BILLY THE KID Volume 1

One of Charlton's very best titles from their stable of westerns. For comics he became a hero.He made his first appearance in Masked Raider #6 (February 1957). He took over the title with #9 (November 1957) and ran for another 147 issues, competing with Marvel's western titles and surviving nearly all of them! Regular contributors included writer Joe Gill and artists Maurice Whitman, Dick Giordano, Rocke Mastroserio, Bill Molno, and Charles Nicholas. Collected here: his first five complete issues. Billy's run reached all the way to 1983! And in later volumes hopefully we'll see surprise work by EC veterans John Severin and Al Williamson, as well as Peter Morisi. However, these three are NOT in this first collection. I've always had a fondness for this title. Just as I was a fan of Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid from Marvel, I found the Charlton westerns like this were often just as interesting. Of course, this is the revised history of Billy -- not a cutthroat armed robber but rather a heroic good guy, writing wrongs and taking down bad characters in the wild old west. Kind of a Clint Eastwood/Man With No Name character, but without the fondness for cash rewards. - Bud Although many of these artists don't come along until later issues, Al Williamson will show up in #15, which should be in Volume 2. However, if you look at the contributors in  this volume, it's an impressive lineup, from Giordano to Maurice Whitman.