Bank Robbers and Pretty Girls

 

cover art by Jack Kirby

Being a wanted man does indeed make it hard to carry on a stable relationship with a purty young gal. In Rawhide Kid #19 (1960), Stan Lee & Jack Kirby teach the Kid this lesson in no uncertain terms.

The story opens with the Kid ignoring a bully. He's worried that if he draws on the guy, everyone will quickly realize he's the Rawhide Kid. But when that bully moves on to bother a lady--well, that's a different situation.

The Kid takes down the bully with his fists, thereby still hiding his real identity. But trouble is afoot. Because now a woman (named Susan) is involved. And, by golly, wimmen is nothin' but trouble!

Susan and the Kid hit it off, and the Kid soon finds himself wishing that he wasn't a wanted man and had the option of settling down. Because by this point, he and Susan have fallen in love. 

Making the situation even more awkward is the fact that Susan's dad is the local sheriff.

The Kid realizes that there's only one intelligent way to handle his love match--sneak out of town before he meets Susan's dad. But this doesn't work out. The sheriff sees and recognizes him. This leaves the Kid with no choice but to claim Susan means nothing to him. He was playing up to her only to get on the good side of the sheriff.

At this point, bank robbers arrive in town, taking Susan hostage. The Kid gets away from the Sheriff and takes on the bank robbers. In a typically fun Jack Kirby fight, he takes them out. But he still needs to convince Susan he could care less about her. So he grabs a bag of gold and makes a getaway.

Later, he confronts Susan's dad outside of town and gives back the gold--on the condition that Susan be told the gold was recovered when the Kid was briefly captured before escaping again. The sheriff realizes that the Kid really loves his daughter, though she can never be told so.

To a large extent, the story is predictable. We know up front that the Kid isn't going to settle down and get married. But it's still a very enjoyable tale. Jack Kirby wasn't able to let his imagination fly as wildly on relatively realistic Westerns as he did with superhero and science fiction tales, but he's always a superb visiual storyteller. And Stan Lee's script provides a nice touch with the sheriff realizing the truth but being obligated to keep it a secret. It provides a bit of real pathos to the story that gives it emotional backbone. 

That's it for the Wild West. Next week, we'll watch the Thing and the Hulk punch each other out.