Billy the Kid Western Annual [1961]

[1960] Annual. Original price 7/6.
96 pages. Tone art contents.
World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd.

Painted cover by Walt Howarth (signed)

Contents:

 2 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by Walt Howarth (signed).

 4 Indicia

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

 6 Contents illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 7 The Drummer Boy and the Blackfeet text story by Hart Cooper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

17 Dynamite Pass w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

27 The Adventure of Running Deer text story by Richard Armstrong; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

35 The Mystery of Mandrake's Mine text story by Geoff Williamson; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

45 The Wreckers w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

55 Outlaw Canyon text story by T.A. Cooper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

65 The Last Great Scout text feature by A.W. Dalby-Phillips; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

73 Ransom on the River! w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

83 Renegades of Fort Laramie text story by Hart Cooper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

94 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by Walt Howarth (signed).

Going out on a high, Walt Howarth's cover for the final edition of Billy the Kid Western Annual is a masterful, luxurious, and perfectly executed example of cover art. Capturing the essential elements of the character, and imbuing Billy with a handsome charm, it ranks as one of the finest covers to appear on a World annual - which points to the problems the title had experienced having been noted and acted on.

Jim Osborne shivered. And if there had been anyone about to confide in he would have been the first to admit that the spasm was as much fear as from the biting cold. If this was the New World, more and more he bitterly regretted having left the old.

Having left England with the 4th Regiment of Foot to drive the French from Canada, his troop was making its way slowly over a mountain when attacked, and as one of the few survivors he is desperately cold, lonely, and hungry, though thankful for being alive - as he attempts to keep warm, pondering the circumstances of his survival, he encounters a man named Mitch. Offered somewhere to keep warm, and a meal, he quickly succumbs to sleep. On waking he is surprised to witness two Indians walk up to the cave and enter, relaxing by the fire with cups of coffee. Walt returns, and informs Jim that they must travel to the Indian chiefs over the mountain to pass on news about Canada having yielded to the British crown, to cease lingering hostilities.

Far superior to most of the stories which have featured in the title, The Drummer Boy and the Blackfeet shows that courage, a cool head, and ingenuity can often be better than combat to rectify a problem, and gets things off to a fine start. With events of the story taking place farther in the past than the Billy the Kid strips, it is difficult to justify its inclusion, though it is a welcome addition nevertheless.

Wyoming - a young hard-working and fertile territory whose lush valleys attracted the returning gold-miners and captured them so much that they never returned to the thickly populated east from which they had come with such high hopes. And it was here that Billy the Kid came - to find himself caught up in the fierce wrangle between cattlemen and farmers that the new settlements had brought about.

When Billy happens upon a new town being constructed, and is surprised to see Lem Dacy - inveterate gambler, with a reputation as a gunman - has settled down to a life of farming. All seems peaceful in the town until cattle drivers arrive, informing the inhabitants that a herd of cattle are going to move through the valley, destroying everything in their way.

There were likely a list of laws which would have prevented such an action, and the means by which Billy saves the day seems to be far too extreme to hold credibility. The sound of the explosion would, surely, have a serious effect on the cattle - if the goal was to prevent a stampede, making such a racket would likely have precisely the opposite conclusion to the one desired.

The other strip, The Wreckers finds Billy two miles outside of Newtown, where the train tracks have been deliberately sabotaged - he manages to save the train, and its cargo, though is shot at for his trouble by those responsible. A rather pedestrian tale, told with slightly unattractive artwork, fails to live up to the earlier annuals' tales. Once again the strip introduces an old friend, never before seen, who has gotten into trouble. It is an annoying trend, and one which adds to the background of the character without clearing up his history.

The Last Great Scout, a text feature on William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, written with authority by A.W. Dalby-Phillips, might be a last throw of the dice, but it hits its mark with perfection. With a mere eight pages in which to cram as much information as possible, the economy of detail isn't particularly noticeable, minor incident given as much consideration as monumental event, and the sum total of the feature amounts to a fantastic insight into an amazing life.

Which begs the question - why couldn't this have been attempted throughout the title from the start?

The final strip, Ransom on the River opens with a dramatic image which is far more accomplished than most of the strip art in the issue.

When Micky O'Hearn struggles against odds too much for him, Billy the Kid happens to see the fight. Curiosity lead the Kid to follow a most unusual trail ... at one point every step along it could mean sudden death or slow drowning... but Billy corners desperate men and forces them to call off a diabolical plan to each make hundreds of dollars for themselves, at the expense of one young Irishman...

Jimmy Stewart wanted to start a new life in the West, and he got his chance when the wagon train he was travelling in was besieged by Indians...

Hart Cooper's Renegades of Fort Laramie uses a famous name for one of its characters with no perceivable reason, and distracts from the narrative. It is a story which, rather cheekily, features Kit Carson in a supporting role - in a manner which can be seen as emphasising the title's success over Kit Carson's Cowboy Annual, which ceased publication the previous year.

An improvement, with very impressive steps towards the sort of material it ought to have been containing, though constrained by having to maintain the stories which had been appearing in the title. More non-fiction features, and far better strips, could have improved the appearance of the annual to a greater degree.

[1960]

Billy the Kid
Western Annual

[1960]