Was Rawhide Kid fated to be gay back in the early 1970's?

[MajorHoy]

Happened to re-read an old issue of Rawhide Kid (#83, cover dated Jan. 1971) and found an interesting comment in the letters page there.

A letter from Diane Nagura in San Francisco lamenting the lack of female correspondence in the letters, and that Rawhide Kid "has the cool combination of action, suspense and a little romance - which every girl needs."

The response from Marvel?
"We're sure glad to remedy that lack on our letters page, Diane, as long as you gals don't start suggesting we give the Kid a pink shirt or something!"

And then some thirty years later, we got "or something".

[shaxper]

Well, with a name like "Rawhide"...

[berk]

I think Major Hoy is reaching, but then I might just be resentful because Rawhide Kid was my favourite western comic as a child.

Mind you, I think one of the reasons I liked him better than Kid Colt or the Two Gun Kid was that he did have the best "costume".

One of the letter writers mentioned the Rawhide Kid deciding things with his fists - I remember that as another thing that made him stand out from the other western guys.

[MajorHoy]

I think Major Hoy is reaching, but then I might just be resentful because Rawhide Kid was my favourite western comic as a child.

Mind you, I think one of the reasons I liked him better than Kid Colt or the Two Gun Kid was that he did have the best "costume".

One of the letter writers mentioned the Rawhide Kid deciding things with his fists - I remember that as another thing that made him stand out from the other western guys.

My "reach" is sarcastic; I noticed a comment from the early 1970's and compare it to what really happened +/-thirty years later. There's no way something like that would have happened back in those days.

I've never actually read the MAX-version of Johnny Bart (Clay) by Ron Zimmerman, and I'm not sure if I want to. And while I have a slew of his comic books from back in the 1960's and 1970's (some bought new, but many bought many years later from a used book store that also had a comic book section), I am tempted to buy the Essential Vol. 1 tpb, since I only own reprints for some of those stories.


Now if only Marvel would come out with a regular Western comic book, even if it was just to reprint those classic stories from its predecessor, Atlas Comics.

[Roquefort Raider]

I bought the Essential a few months ago, and although I enjoyed some of it tremendously (I had no idea Jack Davis had done such stellar work on the kid), many stories were very repetitive. In a historical sense, I was interested to see prose stories in there; it suggested that early Rawhide Kid readers were western fans first (used to Louis L'Amour material, I suppose) and comic-book fans second. I don't know if that's true.

[berk]

My "reach" is sarcastic; I noticed a comment from the early 1970's and compare it to what really happened +/-thirty years later. There's no way something like that would have happened back in those days.

I've never actually read the MAX-version of Johnny Bart (Clay) by Ron Zimmerman, and I'm not sure if I want to. And while I have a slew of his comic books from back in the 1960's and 1970's (some bought new, but many bought many years later from a used book store that also had a comic book section), I am tempted to buy the Essential Vol. 1 tpb, since I only own reprints for some of those stories.

Now if only Marvel would come out with a regular Western comic book, even if it was just to reprint those classic stories from its predecessor, Atlas Comics.

I didn't read the recent MAX version either, though to tell the truth it's probably more because I lost my taste for westerns many years ago than because of the changes to the character. I don't really care if he's gay or not - it seems kind of irrelevant to me. But I would say that if they're going to make him gay, it would be cooler if they left everything else about his persona the same rather than making him the kind of flamboyant "flamer" he appeared to be on the one cover I saw. But I didn't read the series so I don't know if that impression was accurate or not.

But when it comes right down to it, I'm pretty much opposed on principle to making this kind of drastic change to any existing character, even if I don't remember the Rawhide Kid well enough to have much idea of what the character was like. Whenever I see something like that from a writer I always think: create a new character, if you believe in your idea that much.

That bottom cover, BTW - is that John Severin? Nice one, whoever it was.

[dan bailey]

it would be cooler if they left everything else about his persona the same rather than making him the kind of flamboyant "flamer" he appeared to be on the one cover I saw. But I didn't read the series so I don't know if that impression was accurate or not.

It was -- as presented in the MAX series (& in a subsequent mini from a couple of years ago that I'm completely blanking on right now, though vague recollection tells me that Howard Chaykin was involved), he's pretty much a stereotypical nancy boy. I found both series quite entertaining, but the fact that my sense of humor is utterly warped probably has something to do with that. (Not to mention the fact that John Severin drew the first one. I mean, Severin could've drawn an adapation of Mein Kampf & I'd have been ... well, conflicted, at the very least.)

That bottom cover, BTW - is that John Severin? Nice one, whoever it was.

It certainly is. And it certainly is.

[Bill Angus]

I don't recall the title of the second mini, but you're correct Dan - it was illustrated by Chaykin. Still written by Zimmerman, IIRC (which leads me to believe the script was written around the time of the first mini, and was sitting in inventory when it was assigned to Chaykin).