Wagon Train

For eight seasons, that darn wagon train rumbled across the plains and mountains of the Old West without ever seeming to get anywhere.

Wagon Train is a classic TV Western, with strong, intelligent scripts and some great guest stars. Actually, I've always assumed that Major Adams (Ward Bond) and his crew simply hired out on different wagon trains. When one got to its destination, they moved on and ramroded another.  But this really didn't matter. It's the individual stories that make it a strong series.

Like most TV series in the 1950s, Wagon Train got a comic book adaptation published by Dell Comics. As was usual, there were several try-out issues in Four Color before Wagon Train moved on to its own series.

The first appearance was in Four Color #895 (March 1958), which contained two stories written by Eric Friewald and Robert Schaefer, with art by Nicholas Firfires. We'll be looking at "Fury at Blue River"--the first of those stories.

It's a straightfoward and well-told tale. As was usual in the TV series, the main characters are that particular story's "guest stars," with the wagonmaster and his crew acting in supporting roles. In this case, an aging retired marshall named Davis is clashing with a young jerk named Brant. Brant has no patience for someone he thinks is too old to be useful on the journey, while Davis begins to think he needs to find ways to prove he is indeed useful.

By the way, I picture a young Dennis Hopper as Brant and perhaps Paul Fix as the marshal.

The story starts a little slowly, but this is not a problem. Effective storytelling introduces us to the characters while Firfires' nifty art gives us a sense of how much work was involved in getting a wagon train from Point A to Point B.

Flint, the train's scout, spots potential trouble when he finds some burnt-out wagons and a few corpses. There are outlaws nearby, attacking and looting whereever they can.

Guards are posted at night, but the outlaws manage to light one wagon on fire, then use this as a distraction to look other wagons.  But Davis--old but still alert--spots them and drives them off. A prisoner is taken, who pretty quickly rats out the location of the outlaw gang's hideout.

Davis, still smarting under Brant's insults, heads to the hideout on his own. This is a less-than-wise idea, as he soon finds himself wounded and pinned down. But Adams, Flint and Brant soon come riding to the rescue. After a brief tussle, the outlaws are all killed or captured. Brant apologizes to Davis for his insults while Davis admits he let his pride get the best of him when he rode out on his own.

"Fury at Blue River" does an excellent job of replicating the series' storytelling format, using that format to tell an entertaining yarn. Four Color #895 has hit the public domain, so you can read it online HERE.

Next week, we'll pay a visit to Frostbite Falls.