Two Kirby/Ayers reprints in this issue, both from RAWHIDE KID #18 (1960).

“At the Mercy of Wolf Waco” is a 13-page story, wherein the Kid is run out of town, doing that usual lame trick of shooting the guns out of everyone’s hands (this time fully a dozen men at once) and then running into the Wolf Waco gang, who were hiding out of town. They recruit him to try to rob a mail-train, which leads to a nice scene where he’s sent with a stack of dynamite to the train, throws it back and boards the train in a hail of gunfire.

Eventually he confronts Waco, who falls off the edge of a cliff. Because you can’t have the Kid actually kill someone.

“A Legend is Born” is a 5-pager takes care of the western comic set-piece missing from the previous story, the saloon, as the Kid, now apparently not recognized by anyone, listening in as various men talk about what they’ve heard about the Rawhide Kid, none of it resembling him. Then the Kid is hassled by Hammer Hogan, who claims to have defeated the Kid, so the Kid finally reveals himself, and mops up the bar with Hogan before fleeing. Even having just seen him, everyone in the bar gives a description of him as tall, with four huge guns and fists the size of hammers, when in fact we’re told he was only five foot three inches, 125 pounds, regular, maybe even small, size hands and two colt .45s.

It’s odd how it alternated in the RK stories. One story he’s recognized on sight by just about everyone, the next he’s not, and he has to prove his identity with his prowess with a gun.

They’re both attractive stories, with the usual Kirby/Ayers flair for drawing the classic western sets and clothing, and full of really good action scenes. I especially liked the horseback action on the two splash pages of the first story.

Published 1971