The RAWHIDE KID - A REAL STRAIGHT-SHOOTER...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

It wasn't until I was typing out the folder name for these scans that it struck me just how gay the name RAWHIDE KID sounds these days.  In fact, I believe the character was 'outed' a few years ago when, for whatever reason, writer RON ZIMMERMAN decided to retroactively reverse the Kid's sexual orientation.  I never read that series - didn't even see it, in fact - but, to me, the Rawhide Kid is, and always will be, as straight as they come.  In fact, he's so macho and manly, he drinks his milk from a dirty glass.

Anyway, there seems to have been a pulsatin' plethora of cowboy characters called 'Kid' in MARVEL comicbooks way back when.  As well as The Rawhide Kid, there was The TWO-GUN KID, The APACHE KID, The RINGO KID, The WESTERN KID, and KID COLT, OUTLAW.  May well be more for all I know.  The blamed West was over-run with dang kids - where were all the adults fer cryin' out loud?  Makin' kids, I guess.  (Well, a man can't  spend all his time with his horse  - it ain't natcheral!)

Surely HERB TRIMPE's finest inker was JOHN SEVERIN.  Just look at that splash page below.  GERRY TALAOC, who inked the next couple of issues, did a great job (with DAN BULANADI on #4) - but, for me, Severin is the main man when it comes to inking Trimpe's pencils.  Herb's artwork, great as it was, always looked even better for having been 'kissed' by the pen or brush of the inordinately talented Mr S, who was also a magnificent penciller in his own right.  I've yet to see a page of art that wasn't enhanced by his inks.  Who could ever forget his excellent work on KULL The CONQUEROR with his sister MARIE back in the '70s?

However, it's the Old West we're interested in today.  So saddle on up and sashay on down to the ol' saloon - where men were men and women were wild - and kids were well-past their bedtime.

WITCH'S VISIONS - COVER & SPLASH PAGE GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

If the old memory isn't playing tricks on me, I bought the first ish of this mag quite a few years before I acquired the other three in the series.  However, before then, I'd read reprints of them in the second incarnation of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL in 1983 - not too long after the original U.S. mini-series, in fact.  It's strange to see the covers of #2 & 3 in their original form because, naturally, I associate them more with MWOM, which is where I first saw them. However, that's neither here nor there as far as you're concerned.  Your main interest is surely in refreshing your own recollections of when you first experienced these comics, back in the faded, half-forgotten realms of 'long ago and far away'.

So - happy reminiscing!

Page 1 was a rather unspectacular affair (and not even a splash page)
so here's page 2 instead, which better fits the description