvel...
. He and other Marvel western heroes have on rare occasions guest-starred through
time travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different moments in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects backwards in time to a moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to...
in such contemporary titles as
The AvengersThe Avengers are a team of superheroes that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The team first appear in The Avengers #1 The Avengers are a team of superheroes that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The team first appear in The Avengers #1 The Avengers are a team...
and
West Coast AvengersThe West Coast Avengers is a fictional group of superheroes that appear in publications published by Marvel Comics. The team first appear in The West Coast Avengers #1 and was created by Roger Stern and Bob Hall.- Publication history :...
.
The Atlas version
The Rawhide Kid debuted in a 16-issue series (March 1955-Sept. 1957) from Marvel's 1950s predecessor,
Atlas ComicsAtlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback-novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time...
. Most of its covers were by highly acclaimed artists, generally either
Joe ManeelyJoseph "Joe" Maneely is an American comic book artist best known for his work at Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics....
or
John SeverinJohn Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive artwork with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, and for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics...
, but also
Russ HeathRussell Heath, Jr. is an American artist best known for his comic book work — particularly his DC Comics war stories for several decades and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's Little Annie Fanny featurettes — and for his commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Roman and...
and
Fred KidaFred Kida is an American comic book and comic strip artist best known for the characters Airboy and Valkyrie.-Early life and career:...
. Interior art for the first five issues was by
Bob BrownBob Brown was an American comic book artist with an extensive career from the early 1940s through the 1970s. With writers Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox, Brown created the DC Comics hero Space Ranger, drawing the character's complete run from his debut in the try-out comic Showcase #15 Bob Brown...
, Jack Kirby's future successor on
Challengers of the UnknownThe Challengers of the Unknown is a group of fictional characters in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, or co-created with Dave Wood , this quartet of adventurers explored science fictional and apparent paranormal occurrences and faced fantastic menaces.Scripts for the first...
, with
Dick AyersRichard "Dick" Ayers is an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, and as the signature...
on the reins thereafter.
The Silver Age of Comics
After a hiatus, the Rawhide Kid got revamped for the ramping-up Marvel by writer
Stan LeeStan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, legendary penciler
Jack KirbyJacob Kurtzberg , better known by the pen name Jack Kirby, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. He drew various comic strips under different pseudonyms, ultimately settling on Jack Kirby...
and inker Ayers. Continuing the Atlas numbering with issue #17 (Aug. 1960), the title now featured a diminutive yet confident, soft-spoken fast-gun constantly underestimated by bullying toughs, varmints, owlhoots, polecats, crooked saloon owners and other archetypes squeezed through the prism of Lee & Kirby's anarchic imagination. As in the outsized, exuberantly exaggerated action of the later-to-come
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
series
Sgt. Fury and His Howling CommandosColonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is a fictional World War II army hero and present-day super-spy in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, Fury first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 , a World War II combat series that portrayed the...
,
The Rawhide Kid was now a freewheeling romp of energetic, almost slapstick action across cattle ranches, horse troughs, corrals, canyons and swinging chandeliers. Stringently moral, the Kid nevertheless showed a gleeful pride in his shooting and his acrobatic fight skills — never picking arguments but constantly forced to surprise lummoxes far bigger than he.
Through
retconRetroactive continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change is informally referred to as a "retcon", and producing a retcon is called "retconning"...
, bits of and pieces of the Atlas and Silver Age characters' history meshed, so that the unnamed infant son of settlers the Clay family, orphaned by a
CheyenneCheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taa'e and the Tsé-tsêhéstâhese , which translates to "those like us". The name Cheyenne derives from Dakota Sioux Šahíyena, meaning "little Šahíya"...
raid, was raised by Texas Ranger Ben Bart on a ranch near Rawhide, Texas. Older brother Frank Clay, captured by Indians, eventually escaped and became a
gamblerGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period....
, while eldest brother Joe Clay became sheriff of the town of Willow Flats; neither were in the regular cast, and each died in a guest appearance. Shortly after Johnny's 18th birthday, Ben Bart was murdered; Johnny, an almost preternaturally fast and accurate gunman, wounded the killers and left them to be taken into custody. A later misunderstanding between the Kid and a sheriff over a cattle rustler the Kid wounded in self-defense led to the hero's life as a fugitive.
Kirby continued as penciler through #32 (Feb. 1963) — remarkably, while helping to launch The Fantastic Four, the
HulkThe Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 . In 2008, the hobbyist magazine Wizard named the Hulk the seventh-greatest Marvel Comics character...
and other iconic characters of the "Marvel revolution" — and drew covers through issue #47. Issues #33-35 were drawn by
EC ComicsEntertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, most notably the Tales from the Crypt series, until censorship...
great
Jack DavisJack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003. He also received the National Cartoonist Society Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996....
and some of the very last color comics he would draw before gaining fame at MAD Magazine and as one of the 20th century's leading
caricaturistsA caricature can refer to a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness...
. After several issues by stalwart Ayers, followed by a single issue by longtime
Kid Colt artist
Jack KellerJack R. Keller was an American comic book artist best known for his 1950s and '60s work on the Marvel Comics Western character Kid Colt, and for his later hot rod and racecar series at Charlton Comics.-Early life and career:The self-taught Keller broke into comics in 1941,...
, Stan Lee's brother
Larry LieberLarry D. Lieber is an American comic book artist and writer, and the younger brother of Marvel Comics' writer, editor and publisher Stan Lee....
— who'd previously scripted the first appearances of "
The Mighty ThorThor is a fictional character that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee; scripter Larry Lieber and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby....
", "
The Invincible Iron ManIron Man is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 , and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby.Born Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark, he...
" and other superhero features plotted by Lee — began his long, solid run as writer-artist of the much-liked, albeit minor series.
As superheroes become increasingly ascendant and sales of all companies' Western titles dropped,
The Rawhide Kid became primarily a reprint title, though often bearing new covers by such top artists as
Gene ColanEugene "Gene" Colan is an American comic book artist.Best known as one of Marvel Comics' most significant artists, whose signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror...
,
Gil KaneEli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in a few instances Scott Edwards, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
and
Paul GulacyPaul Gulacy is an American comic book illustrator best known for his work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and for drawing one of the first graphic novels, Eclipse Enterprises' 1978 Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species, with writer Don McGregor.-Early life and career:Paul Gulacy began...
. It ended publication with issue #151 (May 1979).
The Rawhide Kid later appeared as a more middle-aged character in a four-issue
limited seriesA limited series is a series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
(Aug.-Nov. 1985) by writer
Bill MantloBill Mantlo is an American comic-book writer, primarily at Marvel Comics, and an attorney, best-known for his work on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe: the Eagle Award-winning Micronauts and the long-running Rom...
and penciler
Herb TrimpeHerbert W. "Herb" Trimpe is an American comic book artist and occasional writer, best known for his work on The Incredible Hulk and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolverine, who later became a breakout star of The X-Men.-Early life and career:Herb Trimpe was raised in...
.
2000s treatments
The Rawhide Kid reappeared in the four-issue
limited seriesA limited series is a series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
Blaze of GloryBlaze of Glory is a four-issue comic book limited series published in 2000 by Marvel Comics. It was written by John Ostrander and drawn by Leonardo Manco....
(2000), by writer
John OstranderJohn Ostrander is an American writer of comic books. Originally an actor in a Chicago theatre company, he moved into writing comics in 1983. His first published works were stories about the character "Sargon, Mistress of War", who appeared the First Comics series Warp!, based on a series of plays...
and
artistThe definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. the worlds best artist is a man named mitchell peter lay who is often loved by the ladies. The common useage in both everyday speech and...
Leonardo MancoLeonardo Manco is an Argentine comic book artist and penciller.-Bibliography:Manco is best known for his dark and gritty style on such titles as Hellstorm , Blaze of Glory , Apache Skies , Deathlok Vol.3 and Hellblazer .Other work by Manco has included Archangel #1 , Werewolf By...
, and a 2002 four-issue sequel,
Apache SkiesApache Skies is a four issue comic book limited series, published in 2002 by Marvel Comics as a part of that company's MAX imprint. The series was written by John Ostrander and drawn by Leonardo Manco. The series was a sequel to 2000's Blaze of Glory...
, by the same creative team.
In contrast to the character's standard look till then — a small-statured, clean-cut redhead — these latter two series found him grizzled, taller, with shoulder-length dark hair, and wearing a slightly less stylized, more historically appropriate outfit than his classic one. In fact,
Blaze of Glory specifically retconned that the naively clean-cut Marvel Western stories of years past were merely
dime novelDime novel, though it has a specific meaning, it has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th century and early 20th century U.S. popular fiction, including “true” dime novels, story papers, five and ten cent weekly libraries, “thick book” reprints and sometimes even...
fictions of the characters' actual lives.
A
controversialControversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion, but sometimes the allegation that a matter of scientific fact is no better than opinion or even religious belief, as in the controversy between evolutionary biology and Creationism or Intelligent...
2003 limited series from Marvel's
MAXMAX is an imprint of Marvel Comics for adult audiences, launched in 2001 after Marvel broke with the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system...
imprintIn the publishing industry, an imprint can refer to two different things:* It can mean a brand name under which a work is published. One single publishing company may have multiple imprints; the different imprints are used by the publisher to market the work to different demographic consumer segments...
, the five-issue
Rawhide Kid (the story itself titled "Slap Leather"), depicted the character as a
stereotypicalA stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals.The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior...
homosexual, with a good portion of the dialogue dedicated to blatant innuendo. The series was labelled "Parental Advisory Explicit Content", and the story was written by Ron Zimmerman and veteran
John SeverinJohn Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive artwork with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, and for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics...
. Although the book was surrounded by a great deal of publicity for the orientation of the character, it was unpopular with fans for the cliché gay portrayal of the character, and sales were ultimately low.
Quotes
Larry Lieber on
The Rawhide Kid http://www.twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/02lieber.html: "I don't remember why I wanted to do it, particularly. I think I wanted a little more freedom. I didn't do enough of the superheroes to know whether I'd like them. What I didn't prefer was the style that was developing. It didn't appeal to me.... Maybe there was just too much humor in it, or too much something. ... I remember, at the time, I wanted to make everything serious. I didn't want to give a light tone to it. When I did
Rawhide Kid, I wanted people to cry as if they were watching
High NoonHigh Noon is an American 1952 western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself. The screenplay was written by Carl Foreman, based on John W...
or something."
"I'm a little unclear about leaving the superheroes and going to Rawhide Kid. I know that at the time I wanted — what's the expression? — a little space for myself or something, and I wanted to do a little drawing again."
See also