Featuring: Two-Gun Kid
Release: August 2, 1962
Cover: November 1962
12 cents
Stan Lee + J. Kirby
Ayers
13 pages
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| Two-Gun Kid #1 | PRELUDE | |
| Fantastic Four #8 | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery #86 |
Back East, I remember reading about a fictitious gun-fighter named the Two-Gun Kid! I don’t know whatever happened to him, but I think I’ll borrow the name!
We see the signatures for Lee, Kirby, and Ayers. The GCD credits the coloring to Stan Goldberg, and the letters to Artie Simek.
We just met Marvel’s original Two-Gun Kid, Clay Harder from 1948. In 1962, Marvel introduced the new Two-Gun Kid. Marvel had been reviving the idea of superheroes with the Fantastic Four and Hulk. And just two months earlier introduced Thor, Spider-Man, and Ant-Man.
Stan and Jack bring the sensibility that had been working for them on the superhero titles to the western genre as they reimagne the Two-Gun Kid. For example, this new one will have a mask and secret identity.
Matt Hawk has come from Boston to Tombstone, TX to be the new lawyer.
Clem Carter, local bully, immediately picks on Hawk, who seems to be something of a wimp. Fortunately for Matt, Clem’s sister Nancy is onhand to stop him.
Ben Dancer had been a famous gunslinger in his youth, but is old and wants to put those days behind him. But his legend means that folks looking to prove themselves are still challenging him to duels.
So when he agrees to train Matt Hawk to be less of a milksop, he suggests Matt wear a mask and adopt a secret identity. So Matt Hawk will continue to pretend to be a dude, while the Two-Gun Kid becomes a gunfighter of renown. The idea that the secret identity pretends to be foppish is a common one at this point, gong back to characters like Zorro and Superman.
Ben also gifts Matt with his horse, Thunder. Recall the original Kid rode a horse named Cyclone.
The Two-Gun Kid’s first adventure will be to rescue his mentor’s stagecoach from Clem and his goons. Enjoy a Kirby action sequence!
The Kid lets Clem go for his sister’s sake. Perhaps a decision we will come to regret.
Ben Dancer continues on to Boston. Best as I can tell, this is the last we ever see of him.
What of the original Two-Gun Kid? The evidence of what happened to him in this comic is a bit contradictory. See if you can parse this.
…I remember reading about a fictitious gun-fighter named the Two-Gun Kid! I don’t know whatever happened to him…
The first sentence suggests that in the Marvel Universe, Two-Gun Kid was a fictional hero who appeared in books. But that second sentence suggests he was a real person and Matt doesn’t know what became of him. You can please interpret.
Matt’s mentor being a kindly old man named Ben reminds me of Ben Parker, who we met a couple months back, Uncle to Peter Parker. That the hero’s secret identity is a lawyer named Matt reminds me of a superhero we will meet a couple years after this comic appeared.
We started this reading project with Fantastic Four #1, and have met all the new recurring characters that have been introduced since then. Most are superheroes to some extent. A few are not and a few walk a line. Hulk is a monster. Thor is a god. We’ll meet war hero and later spy Sgt. Fury, and sorcerer Dr. Strange.
We have skipped the titles that were already ongoing when the FF debuted, mostly western or girl comics. The ongoing girl leads at the time were: Patsy Walker (along with Hedy Wolfe), Millie the Model, Kathy, and Linda Carter Student Nurse.
There were two lead western heroes: Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt Outlaw.
In the name of my sanity, I have left all those characters out of the scope of the blog.
An edge case I debated for a long time was the sorcerer Dr. Droom, who was introduced in Amazing Adventures shortly before the Fantastic Four, and will become a significant Marvel character in time, eventually becoming leader of the Avengers.
Two-Gun Kid is also an edge case, as his title seemed to end with issue 59, released January 1961, about 7 months before the Fantastic Four debuted. After a hiatus of about a year and a half, the title has returned with issue 60 but starring a different hero than #59. Issue 59 starred Clay Harder, who had no mask or secret identity. Matt Hawk is a new character.
And this Two-Gun Kid, Matt Hawk, will be an important part of the Marvel Universe, even joining the Avengers. (But then who hasn’t joined the Avengers? Even Patsy Walker will enlist.)
So there’s a case to be made I should have included the Matt Hawk Two-Gun Kid adventures in my Marvel reading. But… well… I didn’t.
We are going to be faced with this choice again when Ghost Rider debuts.
I think we should have read at least this issue when it came out, around the same time as Fantastic Four #8, so it’s retroactively placed there in the reading order. And we’ll all pretend we read this comic way back then.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 55/100
The story is slight, but Kirby’s action sequences elevate this above the old Two-Gun Kid stories.
Characters:
- Matt Hawk/Two-Gun Kid
- Clem Carter
- Nancy Carter
- Ben Dancer
- Thunder
Story notes:
- Matt Hawk has come to Tombstone, Texas, looking a little more posh than the locals.
- Clem Carter and other bullies pick on Hawk. Nancy Carter, Clem’s step-sister, intervenes.
- Nancy is the schoolma’arm in town.
- Matt has trouble attracting law clients because he’s a newcomer.
- Thugs pick on Ben Dancer, an old man who hasn’t fired a colt in years. They plan to beat him in a gunfight for bragging rights, as he’d once been the fastest gun around.
- Ben starts teaching Matt how to use a gun. They train for months. Matt also learns to lasso, to mount a horse, and to box.
- Most think Matt is still a “dude”, but in his identity as Two-Gun Kid, he’s something more.
- Dancer gifts Matt with his horse, Thunder.
- Hawk names himself after the Two-Gun Kid, a possibly fictional hero.
- Hawk suggests Ben meet his parents in Boston.
- Hawk sees Dancer’s horse and decides to investigate what happened to the stagecoach as the Two-Gun Kid.
- The Kid rescues the stagecoach and lets Clem go. Dancer warns that was a mistake.
- The Kid leaves when the law shows up.
| Previous | Next | |
|---|---|---|
| Two-Gun Kid #1 | PRELUDE | |
| Fantastic Four #8 | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery #86 |
