Red Ryder Comics #57

(April 1948)

News From Red Ryder Ranch (Table of Contents: 1)

text article / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Fred Harman

Pencils

Fred Harman

Inks

?

Letters

?

Indexer Notes

Inside front and back cover B&W

[The Rimrock stage is held up and robbed...] (Table of Contents: 2)

Red Ryder / comic story / 16 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Fred Harman

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

western-frontier

Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted (Table of Contents: 3)

Telecomics / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

? (Telecomics portion); ? (Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted portion)

Pencils

? (Telecomics portion); ? (Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted portion)

Inks

? (Telecomics portion); ? (Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted portion)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Little Beaver Climbs a Tree (Table of Contents: 4)

Little Beaver text / text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Gaylord Du Bois (sourced) (Entry states: "Little Beaver Climbs a Tree. text for Red Ryder Comics #57. Sent October 17, 1947.")

Pencils

Bill Ely

Inks

Bill Ely

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The canyon through which Little Beaver and Po-ko were riding opened out suddenly.

Genre

western-frontier

Characters

Little Beaver (Navajo youngster); Po-ko (Navajo youngster); wild horse herd; black stallion (their leader); Papoose (Little Beaver's horse); Po-ko's pony; Red Ryder (rancher); Thunder (his horse)

Synopsis

Red's missing mares graze a hollow where the grasslands dip down. The thief: a wild black. Po-ko fears as the black approaches unafraid. Papoose trembles, wheels about, knowing his equine kin an insane killer. Po-ko on her pony flees to fetch Red. LB rides Papoose to a piñon, swings on a branch, puts two arrows in the killer's flank to distract from pursuing Papoose and Po-ko. Treed overnight, LB wakens to the killer's savage scream, falls, dazed: the sound of hoofs on flesh, two horse bawling in anger, then shots. Hi Red! We ketch-um your mares easy, now ol' he-devil hoss be dead.

Indexer Notes

Bill Ely art i.d. by David Porta October 2021.

"piñon pine" trees in this story are a Du Bois identifier on several levels. 1) Nature. 2) Trees, which is a specific sub-set of Nature in Du Bois. (Of anthropomorphic tree stories there's three Tarzan, a Korak, a Brothers of the Spear, and a couple of Space Family Robinson. Then, trees in general, there's "The Williwaw Trees" poem in Dell Junior Treasury #5. A Roy Rogers story. And this.) 3) Language: "piñon" spelled with the Spanish letter eñe. 4) It's a non-specified cultural reference, so Didacticism, or Peoples of the World, or Cultures, because "The piñon pine trees yield edible nuts, which are a staple food of Native Americans." - Google.

The principal Du Bois identifier of this story (other than its being one of his tree stories) is that this is essentially an animal story. More specifically, a horse story. (Du Bois wrote Champion, Trigger, all of National Velvet, and all of Hi-Yo Silver. And devoted significant horse passages to his Pony Express book, and Buffalo Bill Plays a Lone Hand Big Little Book. as well as devoting all of chapter two of The Lone Ranger novel to his origin of Silver.) The plot motive is the search for Red's missing mares. The antagonist is the insane killer black stallion. That's a horse with a distinctive personality.

"'Black hoss act-um funny!' Po-ko observed nervously. 'Look-um! Him start this way. Him not scared of riders. . . .but ME getting scared, Little Beaver. WHAT MAKE-UM HIM DO THAT?'

"The wild horse was moving slowly toward them, tail plumed and ears pricked forward in an almost friendly manner. Little Beaver's face grew thoughtful. He had heard of a wild horse once, a long time ago, acting that way. But he wasn't sure until he felt his pony Papoose tremble and wheel about. Other horses, he knew, could spot an insane killer!

"'Ride, Po-ko!' he yelled, suddenly. 'Devil hoss kill-um us all!'

"At his cry, the big black's manner changed like a flash. Straight for the Indian kids he plunged, ears laid back, eyes rolling white, mouth open for murder. From his throat came a blood-curdling scream of fury."

Here we have the Du Bois identifier of giving the animals individual characteristics. And the didacticism of horse behavior. The blacks ears pricked forward and tail plumed, easy gate, as if friendly; Papoose's fear, tension, retreat. Then, once exposed, the black's ears pinned back, eye roll, mouth, scream. All known equine behaviors.

That Po-ko is the first to see something is off about the black is another Du Bois identifier, strong women, featuring the positive role of women in his stories. And the acting of characters in concert with each other, each making an individual contribution.

[Jail Delivery!] (Table of Contents: 5)

The Kiyotee Kids / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Gaylord Du Bois (sourced) (Entry states: "Kyotee Kids. 6p. For revision. For Red Ryder Comics #57. Sent September 22, 1947.")

Pencils

Harry Parkhurst (signed as Harry Parks) (Signed on story page 6 at bottom of panel 5 of 7.)

Inks

Harry Parkhurst (signed as Harry Parks) (Signed on story page 6 at bottom of panel 5 of 7.)

Colors

?

Letters

Harry Parkhurst (signed as Harry Parks) (Signed on story page 6 at bottom of panel 5 of 7.)

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Still shaken from her recent escape from Silk Selden and his outlaw bunch, Sandy Rivers can't get rid of the hunch...that some night Silk's gang........will sneak into sleeping Alkali Town to take their leader out of jail!

Genre

western-frontier

Characters

Sandy Rivers (Kiyotee, a kid); five Selden men (pictured); Billy Haynes (Kiyotee, a kid); Doc Rivers (Sandy's dad, a town vigilante); Mattie Rivers (his wife, Sandy's mom); Frank (a town vigilante); Charlie (a town vigilante); Ted Lucas (Kiyotee, a kid); Dan Perkett (sleeping jailer, referenced); two horses (of the outlaws, referenced); outlaw (setting a fuse); Silk Selden (outlaw gang leader, escaping prisoner); four other escaping prisoners; a bullet-burned terrified horse

Synopsis

Sandy is the first to see the outlaw gang riding into town at night to break their leader, Silk Selden, out of jail. She alerts the others and the town vigilantes. Ted stops the first attempt to blow the wall of the hoosegow, but the second attempt succeeds. All the prisoners are caught except for Selden, who escapes with his men.

Indexer Notes

Account books entry states, "6p. For revision." The story contains 45 panels, and appears (by the panel breakdown) to have been written (or rewritten) so as to be told in 8 pages. The 6-page panel breakdown is 7-8-8-8-7-7. If we break the panels up.into an 8-page sequence, 5-6-7-5-6-5-6-5, the flow of the panels' narrative presents each page as an internally consistent dramatic sequence, with dramatic opening panels, and suspenseful, page-turning end-panels.

Du Bois identifiers:

1) Language ("jail delivery")
"Jail delivery definition: forcible and illegal liberation of prisoners from jail." - collinsdictionary dot com

2) Sex roles, Strong women (Sandy presages the events, and is the first to witness the danger and raise the alarm.

3) Kids, and Characters acting in concert (kids are frequent protagonists in Du Bois features; and both Billy and Ted make their contributions to dealing with the crisis).

4) Animals, Horses (the "bullet-burned terrified horse" gives the animal a sympathy-inducing persona, and the horse moves the plot forward by being Selden's means of escape).

[Going for a Ride] (Table of Contents: 6)

Panamint Patty / comic story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Dan Gormley

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

western-frontier