Television Favourites Comic Annual [1959]

[1958] Annual. Original price 7/6.
96 pages. Full colour & tone contents.
World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd.

Cover by Walt Howarth (uncredited).

Contents:

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

 4 Indicia

 5 Television Favourites Comic Annual title page; illustrated by Walt Howarth (uncredited).

 6 Contents illustrated by Walt Howarth (uncredited).

 7 Gunsmoke Freight War w: Eric Freiwald & Robert Schaefer (uncredited); a: Jim McDonald (uncredited), lettering by Ben Oda.

r: Four Color (Dell) #797 [Gunsmoke] (May 1957).

23 M-G-M's Lassie The Hunter's Prey w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Ralph Mayo (uncredited).

r: M-G-M's Lassie (Dell) #25 (Nov 1955 - Dec 1955).

33 The Lone Ranger Old Cheyenne w: Paul S. Newman (uncredited); a: Tom Gill (uncredited).

r: The Lone Ranger (Dell) #50 (Aug 1952).

43 Silver Silver and the Wings of the Wind w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

r: The Lone Ranger's Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver (Dell) #18 (Apr 1956 - Jun 1956).

53 Roy Rogers and Trigger Double Danger w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Dan Spiegle (uncredited).

r: Roy Rogers and Trigger (Dell) #122 (Feb 1958).

65 Rex Allen The Threat w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Bill Ziegler (uncredited).

r: Rex Allen (Dell) #25 (Jun 1957 - Aug 1957).

80 Rin Tin Tin Ramrod w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Sparky Moore (uncredited).

r: Rin Tin Tin (Dell) #18 (Apr 1957 - May 1957).

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

The World annuals with black backgrounds somehow look better for being so moody and dramatic - while it doesn't entirely jive with the Lone Ranger's depiction as a bright and breezy series with an instantly-hummable theme tune, it lends a certain gravitas to the character. I'm not sure anything could lend gravitas to Lassie, however, but anything is worth a shot...

This also has, at least for me, the single best title page image of the series, with a selection of items from featured characters taking the spotlight. For readers with a certain sensibility, the image can easily become a minor puzzle in and of itself, working out who each of the items belongs to - I'm still not entirely sure who the elaborate boots belong to, but I can imagine them to be something which Roy Rogers would wear.

A passing coach loses a wheel, and Matt Dillon rushes to save the rider - who pins the blame for his misfortune on a man attempting to put all small shippers out of business so that his company can take the work. Matt approaches Mr. Curry, who insists his freight handling company is legitimate, and nothing to do with the misfortunes of smaller outfits, and is bossed around by the man's associates. Not taking kindly to such treatment, he keeps lookout for further odd incidents. When he catches two men sabotaging another coach, it seems Charlie Barker's accusations were well-founded.

He loses the men, though manages to save the coach from disaster. When Curry announces that he has the lowest freight rates in town, Dillon manages to start a bidding war for business, and when another freight hauler gets picks up business instead, Matt makes sure Curry is there to witness events unfold.

While the main plot point - of a saboteur being placed in harms way by the hero, in an attempt to get a confession from them - has been played out so often as to be almost a cliché, the handling is remarkably fresh. Aided by lively artwork, and with a solid notion of frontier problems, Freight War has a lot going for it. Unfortunately there are also a host of problems which impinge on the strip's enjoyment, not least of which is the simple rendering of some stagecoach images. It is annoying that otherwise brilliant renditions of the transport are accompanied by two-dimensional variations.

The other puzzlement is why the townsfolk appear to be shadow people. I don't remember all-black spectral figures lingering in the background of the television series.

And then there is Lassie, which finds the plucky Collie stepping in when it appears a jaguar cub might attack a herd of cattle.

Suuure. As if Lassie stands a chance against a big cat, should it choose to decide in favour of a meal over friendship with the dog.

Lassie then spends time keeping a hunter from killing Cheena and her cub.

I really do want to get on board with the character, but there are so many leaps of logic required to buy into the concept that it is simply too much of a stretch. If Lassie has a problem with Cheena eating cattle, what, I have to ask, does she feel comfortable with the cub feeding on? It has been established that horses, other dogs, along with critters of various descriptions, are capable of understanding her intentions, so what constitutes an acceptable meal for the large carnivores? It would be embarrassing if they chewed down on one of Lassie's casual acquaintances.

Yes, I've spent far too long thinking about this.

The Lone Ranger's nephew Dan Reid is picking up supplies in Old Cheyenne's general store when Peg Leg Prindle purchases three kegs of blasting powder. Telling his uncle of Prindle's offer of a job, the lawman recalls that the fugitive they are hunting was seen talking to Prindle - Dan goes to Prindle's home to take the job, and sees Larry Dirk, the man the Lone ranger is hunting for. Abducted by Dirk, Dan and Prindle are carted off to do the criminal's work, as the Sheriff tackles with the Lone Ranger, who he believes is assisting Dirk somehow.

There's a host of hoary old western elements dusted off for this tale - loot hidden behind a cave-in, shooting guns from people's hands, hostages tied up next to explosives, and the classic of a lawman misunderstanding whose side the masked man is on. One could play Lone Ranger Bingo with this strip and win with nearly any card, though silver bullets are, sadly missing from the plot.

It works, though without a sense of finesse or style. Brute force storytelling, which rolls on without regard for the characters to shine through, it nevertheless works, and surprisingly well, despite being so formulaic.

Early summer in Benton City sees the townsfolk gather for the annual fair and rodeo, and Roy Rogers takes to the rodeo on a bucking bronco - once he has set a respectable time, he sets to ride out to meet the stage on which Sarah Benton is bringing in the prize money. The stagecoach, however, is met by bandits before he can reach it, yet Roy manages to prevent the theft of the money when he catches up to the escaping bandits.

Another story relying on identical twins.

Can we call time on this plot, please? I'm exhausted reading through so many identikit tales, and this employs one of the most hackneyed, stale, over-used versions of the tale I've read in a long time. It isn't as if the setting affords a limited scope for interest, with so many strange and unusual facets on which to hang an interesting narrative. If I read one more of these things I'm likely to get a skull fracture from banging my head against the keyboard.

A really disappointing strip, with only some lively art as its saving grace.

Rex Allen is far more to my liking, with Rex riding in to Big Creek to see an old friend, Clem Miller, when he meets Bob Jones on the trail - told that Clem is now Sheriff of the town, and that the man has learned he is working for a thieving killer named Pete Rabb. Bob states that he heard Rabb plan to hold up the East-bound stage at Devil's Canyon, and Rabb's men have been ordered to shoot to kill. A trap is henceforth set to trap the thieves in the act.

After the thieves have been apprehended, Rex takes shelter in a homestead - where Bob tells him that Rabb and Bond have escaped custody.

A taut little tale which rolls out its narrative with perfect pacing, never overplaying matters. Yes, there is an easy coincidence at the heart of the story, though with the limited page-count it is an acceptable break from believability. I very much like the way that Rex isn't some credulity-stretching master of the West, and although the manner in which Rabb is recaptured requires some allowances from the reader, it isn't so great a stretch as to break from what has gone before.

Rin Tin Tin is more comedic in nature, at least to begin with, as the dog is given a bath. I know what it takes to get an unwilling dog into water, and the amusement comes from the believable nature of the incident. General Cummings imminent arrival is cause for the fort to be given a spit and polish, with the men fretting over appearance, and on his arrival things do not go well for Rusty or Rin Tin Tin.

I like this general already.

A report of bandits sees the general take men out to deal with the problem, though he selects raw recruits for the mission. When the General fails to return, the others at the fort are forced to disobey standing instructions to ride out and rescue him.

It isn't the most entertaining tale with which to close out the annual, though it does work. I still have problems with how well Rin Tin Tin obeys orders, and playing such a young character in harm's way seems to be reckless and ill-considered, but at least there is a clear structure to the storytelling. Attractive art assists greatly in selling the situation, though I could have done with less condemnation of military protocol from the storytelling, and more understanding of how difficult life in that situation must be.

Another thing which occurred to me was the nature of canyons in Dell's repertoire of western storytelling, as this is at least the fifth or sixth instance of bandits making use of topographical anomalies to stage attacks, cornering protagonists with seeming ease. Surely, if the sneaky entrances to such locations were made known, the authorities would somehow block off these passageways to prevent future incidents of the like.

A superior collection, wrapped in a gorgeous cover.

[1958]

Television Favourites Comic Annual

[1960]