{"id":31043,"date":"2024-12-08T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=31043"},"modified":"2024-12-06T18:15:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T18:15:42","slug":"roy-rogers-king-of-the-cowboys-the-collected-dailies-and-sundays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/12\/08\/roy-rogers-king-of-the-cowboys-the-collected-dailies-and-sundays\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy Rogers King of the Cowboys: The Collected Dailies and Sundays"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Albert Laws Stoffel, Mike Arens<\/strong>, Hy Mankin<\/strong>, Al, Bob, Chuck & Tom McKimson<\/strong>, John Ushler<\/strong>, Pete Alvarado<\/strong>, Alex Toth<\/strong> & various (Hermes Press)
\nISBN: 978-1-932563-51-1 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Classic Holiday Fare & Your Granddad\u2019s Delight \u2026 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you live long enough, you will either calcify into a barking reactionary nightmare-to-know or possibly spend your last days wracked with shame and guilt: an apologist for your life and loves. It\u2019s especially true in film and comics, where suspect or devalued prior cultural modes and mores can slap happily-woke, proudly re-informed You right in the face as soon as you start.<\/p>\n

A conscience is a wonderful thing but so is the ability to realise how components of your idealised past were not so golden and glorious for everyone. It may be hard to admit, but lots of great old stuff had ethical sell-by dates and now can\u2019t be more than purely historical or aesthetic artefacts but not comprehensively accepted popular entertainment. So BIG NOs to race\/ethnic\/religious humour, sexist attitudes and exploitation, gender suppression, white\/male supremacy, cultural appropriation in all forms, anything claiming to be \u201cjust banter\u201d, and everything else I\u2019ve missed. You literally know what I mean.<\/p>\n

If you have a fondness or connection to any kind of cross-generational entertainment you are at risk of this phenomenon. Take a good hard listen to almost any pop song lyric from 1956\u00a0 onwards and think \u201cstalker?\u201d And just how rapey do leading men need to be before they are seen as villains?<\/p>\n

As an ancient Briton, I personally suffer from a nostalgic sin. I love so many comic strips where casual and pointless female nudity is a given, and periodical comics tales where chicks put on skimpy costumes just to serve sandwiches, get held captive or be told \u201cno dear\u201d. I have argued art-appreciation and acknowledged sublime illustrative talent but it\u2019s still gratification via nudity…<\/p>\n

And yet there are still comics, films, shows, records, posters and books that I will ask you to exempt, accept and explore for what I consider worthwhile reasons.<\/p>\n

One of the most tricky subsets of this quandary is westerns. In almost every aspect and platform this overwhelmingly popular genre just can\u2019t be defended without a raft of caveats and picky exemptions. Root and branch, westerns are a shoddy defence and inadequate alibi for brutal colonialism, constructed by victors to whitewash and justify their sins. But again, there are so, so many really entertaining ones…<\/p>\n

If any fellow shameful hypocrites are still with me, I\u2019m not saying some things deserve a pass because of exculpatory artistic merits, but only asking that if you admire such wonderful \u201cguilty-pleasure\u201d arts and stories, keep foremost in mind that what you<\/em> see is not the same as what others may. The same of course applies to anyone I\u2019ve offended with the previous pontificating paragraphs. Yes, it is your childhood, and yes it was great and did you no appreciable harm, but you are not the only past and potential consumer of such material, whether Cowboys & Indians yarns, husbands & boyfriends who\u2019ll \u201cbe watching you\u201d or the latest Irish or poof joke…<\/p>\n

Moving on…<\/p>\n

Born Leonard Franklin Slye on November 5th<\/sup> 1911, American – and for a while, global – cultural touchstone Roy Rogers<\/strong> was a hugely popular entertainer who started as a rodeo performer and singing cowboy and built an empire on a folksy yet heroic image and fictionalised life. As a singer and actor (live shows, 90 movies, radio serials and more) he was a household name even before conquering the new medium of television. From 1951-1957, Roy, wife Dale Evans<\/strong>, horse Trigger<\/strong> and faithful dog Bullet <\/strong>were weekly invited into everybody\u2019s home and enjoyed a mini-empire of comic books, strips. Rogers died on July 8th<\/sup> 1998. Unlike many contemporary media icons, he has not sustained his celebrity much beyond his generation of fans even though his name – and Trigger\u2019s – remain an aspect of colloquial folklore.<\/p>\n

While at his acme, however, Roy Rogers merchandise was exemplary. Artists such as John Buscema and Nat Edson drew his comic books (which sold north of 2 million copies per issue in the late 1950s), and his personalised toy guns, archery gear and cowboy\/cowgirl playsets topped Christmas shopping lists. As seen in this curated compilation, the syndicated strip drew upon gifted but usually uncredited journeymen artists like Mike Arens, Hy Mankin, Al, Bob, Chuck & Tom McKimson, John Ushler and Pete Alvarado, and employed gifted ghosts and part-timers like Alex Toth.<\/p>\n

Running seven days a week for 12 years, Roy Rogers King of the Cowboys<\/strong> graced 186 papers across America. As with all Hermes volumes, the vintage material is supplemented by picture-packed essays and editorial additions. Here that begins with Foreword \u2018Roy Rogers and waiting at the Newsstand\u2019<\/em>, penned by his son Roy \u201cDusty\u201d Rogers Jr., and precedes Tim Lasiuta\u2019s Introduction \u2018Roy Rogers, the 1950s, and the Funnies\u2019<\/em> offering background, context and artist biographical data amidst many glorious illustrations including painted comic book covers, candid photos, panel details, and fabulous merch items such as fan club cards, movie posters, lunchboxes, press stills, original art and more.
\n\"\"
\nThe storytelling (by journalist Albert Laws Stoffel), and art are exemplary, and it\u2019s a shame this is a commemorative celebratory selection rather than complete collection. Unlike many similar western strips of the era, the Rogers experience was vaguely contemporary, and family oriented, with action and violence taking a backseat to domestic drama, humour and mysteries suitable to children.<\/p>\n

Opening the comics section and spanning January 2nd<\/sup> to February 17th<\/sup> 1950, \u2018The Shasta Valley Dam\u2019<\/em> details daily how a local irrigation project is almost scuttled by a selfish landowner, putting ranch owner Roy and old pal\/travelling salesman Willie Dooley<\/em> through a gauntlet of pacy perils, promptly followed by \u2018Jack Spratt\u2019 <\/em>(January 2nd<\/sup> to February 17th<\/sup>), wherein our hero helps the sheriff of Jericho capture ghostly bandit \u201cThe Stick\u201d…<\/p>\n

Portly but astonishingly spry and astute \u201cZumaho Medicine Man\u201d \u2018Two Shadow\u2019 <\/em>(April 17th <\/sup>– June 10th<\/sup>) requests the Rogers touch when his tribe are framed for crimes and dangerous recidivism next, tumultuously causing chaos all around before leading to the exposure of a rich white man\u2019s plot to deprive the tribe of oil deposits beneath their lands.<\/p>\n

Pausing briefly to enjoy original art for a Roy Rogers Colouring Book, comics fun resumes with \u2018Chili\u2019 <\/em>(June 12th <\/sup>– August 5th<\/sup>) as Willie Dooley discovers his dream of settling down endangered when hydraulic engineers divert all the region\u2019s waters for illicit mining. Thankfully a sharp little Mexican kid is on hand to point out a solution, but not before an uncharacteristic and violent protracted shooting battle breaks out…<\/p>\n

More colouring book art carries us into \u2018The Sheep-Cattle War\u2019 <\/em>(August 7th <\/sup>– September 30th<\/sup>) as Roy is made deputy marshal of Peace City to quell a manufactured crisis that only benefits enigmatic bandit chief The Shroud<\/em>, but also somehow helps a local business casualty get even richer, after which 1950\u2019s daily dilemmas conclude with \u2018The Stagecoach Race\u2019 <\/em>(October 2nd<\/sup> – November 25th<\/sup>). The stories all very much mirror the plots of the movie and TV serials that inspired them, and this was no doubt exactly what the franchise holders and reading public wanted as in this much-told tale of rival businesses competing for a stagecoach contract with Roy in the middle of sassy, gun-totin\u2019 owners\u2019 daughters and evil entrepreneurs…
\n\"\"
\nAs with many strips of the era, Roy Rogers Dailies and Sunday strips told separate stories. Here credited to Al McKimson and in full colour is \u2018The Charity Carnival\u2019 <\/em>(August 21st<\/sup> – November 20th <\/sup>1955) as Roy ends the cheating ways of a bunch of fairground folk before joining little Chili – from March 4th<\/sup> to 27th<\/sup> May 1956 – in stopping the \u2018Attempted Murder\u2019 <\/em>of a man who\u2019s been dead for 50 years…<\/p>\n

Covering 26th<\/sup> May to September 1st<\/sup> 1957, \u2018Bride By Mail\u2019<\/em> offers a comedy break when a woman contracted to marry a man she\u2019s never met expresses her anger that the hubby sent her a picture of Roy instead for his own far less attractive face. Cue a disgruntled wedding party and much gun-waving until the real sender of the picture is exposed as well as his greedy reason…<\/p>\n

The storytelling concludes with Roy exposing scuba divers mimicking sea monsters for nefarious purposes in \u2018Underwater Mystery\u2019 <\/em>(24th<\/sup> August to November 23rd <\/sup>1958) before we return to academia with Daniel Herman\u2019s copiously illustrated essay \u2018Roy Rogers and the Art of Alex Toth\u2019<\/em>, revealing the graphic maestro\u2019s previously unheralded contributions, before ending with another tranche of \u2018Memorabilia\u2019<\/em>…
\n\"\"
\nA treasure very much of its time, but with enough intrinsic charm and artistic merit to be worth a cautious modern revisit, Roy Rogers King of the Cowboys: The Collected Dailies and Sundays <\/strong>is an acquired taste that might just make a select comeback.
\n\u00a9 2011 The Roy Rogers Family Entertainment Corporation, reprinted with permission. \u00a0Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Albert Laws Stoffel, Mike Arens, Hy Mankin, Al, Bob, Chuck & Tom McKimson, John Ushler, Pete Alvarado, Alex Toth & various (Hermes Press) ISBN: 978-1-932563-51-1 (HB\/Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Classic Holiday Fare & Your Granddad\u2019s Delight \u2026 8\/10 This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. If you live long … <\/p>\n

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