Western Roundup

Howdy pardners!  You know, I'll keep the Old West slang to a minimum this time around.  Today I want to share a couple stories with you from different comics.  They both have an Old West theme, as you probably have guessed.  Then I want to share a cover from a third comic.  I'll give you more info on that later.

First I have a story from the first comic with a Western theme, "Western Picture Stories" #1 (February 1937).  This was written and drawn by Will Eisner.

The story you just read was reprinted in "Keen Detective Funnies" Vol. 1 #9, and there may be a couple people who think the scans for this comic look better.  The reason I am choosing the scans for "Western Picture Stories" is because page 6 of the reprint was re-inked.  There is a loss of detail that smudges every drawing on the page!  I'll take the above scans over the reprint, but feel free to disagree with me.   

The second story I want to share is from "Kerry Drake Detective Cases" #12 (January 1949).  This is a short backup story done by Bob Powell. 

Bob Powell did not sign his name on the story above, but it is unmistakably his work.  And now for something a bit controversial, depending on what you think.  

I've been looking at comics uploaded to The Internet Archive and I found some comics that may not be authorized uploads.  They are for the actor Alan Ladd, and they were originally published by DC Comics.  I first heard of Alan Ladd when I was a teenage movie buff in search of a good movie to watch on TV.  I found The Black Knight (1954), a medieval action film set in King Arthur's England.  Flash forward to 2016 and I found some comics about the lead actor.  So I then spend a lot more time than I should have cropping and straightening the scans.  I spend more time adjusting the color to a cover found on the Heritage Auction website.  Why?  I don't know, really.  I do like Alan Ladd, but I have many other favorite actors.  I think the thrill here is Free DC Comics. But does DC still own the copyright on these?  Are they ever going to reprint these old comics featuring actors many people living today have all but forgotten?  Does the estate of Alan Ladd's family own the rights to the comics?  I have many questions, but I doubt I'll get any answers.  In any case, here is my adjusted cover to "The Adventures of Alan Ladd" #1 (October - November 1949). 

Thank you very much for reading my blog.  Thanks to all the swell cowpokes at Digital Comic Museum for sharing all of these great comics.  Later, y'all!