Thursday, November 2, 2017

Western Marvel Firsts - Red Wolf!


Perhaps the western star from Marvel who most impressed my imagination was Red Wolf and his sidekick, the wolf Lobo. Their western adventures debuted in the very first issue of Marvel Spotlight written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Syd Shores and Wally Wood with a dynamic Neal Adams cover. It's a wonderful story of a man stranded between two cultures. A full-blooded Native American, an orphaned young boy is taken in by white settlers and to a very large extent takes on their world view. When they are slain by Indians, he is torn between his two heritages. He is then chosen by the Native American gods to bring some level of justice to the savage plains and does so in the role of Red Wolf, a legendary fighter from from Indian culture.


Red Wolf as a character had actually debuted in The Avengers as a modern-day righter-of-wrongs in the dark alleys of New York City and masterfully drawn by John Buscema and Tom Palmer. But for this own series the action was shifted back into the past of the mythical Old West. The story from Marvel Spotlight does trigger a short-lived series with most stories by Fox and the artwork by Shores. For a somewhat more detailed look at the series check out this vintage Dojo post.







Later the character is shifted into the modern world again but it's too late to save sales. Not only is the look altered to its detriment, but the stories lose their special nature. 




The series wraps up after eleven issues, not great but better than some during the hectic early days of the Bronze Age of Comics. The complete series has never been reprinted to my knowledge but the debut issue was published in all its glory in the first Marvel Firsts: The 1970s volume.


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