Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Dakota Kid the Second

 

cover art by Larry Lieber

Last week, we looked at the one and only appearance of a character called The Dakota Kid. And that was indeed his only appearance. But in 1973--16 years later--ANOTHER Dakota Kid made his one and only appearance.

Western Team-Up #1 (November 1973) was also the one and only issue of that particular comic. It teams up the Rawhide Kid with the new Dakota Kid.

By the way, as I speculated last week, I think the repeat of the name was a coincidence, not a deliberate attempt to create a new version of an obscure character. If I'm wrong and if anyone out there in Comic Book Land has better information, please comment and correct me.

Written and drawn by Larry Lieber, the tale picks up with Cliff Morgan (who goes by Dakota Kid) running into the Rawhide Kid. He challenges Rawhide to a fast-draw, but Rawhide declines. R.K. is just looking for a job.


Dakota, impressed by Rawhide's cool courage, takes him home to meet his dad. This is Colonel Morgan, who disapproves of Dakota's wild ways and openly shows a preference towards his other son, Wayne.





After Rawhide is given a job, Dakota rides into town to meet his gal. This is despite the fact that he's supposed to be riding herd. Wayne volunteers to take Cliff's turn out on the range. Dakota, in the meantime, is forced to kill a man in self-defence. He's arrested, but even the sherriff knows he'll beat the rap. The witnesses all support the self-defence claim.


Back on the ranch, though, rustlers strike, with the Morgan's foreman acting as an inside man. They kill Wayne, take a bunch of cattle and leave the foreman behind to accuse Rawhide of the crime.




So Rawhide has to go on the run. Back in town, Cliff hears of his brother's death. He breaks jail to track down Rawhide. But when the two meet, Rawhide has tracked down the real rustlers. 






Rawhide and Dakota team up to take them down. But, because he broke jail, Dakota is now a fugitive. He rides off---like Rawhide Kid, he's now a man with no home and a reputation as a bad guy.


Like the first Dakota Kid story, it's a well-told Western, though there's nothing inherently special or exceptional about it. And, like the first Dakota Kid, Dakota the Second will also be galloping off into Comic Book Limbo. Westerns, by then, were fading from the comic book landscape. And besides, his origin story made him essentially a clone of Rawhide Kid. Perhaps there simply wasn't room for another "Kid" in the Marvel Wild West.


But he did exist and was at the center of a good story. Characters like that should never be completely forgotten.

Next week, we'll stay in the Marvel Universe and visit with the Avengers.

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