Anybody read Gunhawks?

[benday-dot]

Well, just wondering if any frequenting these parts have read the short lived Marvel western series Gunhawks? This would be the 1972 series. The writing chores were by Gary Friedrich and the art split between Syd Shores and Dick Ayers. It seems like a buddy western a la Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as the obvious parallel. The twist would be the black/white pairing. A somewhat early stab at such a theme. Just wondering if these stories are any good. I don't see them around much in the back issue bins.

[Kan-Man]

Apparently, I did read at least one issue because the very first posting I ever made to this forum was about a character I had a very vague memory of and it turned out to be Reno Jones.

I'm not really sure what compelled me to buy the comic but I think I bought a number of Marvel westerns during my early collecting days ('72 or '73).

Can't speak of the quality, though. I've long since lost any issue I may have owned.

[Captain Jim]

It's been years and years since I read them, but I remember liking them a lot at the time. The only bizarre thing was, in issue #6, the white guy (Kid Cassidy) was killed and the black guy (Reno Jones) was blamed for his death. Issue #7 was then retitled Reno Jones, Gunhawk and it was also the last issue. What I personally enjoyed about the book was the pairing of the two and I thought it was really weird that they killed the one guy off. All I could figure out was that the sales were bad, and this was an attempt to turn them around. If so, they couldn't have waited to see the results.

[Lone Ranger]

Here's a link to a thread Andy started about Reno Jones and Gunhawks:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=91125

I posted a bit in there about one of my problems with the series. I believe I picked up at least one more issue after that and I feel very uninspired by the whole thing. The stories was a bit too melodramatic and Syd Shores artwork just seemed so stiff to me.

[Red Oak Kid]

These were some of the first Marvels I ever bought. The way I recall it, Marvel Spotlight 1 featured Red Wolf drawn by Syd Shores. Then Red Wolf got his own title. It was at this time that the Gun Hawks came out. I don't know if they started in Marvel Spotlight or had their own book from the get go.

I liked Gun Hawks, but I had just discovered Marvel so I pretty much liked all the titles from that time frame.

I know the Syd Shores art in Red Wolf was great so I assume it was equally good in Gun Hawks but I don't have any specific memories of it.

[Slam_Bradley]

As I posted before.

An issue of Gunhawks was one of the first comics I ever read. It had to have belonged to one of my older brothers. I have very vague recollections of it. That's all I have.

In retrospect, I suspect that it was the last issue that I read, the one that was just Gunhawk. I vaguely recall angst about the death of the cracker.

[Rob Allen]

Gunhawks was the only western I bought in those days, and the only reason I did was because I started with #1. It was my completist phase. I recall liking it well enough to buy all the issues as they came out.

[benday-dot]

Thanks guys. I enjoyed reading Andy's previous thread. Funny how things always come around again.

I got curious about Gunhawks because it had the near novelty of containing original western material in an ongoing series, when the rest of Marvel's gunslinging ranks were invariably reprint titles (though they remain a great way to catch old Atlas material).

Also, as you guys point out, it had the unusual plot element at the time of killing off a main character.

Sounds like it's no Batlash. And its doubtful it will ever be reprinted, however I'd certainly pick up an issue or two if I found them cheap. It remains one of only a very few 70's Big Two titles I haven't yet sampled.

I wonder if Gunhawks was inspired by a sales spike in this issue from 1971:

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1458/400/1458_4_0094.jpg

[Red Oak Kid]

I got curious about Gunhawks because it had the near novelty of containing original western material in an ongoing series, when the rest of Marvel's gunslinging ranks were invariably reprint titles (though they remain a great way to catch old Atlas material).
[/IMG]

Don't forget Red Wolf.

http://www.comics.org/covers.lasso?SeriesID=2060

[T GUy]

These were some of the first Marvels I ever bought. The way I recall it, Marvel Spotlight 1 featured Red Wolf drawn by Syd Shores. Then Red Wolf got his own title. It was at this time that the Gun Hawks came out. I don't know if they started in Marvel Spotlight or had their own book from the get go.

Their own book from the get go, as part of Marvel's expansion madness of 1972 (IIRR, it was 25 new or revived titles).

[Kan-Man]

Don't forget Red Wolf.

http://www.comics.org/covers.lasso?SeriesID=2060

First of all, I've never seen or heard of this title. But looking it over, here's what's fascinating to me...

For the first five issues, the subtitle on the cover is "Masked Avenger of the Western Plains", yet he's not wearing a mask, more like an elaborate hat.

Then, in issue six, the subtitle on the cover is "Indian Avenger of the Western Plains", and now the hat looks more like a mask.

Finally, in issues seven through nine, when he's definitely wearing a mask, the subtitle on the cover reads, "Now! Set in the Holocaust of Today!"

[Paradox]

I remember seeing the ads for Gunhawks, and running into them more recently in the western Marvel did a few years back. But I never actually read any of the originals.

[Cei-U!]

Don't forget Red Wolf.

Or The Outlaw Kid, which briefly experimented with new stories (art by Ayers and Abel, IIRC) amidst all the Doug Wildey stories.

Cei-U!
Gonna find those again!