My Rating
“Birth Of A Badman”
The Corbett family received a Telegram regarding old Uncle Ed two months prior. The sodbuster had died of natural causes on the family farmstead located in the rich cattle country of northern Wyoming. To some, this news was far less common to receive than that of a deceased loved one being killed by renegade Indians, or the ever growing menace of armed gunfighters shooting those who looked at them wrongly.
It mattered little to Ed Corbett’s brother John, as he was raised with a stronger work ethic and cherished family over anything else. So when they arrived in the frontier town of Cody sometime later, their faith in humanity would be tested as soon as they stepped down from that Stagecoach in which they rode. This place was not the orderly city of Boston in which they were used to. The mannerisms of Cody’s rustic inhabitants seem almost alien to those who cherished law and order.
It would take less than a fortnight before the Corbett family would receive visitors to their new homestead. A surly rancher named Brett Blackwell arrived one morning with a motley group of hired gunmen. It seems Uncle Ed had refused to sell the property to Blackwell in the past. Knowing his brother’s stubbornness, John listened to Blackwell’s offer but had no intention of selling to anyone. This decision would be a fatal one as Blackwell needed the water rights for his cattle operation.
The very next day while John Corbett’s son Tom was away picking up supplies, the same group of gunmen returned to make a final offer. This time Blackwell’s men would not take no for an answer. In the open vista of the Wyoming farmland the crack of gunfire could be heard for a quarter mile in every direction.
Why is the old drunk name Logan so reviled by the gunmen of Cody, Wyoming? Will Tom Corbett receive justice in a frontier town run by corrupt officials, or does he have to take the law into his own hands? Just how fast at the draw is the murder named Cheeno anyways?
“Vengeance Trail”
The Comanche attack was swift and deadly. For those in the wagon train heading west across the Southern Plains there would be one survivor. An orphaned son of the white-eye, the boy showed courage in battle by firing his father’s rifle at the painted savages. As the sun began to set over the tall prairie grass the Comanche Indians had spilled the last of the pioneers’ blood.
As for the boy, the Chieftain took him as his war trophy. Over the next ten summers the child would be raised to become a full member of the tribe. This is the story of White Eagle, a child born to the east and raised with the spirit of the western plains.
On the trails of the wagoneers he would be known as the Comanche Kid.
Can White Feather stop a pair of gunslingers from murdering an old cattle farmer and his grandson? How corrupt is the little town of Bad Dog, Oklahoma? Will the Crowley boys get their cut of the cattle money set aside for a boys education? Collect the book the find out!
Reviewer Notes
As I grow my catalog of comic book reviews I realize there is one genre I’ve been reluctant to read. That’s the great American Western. There is no reason specifically, as I’m a fan of Western movies. My collection is just lacking anything of notoriety when it comes to Cowboys and Indians.
It’s been over a year since my website has been active, and with a big zero lingering in my Westerns genre count, I decided to break out the 1975 one-shot released by Atlas/Seaboard. Titled “Western Action”, famed Marvel Comics co-founder Martin Goodman brought the readers two new heroes named Kid Cody and the Comanche Kid.
As I was only three years old at the time of this release, I’m unable to talk intelligently about who the target market was for this book. I do know Martin Goodman’s goal was to force Marvel out of the market by releasing cheap knockoff books and out-sell the company who betrayed him.
As a stand-alone book I did enjoy the stories. Did “Western Action #1” excel over other titles in the genre? That I can’t answer either. As a novice when it comes to comic books set in the Old West, I can only compare Kid Cody and the Comanche Kid to the characters from those classic John Wayne and Clint Eastwood films I watched as a kid.
There are a few tropes here that I do recognize. The death, or killing of a family member, which in turn pushes the principal character to seek justice or revenge. A child taken from his parents and raised by savage natives who teach them to hate his own people. And let’s not forget the greedy Cattle Baron who uses murder to usurp land from his honest competitor. I could go on, but I hope you see my point. If you like Western movies you will enjoy this book.
Overall the first issue had decent art and a lot of well crafted dialogue; something that is lacking in many modern books today. I have to warn the woke out there however, as these stories were written for an audience who did not sugarcoat language or ideas. This is the story of the Old West and racism was a-plenty in those days. You may want to skip this one if words hurt or offended.
I’m giving issue one of Atlas/Seaboard’s Western Action four out of five stars. To be honest, the main heroes here were okay, but I didn’t see anything that made them stand out compared to such icons as Rooster Cogburn or the Man With No Name. Would readers continue to buy this series on a monthly basis? I guess we will never know for sure.
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