Marvel Westerns: Kid Colt and The Arizona Girl

(Marvel, 2006)

Kid Colt was the first of the Atlas/Marvel Western heroes and was introduced in 1948. The Arizona Girl, a newer character in the Marvel universe, appears this issue and could be an interesting character, given time to develop. Storywise, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, have a predilection for the weird. (Think Jonah Hex.) However, given the classic history of Blaine “Kid” Colt, the “Last Train to Oblivion” is more weird than Western. Kid Colt and Arizona Annie ride into Wilcox (the future home of Rex Allen) and discover that the natives resemble dead people both have known. If the Two-Gun Kid story from the other Marvel Western is any indicator, the new formula is “Western hero rides into supernatural or alien town or territory.”
The saving grace in this issue is the reprinting of three stories by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Dick Ayers. “Stagecoach to Shotgun Gap,” “Those Who Live by the Gun,” and “The Man Who Robbed the Express” are the best reasons to buy this book.
Give it your best, Marvel. Let’s have a real Western comic.

— Tim Lasiuta

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Notes

Writer

Artist

#1

September, 2006
Cover Price: $3.99
3 copies available from $4.25

Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jim McCann, Stan Lee

Federica Manfredi, David Williams, Jack Kirby