The Outlaw Kid Becomes... an Outlaw? Part 3

As we've seen in the last couple of issues of Outlaw Kid, the Kid is having a rather bad time of it. Wealthy Jack McDaniels has moved into Caliber City and used his money like a club to put the town under his thumb. He's raising railroad rates, which is crushing the farmers financially, and has forced the sheriff to declare the Outlaw Kid to be a real Outlaw.

With Outlaw Kid #12 (October 1972), writer Mike Friedrich and artist Dick Ayers pick up with the Kid on the run, embittered that so many people in a town he's frequently saved now see him as a crook because of McDaniels' influence. But that doesn't stop him from being a hero when called upon to do so. The Red Vest gang (the same gang that blinded his father and set him on the "masked vigelante" path) is making a come-back with an attempt to rob a train. The Kid intervenes and captures two of the bad guys.

The gold he saves, though, belongs to McDaniels. The Kid makes a spot decision to go the "Robin Hood" route. He takes half the gold and leaves it for a farmer who has been driven into poverty by McDaniels' ruthless business practices.

McDaniels, by now, is pretty desperate to catch or kill the kid, so he's brought in a recently created Marvel Western hero named Bounty Hawk (changed from Gun Hawk) to track the Kid down. Bounty Hawk is pretty straightforward in his dislike of McDaniels, but freely admits that he'll catch the Kid and take McDaniels' reward for it. He's in it for the money, though (as we'll see) he's not without his moral standards.

The two meet when the increasingly bitter Outlaw Kid puts in an appearance in town to warn everyone to lay off him. The Kid really can't make up his mind how to react to the events around him. One moment, he's playing Robin Hood. The next, he's threatening to destroy the whole town. I actually like this aspect of the story. Up to now, Outlaw Kid has been able to play the straightforward hero role. Now, he's a wanted man and (though some of the farmers support him) many of the townspeople seem to have turned against him.

All this gives the tale some effective emotional tension. but it is the extended action sequence that begins here that really makes this issue shine. Bounty Hawk and Outlaw Kid go at it in a fist fight that evolves into a gun fight that evolves into a chase out of town on horseback. Dick Ayers is at the top of his game as he provides us with a truly exciting set piece.

Once outside town, the situation changes rapidly when the two men run into the Red Vest Gang, whose leader blows a bridge and sends both the good guys tumbling into the river.

But Marvel Western Heroes rarely let things like gunshot wounds and near-death falls to stop them. Forced to suddenly work together, the two heroes play possum and get the drop on two members of the gang, though the leader gets away.

By now, Bounty Hawk has enough respect for the Kid to let him go.

This will end our look at the Outlaw Kid for now. Original stories will continue to run through issue #16, with Jack McDaniels and the Red Vest Gang being the main villains. The various story arcs will be wrapped up at that point, with low sales changing the book back to reprints of Doug Wildey's original 1950s tales until the book is cancelled after the 20th issue. Outlaw Kid never had the same impact on the Marvel Old West as did Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt and Two-Gun Kid, while Bounty Hawk will fade into even deeper obscurity. But the Kid had a nice run while he lasted.

Next week, we'll return to the 2nd part of the Supergirl story we began last week.