Billy the Kid Western Annual [1956]

[1955] Annual. Original price 5/.
96 pages. Colour & tone art contents.
World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd.

Painted cover by Walt Howarth (uncredited)

Contents:

 2 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 4 Indicia

 5 Billy the Kid Western Annual title page; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 6 Contents illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 7 The Streets of Laredo text story by Jesse Allard; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

17 Billy the Kid Outlaw's Code w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Jack Sparling (uncredited).

r: Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine (Toby Press) #02 (Dec 1950).

25 Billy the Kid The Last Bullet w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); UNKNOWN (uncredited).

r: Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine (Toby Press) #03 (Feb 1951).

33 Sundown! text story by Cal Gundon; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

49 The Durango Kid Under the Skull and Crossbones w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Joe Certa (uncredited).

r: Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid (Magazine Enterprises) #10 (Apr 1951 - May 1951).

58 The Durango Kid Blackmail Terror! w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Joe Certa (uncredited).

r: Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid (Magazine Enterprises) #10 (Apr 1951 - May 1951).

65 Outlaws at the Rodeo text story by Zed Montana; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

75 Fancy-Pants Takes a Ride text story by Clinton Stewart; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

82 Two-Gun Promise! w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Tom Gill, lettering by Ed Hamilton.

r: Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine (Toby Press) #01 (Oct 1950).

94 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

Despite another wonderful cover, there's an awkwardness to the endpaper and title page's art, with Billy the Kid appearing to be slightly double-jointed. As the rest of the illustrations are better, it seems to indicate a rush for the annual to be completed in time for publication - not, one has to admit, the most encouraging sign. A very strong illustration of a dreamcatcher encircling the contents is, although only barely embellished in red tone, displays what can be done with very simple graphical adornments. While not as brave or adventurous as the Buffalo Bill Wild West Annual illustrations, it is extremely effective.

As I was riding through the streets of Laredo,
   As I rode down to Laredo one day;
I saw a young cowboy all dressed in white linen,
   All dressed in white linen and cold as the clay ....

Jesse Allard knows well to use the perennially-popular traditional ballad to open his story, and it is mirrored in the plot - not especially dramatically, despite being long enough to develop events in a suitably complex way, though strongly enough to avoid accusations of being overly simplistic. There aren't enough details provided to really get a sense of the people involved. This is another story which uses sound effects in prose to create tension, and it works as well here as elsewhere - which is to say it doesn't work.

And really, the Circle-O ranch? Puh-lease. It's brand would be two circles, one inside the other, and utterly useless at preventing rustling. A little more care and attention could have made this so much better.

Terror was hanging over like a threatening cloud over Red Mesa Valley, when Billy the Kid drifted into the valley! Bullets whistled through the air when he came, and bullets splattered around him when he left! But in-between, the Kid found a use for his head and his blazing guns and showed the strange workings of his "Outlaw Code"!!

Splattering bullets? Are they made of Plasticine? Toby Press are usually better than this, and the use of such an incongruous word in an otherwise fine little strip really stand out as being misplaced.

Racing after bushwhackers, who are attempting to murder a man named Russ Clayton under orders from another man, but stops to take Clayton to someone who can provide medical assistance. When Clayton is brought to his men, Billy is informed that Beef Brent is behind the attempt on Clayton's life. A rustler, Brent has been raiding the ranch nearly to breaking point, and the ranchers aren't strong enough to drive their cattle to market while protecting their stock.

Riding into town, Billy wounds the two hired killers when they draw on him, though the sheriff is reluctant to arrest them. Preferring to stay out of trouble, the elderly lawman doesn't want to tangle with Brent's toxic influence on the area. Billy makes a deal with Brent to tae the cattle to market, and finds himself facing death from every corner.

The plates used for Outlaw's Code had seen better days, and the rough appearance of the strip, despite being in full colour, detracts slightly from the tale's appeal. There's a fine twist, and some energetic artwork, which mitigates the poor reproduction, yet there isn't enough depth to the tale - it is, for all the narrative strengths, a rather easy adventure. The Last Bullet fares slightly better in print quality, but is also lacking in crispness.

Wanted for murder! Wanted for robbery! Wanted for practically every crime in the book! That was Billy the Kid, king of the outlaws! Promotion and reward awaited the law officer who could bring him in dead or alive! An ambitious young deputy-sheriff, named Al Mooney was determined to use any method to get the Kid and get him - dead!

When Billy rides into Rock Ridge, Mooney and the Sheriff go after him. The sheriff is wounded when he attempts to arrest Billy, and Mooney races out after the fleeing outlaw. Billy's horse dies in his race from the town, and he is forced to take shelter at a farmstead.

There's something to be admired in the storytelling risks taken with the conclusion, but how Mooney is able to so rapidly come to the correct conclusion is left to the reader to work out. Much better than a precis could get across, the story's charm lies in the ultimate act of humanity Billy performs, saving a child's life at the potential cost of his own.

A minor note of concern has to be raised at the description of Billy being "wanted for practically every crime in the book," although this can be squared with historical documents as being the adventures of the fictional Billy the Kid. The real Billy was hardly the compulsive breaker of laws he is presented as, and it would have been nice to have a clear distinction between the two.

He was merely friends with the horse. Honest. Any allegations are spurious.

Sundown! - a Cal Gundon Frontier special - which stars Sal Sundown, is unfortunate that it opens with a character named Clarence Aloysius Jones, which makes me think of parody westerns published a decade or so after the release of this annual. It is refreshing that Sundown can smoke and shoot without the text making criticism of such behaviour, and the realism which manages to creep into the telling makes other elements less irritating.

It's something different when The Durango Kid, scourging nemesis of the plains, takes to the high seas in pursuit of a band of cutthroat buccaneers! Six-gun justice takes a new and perilous turn Under the Skull and Crossbones

Western and pirate adventures in one strip - while this might sound as if it holds potential, wrangling the Durango Kid into such a tale is a complete disappointment. The pirate, imaginatively called "One-Eye" by his men, wears standard pirate regalia, which is difficult to square with the time period of the western hero Durango Kid, and there is further problems with the ship depicted - horribly out of place, the clash of genres simply does not work here.

You have to admire a story titled Fancy-Pants Takes a Hike, and the plot - a kitchen equipment salesman, travelling with an extensive wardrobe, is different enough to stand out among gun-slinging adventures. Of course, there is more to the telling than that, and a suitably painful punishment to conclude the tale. It raises a major problem for me, as far as suitability is concerned - this is meant to be a Billy the Kid Western Annual, not a random selection of vaguely western material brought together under a generic banner. As entertaining as such a diverting tale is, it doesn't advance anything about Billy the Kid.

Another problem with the stories is that they are so disconnected. As with all of World's prose, there is no attempt to build something greater - had the stories they commissioned taken the opportunity to mesh original characters into a shared world, showing the development of the ranches and small towns through the years, then there might have been more of an emotional connection when a random character is gunned down. As it is, whenever the stories feature a death there is no attachment, and thus no sense of loss associated with the act.

Not, by any means, a classic, though there is enough reading within its pages to make it a worthwhile purchase. If only it was slightly more polished...

[1955]

Billy the Kid
Western Annual

[1957]