THE CISCO KID (NEW ZEALAND) #8: FEBRUARY 1953

Based on the popular western film, radio, and television character, The Cisco Kid was a daily (Monday through Saturday) comic strip for King Features from January 15, 1951 through August 10, 1968.  Intricately drawn by Argentine comic artist Jose Luis Salinas (1908-1985) and scripted by veteran cmics writer Rod Reed (1910-1989), the strip has been aclaimed as one of the best western comic strips.  Salinas was heavily influenced by Alex Raymond  and his work has been compared to that of Hal Foster.  The scope and backgrounds of his artowork reflects the mythic West at its best, and his depiction of the facial characteristics of his subjects was rare in its detail; plus, no comic strip artist could draw a horse as consistently well as Salinas.

The strip was reprinted in New Zealand in comics issued by Feature Producrions, Ltd., of Wellington.  The issues reprinted  thirty daily strips, two to a page, in a wide formats that displayed Salinas' ivstas to full effect.

Issue #8 opens on a shoot-out.  Previously, night club singer Silver Belle has hidden the map to a lost mine in the piano.  Her boyfriend, Mr. Ragtime the pianist, is jealous of Cisco.  Cisco has just shot bad guy One-Eyed Jack, who had ambushed out hero from a near-by balcony.  What Cisco does not ralize is that one of One-Eye Jack's confederates os sneaking up behind him with a very evil looking knife.  A shot rings out and the wouid-be knifer is killed, shot by Mr. Ragtime.  Rgtime, however, still consumed by jealousy, turns his gun on Cisco, vowing to also kill him.  He is stopped by Silver Belle, who declares her love for him.  It turns out that One-Jack has destroyed the map, but Cisco knows its location.  Cisco also reveals to Silver Belle that her father was not a criminal, he was a brave and honorable man who had been murdered by criminals.  The three of them -- Cisco, Silver Belle, and Mr. Ragtime -- ride out to the mine, where they meet Pancho.  Cisco gives the mine to Silver Belle and Mr, Ragtime as a wedding presnt, and he and Pancho ride off to another adventure.

Outside of the town of Squawville, Cisco and Pancho stop at a local ranch, seeking work.  The rancher, though has fallen on hard times and had to recently lay off five of his top hands.  He tells the pair they would be lucky if they found any work from there to the border.  Cisco and Pancho decide to check out Squawville.  The owner of the local stage line is posting a "Help Wanted -- Must Be a Good Shot" sign; local wags suggest the sign should read, "Men wanted to commit suicide -- must be good targets."  Needles to say, Squawville has an outlaw problem.  As Cisco and Pancho are talking to the stage manager, the local stage comes roring in without a driver and out of control.  Cisco goes into action, grabbing the runaway horses and calming them to avoid any injury to civilians.  The missing driver is the fifth the stage line has lost in a month.  The outlaw behind the stage robberie is only known as "Mr. Crooked Dagger."  Cosco and Pancho do not shy way from danger (well, Cisco anyway; Pancho thinks he'd rather be cleaning out stables) and are hired on as driver and shotgun guard.  On their first run, Cisco's alert eyes spy a bushwacker and shoots him.  The outlaw ganf, hearing the shot, figure it is a signal from the bushwacker, and are surprised to see him wounded and the stage taking flight.  "Mr. Crooked Dagger" cannot stand failaure and shoots the bushwacker in cold blood, then he orders his gang to catch the stage.  (There's a great, action-filled, panoramic panel showing the chase.)  The bad guys are gaining because the weight of the stage is just a bit too much for the horse.  While Cisco is firing at the bandirs, Pancho jumps off the stage to lighten the load.  Cisco realizes what Pancho has done and it appears the gang has just found Cisco's "hefty hunk of hombre" friend.

To be continued.

Lots of action, great artwork, and a great pair of heroes.  What more could you ask for?

Enjoy.