Showing posts with label Old West. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old West. Show all posts

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Captain's Library and Theatre FRONTIER DOCTOR "Storm Over King City" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

(No, you haven't missed a post.
The first part appeared at Western Comics Adventures!
Just click on the link above!)
Dr Bill Baxter is told that his elderly uncle David Sheldon has been murdered!
But he left a will with a lawyer mentioning an inheritance of a gold mine, of which Bill will receive half.
The other half is to go to an orphanage run by Miss Mary Fuller.
However, to locate the gold mine and fulfill the terms of the will, Baxter must journey to Canada, where his uncle lived and died, and meet with Miss Fuller since both he and the lady each have only 1/2 of the map that leads to the mine.
What he doesn't know is that the criminals who murdered his uncle lie in wait to ambush him, steal the map along with his identification and little black bag, and pretend to be him.
They waylay the sawbones, who barely survives, but manages to get to a nearby RCMP station.
The doctor and policeman confront the imposter, who manages to bluff the Mountie into thinking Baxter is the imposter!
But when a medical emergency happens to a child at the orphanage, the fake doctor is forced by his confederates to attend to the deathly-ill patient...

This adaptation of the episode "Storm Over King City" in Dell's Four Color Comics #877 (1958) was illustrated by Alex Toth, whom Old West comics fans remember as the artist on the comics based on Disney's Zorro TV series!
The writer, however, is unknown, 
As for the 1958-59 syndicated TV series' protagonist...

Though he did not carry a gun, Dr Bill Baxter was not a wimp by any measure.
The medical man used his wits, medical knowledge, his fists, and, occasionally, other people's shooting irons, to aid those who needed help.

Rex Allen, who played Baxter, performed as a rodeo rider while in high school.
After graduation, he took up singing, first in vaudeville, then on radio, becoming a popular country/Western singers.
Like most of his contemporaries, he soon was doing Western b-movies as a singing cowboy nicknamed "The Arizona Cowboy", teamed up with comedy-relief sidekicks including Buddy Ebsen and Slim Pickens.
After a couple of dozen films, Rex tried to make the transition to TV with Frontier Doctor, but the show was cancelled after a single season.
But Allen made yet another transition, and became a successful voice-over artist and narrator, primarily for Disney film and tv productions.
TRIVIA:
Besides Frontier Cowboy, Rex had his own self-titled comic book series from Dell Comics that ran for thirty-one issues!
Allen was a cousin of Gunsmoke cast member Glenn Strange, who played bartender Sam Noonan.
Rex's son, Rex Allen, Jr., is a successful singer.
There's a Rex Allen Museum in Willcox, Arizona!
BONUS!
Here's the TV episode which was adapted into the comic story!
Note that the comic is based on an early draft of the script, so there are differences!

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Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Happy 60th Anniversary, Zorro!

Sixty years ago today...
...Walt Disney unleashed his version of the already-legendary Zorro on America, creating a phenomenon equal to Davy Crockett-mania several years earlier!
Check out his premiere in both comics and tv HERE!
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Monday, August 5, 2013

Captain's Library: BROKEN ARROW "Kingdom of Terror" Part 1

Actor Michael Ansara passed away last week...
...and, while most of the obits mentioned his guest appearances on three Star Trek series (Classic, Deep Space 9, and Voyager) as Kang, few listed his breakthrough role as the real-life Apache chief Cochise on the 1950s TV series Broken Arrow, based on the novel Blood Brother by Elliot Arnold.
Will Jeffords and Cochise help "Serafina" to escape?
Can they escape?
And what of Chala, still held captive and enslaved?
Visit our "brother" blog Western Comics Adventures™ later today for the answer!
This story from Dell's Four Color Comics  #855 (1957) was adapted from the script of the TV episode of the same name broadcast Jan. 14, 1958...and was published a couple of months before the episode aired.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Captain's Library & Theatre LONE RANGER "He Finds Dan Reid" Conclusion

(Don't worry, you didn't miss an entry!
The first part of the story appeared HERE at Western Comics Adventures™!)
After a wagon train is ambushed by Apaches, The Lone Ranger learns his sister-in-law and her infant son have gone missing.
The Ranger infiltrates the Apache camp, but doesn't find any prisoners.
The Army arrives and the Ranger joins forces with them to capture the Indians, but the raid turns deadly and the Ranger is forced to fire, off-balance to save the unit commander...
Adapted from a radio show episode of the same name, this story from Dell's Lone Ranger Golden West #3 (1955) was pencilled by Tom Gill, but the inking looks a lot like John Severin, not Gill himself.
Here's a link to the actual radio show!
Besides being The Lone Ranger's nephew, Dan Reid is also The Green Hornet's father and appeared in both characters' radio shows and comic books, making Dan one of pop culture's first "crossover" characters?
(Thus, the Green Hornet is the Lone Ranger's grand-nephew!)
An older Dan Reid appeared on several episodes of The Green Hornet radio series.
Dan was a feature player in a four-episode arc (also adapted into comics form) where he learned his son was The Hornet as shown HERE and HERE.
Remember, The Green Hornet was set in the "present" of the 1930s-1940s, making the adult Dan Reid (in his late 60s-early 70s) a teenager in the late 1880s, the time of the Lone Ranger!)

This entry is part of our Retroblogs™ Masks Marathon, celebrating the new Dynamite comic series Masks which combines, for the first time, the major masked mystery men of pulps and comics including The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider, Zorro, The Black Terror, The Green Lama, and Miss Fury (ok, a masked mystery woman), among others.
Though The Lone Ranger hasn't been listed as participating, The Green Hornet (and by extenssion, Dan Reid), are in the story.
(Besides, Zorro is making an appearance, so there's always a possibility...)
We'll be presenting more stories featuring these characters throughout the month of December.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Captain's Library & Theatre: STAGECOACH

Nobody personified Western movies like John Wayne.
Stagecoach (1939) was his breakout film, after a series of roles in b-movies and serials.
This landmark flick was immortalized in print with a unique fumetti-style adaptation in DC Comics' Movie Comics #2 (1939).
Stagecoach was even the cover feature with a picture of star...
 ...Andy Devine???
 (Who also got top billing in the adaptation)
Movie Comics ran for six issues, adapting everything from Westerns to romances to science fiction.
Using photographs was certainly one way around the problem of getting an exact likeness of the actors (as we showed you HERE with Movie Comics' adaptation of Phantom Creeps which used the same fumetti-format)!
The design/compositing/additional art was done by Jack Adler, a production artist/illustrator who rose thru the ranks and eventually became DC Comics' Production Manager/Vice President of Production, innovating a number of techniques that became standard comics practices.
The writer of the adaptation is unknown.

Here's a fascinating piece called Screen Scoops featuring tidbits about the actors from the various movies adapted in that issue of Movie Comics...
Art and script by Walter Galli
Remember, there was no Internet, DVDs, VCRs, or even TV, so the only way to see these movies was in the theater, and once they finished their runs, they were gone! until they were re-released, usually every 4-5 years after their premiere showings.
Adaptations in other media, including radio and comic books were used to promote the movies and were released either just before the movie opened for its' initial run, or when it was re-issued to second-run theaters.
Besides this comic, there was a radio adaptation done for the Screen Directors Playhouse in 1949, during the movie's re-release.
Reprising their roles on radio were John Wayne (Ringo Kid) and Claire Trevor (Dallas), along with Ward Bond (Doc Boone, played in the movie by Thomas Mitchell)
You can play that radio show by clicking HERE!
Plus, you can compare the adaptations with the film itself...

Catch the flick on TCM, August 1st at 9:15 am (ET)!

There's lots more John Wayne (and other stars) stuff during the  
2012 TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon!
For a plethora of posts (and info on how you can participate) check out ScribeHard on Film and/or Sitting on a Backyard Fence for details!

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Sunday, September 25, 2011

Captain's Library: ZORRO "Presenting Senor Zorro" Part 1

Besides The Green Hornet, another multi-media masked hero was Zorro...
...but we'll go into more detail after the story unfolds...
Having successfully appeared in prose (a series of pulp novels and novellas), movies (both several features and a series of serials, some of whom feature a "Zorro" in name only), and comic books, Walt Disney adapted the character in a half-hour dramatic tv series, starring dynamic Guy Williams as Zorro / Don Diego.
Plotwise, the series did four 13-episode story arcs, each with a complete plotline involving a different villain. (This was dropped in the second season in favor of 3-5 episode storylines.)
The character's debut on October 10, 1957 had a similar pop-culture effect as Disney's earlier hero adaptation, Davy Crockett; Zorro-Mania spread thru the country!
Film historian Leonard Maltin and Guy Williams, Jr with just a few of the many products created during the show's run!
The ratings stayed solid for both seasons of the show's run, with little sign of cancellation in sight, when a dispute occurred between Disney and ABC, who broadcast the show!
As a result, Disney pulled all it's programming (including Zorro, Mickey Mouse Club, and DisneyLand), from ABC, sending a revamped version of DisneyLand (retitled Walt Disney Presents) to NBC, where it ran (under various names) from 1961 to 1981!
Walt Disney presents aired four NEW hour-long Zorro episodes!
Ironically, today Disney owns ABC!

To get back on topic, instead of doing new stories based on the tv series, the comic did adaptations of tv show scripts for the first few issues, all illustrated by Alex Toth, including this re-telling of the character's premiere episode!
To Be Continued, Tomorrow!
But not here!
Go to
for the exciting conclusion
and click HERE for an absolutely amazing website about the Walt Disney Zorro tv series!

Check out our 
Western Comics online store...
 ...for duds and provisions!