Roy Rogers Comics #5

(May 1948)

Action! Adventure! Don't Miss a Single Issue of Roy Rogers Comics! (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

Roy Rogers / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

Badland Bullets (Table of Contents: 2)

Roy Rogers / comic story / 24 pages (report information)

Script

Gaylord Du Bois

Pencils

Al Micale (signed)

Inks

Al Micale

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

western-frontier

Characters

Roy Rogers; Trigger (horse); Slick Pomeroy (a gunman / rustler / bank-robber who holds the mortgage on the Alvin Dean ranch); Nella Dean (rancher Bob Dean's daughter); a riderless horse wearing a blood-spattered kak; Peter Smythe (an archeologist hunting Indian relics); Deputy Sheriff Hazen and his posse

Synopsis

In the badlands Slick shoots Nella's horse. Nella takes Roy for Slick. He wins her trust. Using the riddle on a deerskin poke Nella seeks Grandpa's gold cache to pay the mortgage. Roy finds her a horse with saddle. They find three robbers' graves and a note, then Pete who dispatched them, digging relics right where the gold is cached. The deputy and posse fire on Roy and company thinking they are the four bank-robbers. Nella wins their trust. Pete is revealed young; gives Nella the gold. Slick is caught red-handed with rustled cattle and the bank swag. Pete and Nella romance. Roy departs.

Indexer Notes

The brand name "Stetson" was synonymous with the cowboy hat, and Du Bois uses it here. Trigger is returned to traditional color, and Roy's gear reverts back to yellow. Script sent by Du Bois September 15, 1947. Art signed "Albert Micale" on first panel. Very seldom were comics artists for Western Publishing permitted to sign their work, ESPECIALLY when it was applied to licensed characters such as Rogers.

Script credit confirmed as per page 95, Gaylord Du Bois's Account Books, compiled from the original account books by Randall W. Scott (1985). Script identification confirmed by David Porta, December 2013. Du Bois has Roy begin page 4 with dialog in which he quotes John Greenleaf Whittier's poem of 1864, "Barbara Frietchie": Nella Dean has him at gunpoint, and he makes a joke of it, saying, "I see! It's no use to say any more, Ma'am! 'Shoot, if you must, this old gray head --'"

Bat Masterson (Table of Contents: 3)

Great Lawmen of the Old West / text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Gaylord Du Bois

Pencils

Al Micale

Inks

Al Micale

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Genre

western-frontier

Characters

Barclay "Bat" Masterson; Billy Ogg; Bill Tyler; Cheyenne; Kiowa; Comanche; Quanah Parker; Dave Rudabaugh and gang; [Jack] Wagner; [Alf] Walker; Billy Thompson; Luke Short; Charlie Storms

Synopsis

Highlights of the colorful westerner's life. As a teen, Bat took part in the Battle of Adobe Walls in Texas, and killed Comanche Indians, Kiowa and Comanche Indians. He arrested Dave Rudabaugh and his gang. He avenged his brother, shooting the killers Wagner and Walker. He rescued Billy Thompson from lynching. He intervened in a feud between his friends Luke Short and Charlie Storms, at personal risk trying to be a peacemaker (but failed). He retired his guns while in his twenties and became a popular sports writer.

Indexer Notes

Script credit confirmed as per page 94, Gaylord Du Bois's Account Books, compiled from the original account books by Randall W. Scott (1985). Script identification confirmed by David Porta, December 2013.

[Brownie the Bear, Episode 3] (Table of Contents: 4)

Chuckwagon Charley's Tales / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Gaylord Du Bois

Pencils

Harry Parkhurst (signed)

Inks

Harry Parkhurst (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Hey! You--- Pete and Pat--- Git outa that sugar can!

Genre

animal; western-frontier

Characters

Chuckwagon Charley; Pete; Pat; Brunia (a bear, Brownie's mother); Brownie (the bear cub); an old he-coon; Lige Baker (a farmer); Mrs. Baker; Baby June Baker; the two older Baker kids; hounds; two big Canada Lynxes

Synopsis

Charley tells Pat and Pete how Lige brought Brownie in the house on a chain Christmas morning. Baby June rides off with Brownie. The family borrow hounds to search. Meanwhile, Brownie saves Baby June from two big Canada Lynxes, then lumbers off as the search party arrives.

Indexer Notes

Brownie the bear cub made his first appearance in Chuckwagon Charley's Tales episode #2 in Animal Comics #28. In this, Chuckwagon Charley's Tales episode #9, the kids ask Charley to tell them another story about Brownie the bear cub.

Script credit confirmed as per page 95, Gaylord Du Bois's Account Books, compiled from the original account books by Randall W. Scott (1985). Script identification confirmed by David Porta, December 2013.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 5)

Roy Rogers / illustration / 1 page (report information)

Pencils

? (photograph)

Inks

? (photograph)

Genre

western-frontier

Characters

Roy Rogers (Photo)

Indexer Notes

Inside back cover: B&W publicity-type photo of Roy, in black hat (from well-used series), with unknown horse.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 6)

Roy Rogers / illustration / 1 page (report information)

Pencils

? (photograph)

Inks

? (photograph)

Colors

? (photograph)

Genre

western-frontier

Characters

Roy Rogers (Photo)

Indexer Notes

Back cover: Color, posed-for-comics photo has Roy, six-gun in hand, astride "Little Trigger." Note silver-adorned saddle.