All American Western 125 – John Tane to the rescue, Epics of the Texas Rangers ends, and Minstrel Maverick plays roulette

Johnny Thunder once again comes to the rescue of the father who constantly insults and demeans him in the Kanigher, Toth and Barry story in All American Western 125 (April/May 1951).

The Hole in the Wall Gang, who actually existed in real life, appear in this tale.  They hide some of their loot in Sheriff Tane’s house, part of  a plan to exact vengeance on the man who has caused them so much trouble.  The loot gets found, with the proper prompting, and Tane gets arrested.  But not until he once mores lambastes his son for being a schoolteacher.

Knowing his father is innocent, Johnny hunts down the Hole in the Wall Gang, and learns that one of the gang is headed for the prison, to kill the captive sheriff.  Johnny races back to town, but stops to take out his hair dye and change clothes, so that he can rescue his father as John Tane.

Personally, I think the delay is really to give the gang member a bit more time to kill his dad.  After all the non-stop abuse, I wouldn’t blame Johnny at all.

Epics of the Texas Rangers concludes with a three page story by Kubert.

The story deals with a thieving mass murderer, John Freitas.  A Texas Ranger makes himself look like a successful prospector in order to lure Freitas out, and captures the man.

Never a particularly epic series, Epics of the Texas Rangers was at its best when Kubert was drawing it.

Minstrel Maverick gets a good story in this issue, even if the tale, by Hasen and Giunta, is only four pages long.  Harmony Hayes stops off at a casino in a town he is visiting, and plays some roulette. He winds up on a winning streak, leaving the town with tens of thousands of dollars.

In fact, the money is the loot from a bank robbery.  Hayes was being used as a pawn to carry the money across the border, as he was not being watched the way the rest of the gang were.  They step in to get the money back, but Hayes fights them off.  He even returns the stolen money.

 

 

All American Western 121 – Johnny Thunder admits his secret, and a Texas Ranger stops a hanging

One of the best Johnny Thunder stories from his run gets a mediocre cover on All American Western 121 (Aug/Sept. 52).

Kanigher and Toth are joined by Sy Barry as Sheriff Tane publicly expresses his dismay about his school teacher son, John, while praising Johnny Thunder’s courage and skill.

The crappy father then gets lured into an ambush, and shot.  The men who took him send his star back to Mesa, planning to lure and capture Johnny Thunder.

Everyone, including Johnny, believes the sheriff to be dead.  Distraught, Johnny announces to the town that he really is the sheriff’s son. He is about to prove it when news comes about the gang that took the sheriff, and Johnny rides out after them.

Johnny frees his father and captures the men who took him.  He brings the sheriff back to town, where he finds that his confession was assumed to be metaphoric, rather than real.  As in, he is more of the sheriff’s son than worthless John Tane.  Even the sheriff thinks this, which is particularly sad, as it’s the second time he has been informed of his son’s double identity.  His intense hatred of his own child must be preventing him from seeing what is right in front of him.

I think I am going to start rooting for those who are out to kill the sheriff.

This issue also contains the best chapter of Epics of the Texas Rangers so far, a two page tale of lovely Kubert art.  The story is pretty simple.  A man is about to be lynched by a mob for a crime he says he did not commit.  The Texas Ranger shoots the rope, freeing the man.  He insists there must be a trial.  The leader of the mob argues with the ranger, but in doing so reveals more knowledge of the crime than he could possibly have, unless he were the guilty party.

Short and sweet.

 

All American Western 119 – Swift Deer spots gold

Swift Deer makes his third appearance in All American Western 119 (April/May 1951).

Kanigher, Toth and Giella remain the creative team as we see that Swift Deer’s education in a white man’s school is not that popular among his own tribe.  The differences in what is valued by the two cultures is brought up.  And that notion plays out through the story, as Swift Deer spots gold, far more important to the whites than to his own people.

Swift Deer leads Johnny Thunder to the gold he saw, but now there is nothing there.  It turns out Swift Deer was being used.  He lead Johnny away to where he saw the gold, just as an actual gold shipment was being robbed.  Johnny realizes that the robbers must include the father of at least one of the children at the school, as Swift Deer openly discusses everything with the other children.

So Johnny makes sure that Swift Deer knows about the plans for the next gold shipment.  Except there is no real shipment, it’s just a trap.  Sure enough, the news passes to the other kids, and the bad guys hear of it, walking right into Johnny Thunder’s hands.

All American Western 117 – the origin of Black Lightning

Black Lightning is in the focus for All American Western 117 (Dec./Jan. 50/51), although he is not pitted against Johnny Thunder, as the cover text implies.

After a brief introduction that see Johnny and Black Lightning stop some rustlers, Kanigher, Toth and Giella’s story moves into an extended flashback, relating how the horse came to become Johnny’s.  Black Lightning even gets to narrate this tale.

Johnny Thunder is the one to break Black Lightning,but only because the horse takes a liking to him.  This tidily reflects the long-standing notion that no one else can ride the horse.  Johnny also “reveals” his secret identity as John Tane to the horse, who understands that he is not to let on that the two are the same person.  This is one smart horse.

The story never does clarify why an all-white horse is called Black Lightning, but does repeat the odd notion that Johnny’s double identity somehow intimidates the foes he faces.

All American Western 115 – Johnny Thunder fords the stream

Swift Deer, the young Cheyenne boy who has become Johnny Thunder’s sidekick, makes his second appearance in the Kanigher, Toth and Giella story in All American Western 115 (Aug./Sept. 50).

While some of the children at John Tane’s school continue to bully the boy, others, such a Kit Dunbar, are more welcoming.  Kathy Dunbar gets a cameo in this story, painting Swift Deer’s portrait.

Tane seems to teach the American Revolution, over and over and over again.  In this story, he talks about Washington crossing the Delaware river, and Swift Deer comments that that sounds like something a Cheyenne might do.  Apparently very few cultures cross rivers.  At any rate, when thieves use that tactic to elude their pursuers, some of the townspeople believe that Swift Deer is sharing these secret military tactics that he is learning with the other Cheyenne, who are putting them into practice.

The story takes this all very seriously, ignoring the absurdity.  It does emphasize the manipulative racism of the thieves, who are eventually exposed as the men in town who are most vocal in blaming the Cheyenne.

All American Western 113 – Johnny Thunder gets a sidekick, and Overland Coach races the train

Swift Deer, a Cheyenne boy who takes the role of Johnny Thunder’s sidekick, not only appears on the cover of All American Western 113 (April/May 1950), but is even named on it.

Kanigher, Toth and Giella relate the tale, which sees Swift Deer start to attend John Tane’s school, despite the protests of the other children, who do not consider natives Americans.  Tane sets them straight on who the first Americans really were.

The main plot of the story has to do with the Cheyenne voting for an honourary chief.  Johnny Thunder gets elected, which fits the plans of Sharp Thorn.  Thorn hates Thunder, and plans to kill him during the trials the white man will have to undergo in order to prove he is capable of being a Cheyenne chief.

And that’s what happens, during test after test.  Johnny always prevails, although Swift Deer helps him out at times.  Once he becomes honourary chief, he stops Sharp Thorn from leading an attack on Mesa.

Tony Barrett faces some competition as the train comes to Tumbleweed in this Overland Coach story by Frank Giacoia and Bob Lander.  The train is, of course, in direct competition with her stagecoach, and even challenges her to a race.

Bandits decide to holdup the train, and even steal the engine.  Tony sees her rival tied up by the tracks and saves him.  Together they stop the train bandits.  While in reality Tony would be put out of business pretty fast, here they live in a world of peace and mutual cooperation.

All American Western 112 – Johnny Thunder reveals his identity, and Minstrel Maverick vs the Balloon Bandits

Johnny Thunder gets a dramatic cover on All American Western 112 (Feb./March 1950), even if the image does not really relate to his story.

Kanigher and Toth are joined by Joe Giella as Sheriff Tane gives his son John an ultimatum.  Stop teaching and join him as a gunfighter, or he will tell everyone what a coward he is.  The more stories of this I read, the less respect I have for Sheriff Tane.  We get a bit more information on why John feels the Johnny Thunder identity is necessary – he believes its scares the bad guys more than he ever could as himself. That’s a bit odd, it’s not like he is wearing a bat costume or anything.  When the children start deserting his school, Tane decides the time has come for the truth, and reveals his identity to his father.  While Sheriff Tane is skeptical, the scene is viewed by a member of a gang, who does believe it.

The gang then goes after Tane, who winds up having to try to prove that he is really two different people, while at the same time capturing them.  It’s a fairly impressive feat, and a little more believable than most secret identity stories – excluding the water resistant hair dye.

The only real problem with the story is that it leaves things very unclear.  John Tane brings in the bad guys, and credits Johnny Thunder with helping him.  This earns his father’s respect, finally.  But does his father now know that he is Johnny Thunder?

Minstrel Maverick gets a pretty good story in this issue.  Usually I find the stories, and the art, as unappealing as the titular hero, but in this case I was impressed.

The story deals with thieves who are given the signal that the coast is clear by a balloon operator.  It is Harmony Hayes bad luck to be in the balloon during one of these robberies, singing a really repetitive song to a girl he likes.  He gets suspected of being the one to signal the gang, and has to solve the mystery before he gets strung up.

 

All American Western 109 – Johnny Thunder and the Crazy River, Epics of the Texas Rangers begins, and Foley and the ghost bear

A new series, Epics of the Texas Rangers, begins in All American Western 109 (Aug./Sept. 49), but Johnny Thunder remains the cover feature.

We do see John Tane in this issue, teaching his class about the importance of perseverance – which will clearly be the message of the Kanigher and Toth tale as a whole.

A criminal gang is taking advantage of the nearby river boundary, which marks the extent of the legal realm of Mesa.  They cannot be captured by the sheriff, or even Johnny Thunder, acting on his behalf, legally.  When Johnny does bring them in, the judge is forced bylaw to release them.  They need some Mounties.

But not having any Mounties (it being the US and all), the gang continues their reign of terror.  Johnny examines some old maps, and notes that the river changed course after being dammed.  One night he opens the dam, changing the river back to its original course.  Now the far side is within Mesa’s borders, and though the gang crosses it, gloating when Johnny brings them in, this time the laugh is on them.

Epics of the Texas Rangers begins with a fairly simple tale, illustrated without much panache by John Giunta.  The story deals with the Carrasco brothers, who cross the border to repeatedly rob a mine.

The superintendent calls for the Texas Rangers, and Captain Johnny Hughes shows up, hunts down and kills the various gang members.

Epics of the Texas Rangers, while never very epic, continues sporadically through the remainder of All American Western.

Foley of the Fighting 5th gets an enjoyable adventure, by Lee Goldsmith, Kubert and Giunta.

An albino bear is on the loose, and some natives, and some whites, believe it to be an unkillable ghost bear.  Dan Foley sets out to prove them wring, and kills the deadly creature.

When it seems that the ghost bear comes back, killing an old trapper, one of the natives insists they must kill the tribe’s chief to appease the spirits (and incidentally leave the position free for him).  Foley has another encounter with the bear, which seems unusually light for such a creature.  He deduces that the native trying to overthrow the chief was really the killer of the trapper, and that he wore the bear’s pelt to promote the ghost bear idea.

 

All American Western 104 – Johnny Thunder faces the gun, Tony Barrett helps the boy, and Foley vs the Mysterious Marauder

The climax of the Johnny Thunder story makes the cover of All American Western 104 (Dec. 48).

Kanigher and Toth relate this tale, in which a gang lead by Raze plots to attack Mesa because the sheriff is so old.  Curiously, even before his gang rides in, Raze tells them that Johnny Thunder protects the town.

Sheriff Tane is busy insulting his son.  John, ever patient, once again tries to explain the benefits of education.

When Raze’s men grab the sheriff, Johnny Thunder takes to his horse, Black Lightning, and tracks the gang down.  He loses his gun in the battle, but that does not stop him from walking right up to Raze, lambasting him the entire time for being weak.  Raze just stands there amazed, and Johnny takes the opportunity to knock him out.  Sheriff Tane actually concedes that his son was right, but only to Johnny Thunder. I doubt he repeated it to John.  Of course, the two are the same anyway.

Hasen and Giacoia have Tony Barrett come to the aid of a young boy in this Overland Coach story.

The boy’s parents were murdered by a man who wanted their property, and who is now taking advantage of the child’s lack of paperwork to move on the land.  With no real help from any man, Tony finds and captures the killer, ensuring that the boy gets to keep his property.  Some really nice art on this tale.

Kubert and Giunta have fun with the Foley of the Fighting 5th story in this issue, as Dan Foley has to chase down a masked thief, the Mysterious Marauder.

It isn’t too difficult for either Dan or the reader to determine that the robber is the British emigre, Mr. Torbin, who keeps a portrait of a nasty looking ancestor on his wall.  When questioned about it by Dan, he dismisses it as being no one of importance, which is really about as suspicious as it could be.

Dan recognizes the painting as being of the notorious British highwayman Dan Turpin, which clues him in that Torbin has changed his name, but kept up the family business.

The only negative thing I have to say is that Giunta quashes Kubert’s pencils.

 

 

All American Western 103 – a new sheriff for Mesa, and Overland Coach, Minstrel Maverick and Foley of the Fighting Fifth begin

With issue 103 (Nov. 48), All-American becomes All American Western, shedding the hyphen along with all the series, except for Johnny Thunder.

Kanigher and Toth have the people of Mesa turn on Sheriff Tane, feeling that he is too old to perform his job.  I like to see this as a follow-up to the last issue, and have their concern based on his health after being shot.

Johnny Thunder is offered the sheriff’s badge, but turns it down, so he can maintain his other identity as school teacher John Tane.

The man who does become sheriff immediately takes away everyone’s guns, including those of Thunder.  And, as one might expect, he is part of the gang that Sheriff Tane was dealing with before he got ousted.  Johnny Thunder has to take him down, without using his guns.  Tane gets re-instated as the story ends.

Overland Coach is the first of the new series to debut in this issue.  Drawn by Irwin Hasen and Frank Giacoia, it has a woman as its main character, Tony Barrett (short for Antoinette).  The town is none too pleased to have a female running their stagecoach,but she proves herself in this tale.

I found this surprisingly progressive for the era, as she is shown to be fully capable of handling herself.  Few women were portrayed this way in western comics of the time.

She has a brother, Billy, who is in prison, framed for murder.  She hunts down the real killer, and though she does get captured by him, she manages to free herself and bring the bad guy to justice.

As the story ends, the sheriff even offers to appoint her his deputy, but she is content to run the stagecoach line, as she came out to do.

Minstrel Maverick debuts, in a story with art by Bernie Krigstein.  The hero’s actual name is Harmony Hayes, which is not much better.

I have to admit, I keep rooting for the bad guys in this story.  Especially when Hayes confronts them, not with a gun, but with a song.

Still, he does pull out his guns when the situation warrants it, and rounds up the Black Rustler and his gang.  Shame that he sings about as he rides into the sunset.

Joe Kubert and John Giunta are the art team as Foley of the Fighting 5th is introduced, a series about the adventures of a member of the 5th cavalry division.

As one might expect on a series about the cavalry, the natives are the ones they are fighting against.  Peaceful natives, who allow the white settlers to take their land, are portrayed as good, while the ones fighting in defense of their territory are shows as evil.

This story does add a bit more depth to it, as the natives who are in revolt, and attacking Fort Desolation, are being lead by a medicine man who is really a white man in disguise, and “Indian agent” who is trying to provoke a larger war for his own benefit.