SPACE WESTERN COMICS #42 (FEBRUARY 1953)

Cowboys and spaceships, oh my!  The only way this could be better is they added Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes.  So that's what they did, with two pulse-pounding stories.  and less you wonder where our hero got the name Spurs, check out his nether regions -- no, not those nether regions!  The ones farther down below, or nether-er. I guess.  There you will see a honking pair of gold spurs attached to his cowboy boots.  Those, with his holstered six guns, black cowboy hat, white bandana and gloves, and the stern constipated look on his face shows us that that Spurs is ready to kick some alien butt!

In the first tale, Spurs investigates exploding flying saucers of the desert and meets...The Sun Masters.  The Sun Masters claim to live on the Sun, and offer to provide Earth with faster than light technology.  Spurs smells a rat.  what they really are trying to do is extract the energy from our sun, then use it to incinerate the Earth.  We know that the sneaky aliens will be no match for Spurs and his Space Vigilantes.  BTW, spurs has a girl, Thelda, who also has a constipated look on her face -- I would ;probably begin to look into any traumatic experiences in the artists childhood.  One of his Space Vigilantes is named Strong Bow; as expected, he has a long bow and a quiver of arrows which seems to complement his fashion choices.

Strong Bow then takes center stage in the next story, "Strong Bow and His Warriors and The Return of the Aztecs."  "On certain rare occasions, Strong Bow and other members of his tribe visit the deserted adobe of of their ancestral cliff dwellers on Crater Ledge, there to perform traditional rites and ceremonies."  But this time he has to solve the mystery of ancient Aztecs able to withstand flamethrowers and modern artillery used by a U.S. Army armored division.  Hint:  it involved the mythical planet Vulcan.  you know, the one that supposedly has an orbit between Mercury and the Sun.

Then Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes tangle tangle with the Outlaws of Mars.  when that red planet suddenly turns redder (intensely so), it's up to Spurs to find out why.  By sending two rockets to the fourth planet (sorry, I'm not counting Vulcan here), spurs hopes to find an explanation.  what he finds, however, is a life and death struggle.

The final story finds another Space Vigilante -- Hank Roper, this time -- to investigate the sightings of black UFOs.  Anzo, the Master of the Black World (its true name is Nux) tries to claim Hank and sheriff Townley as specimens.  BTW, the Nuxians plan to invade Earth in "The Riddle of Skull Valley."

The cowboy life has never been easy, but when you aliens and spaceships and plans to conquer mankind to the mix, you might wonder why Spurs and his Space Vigilantes don't just stay home on their Arizona ranch and let things play out on their own.  Luckily for the readers of Space Western Comics, they don't, and are always ready to answer the call to save the planet.

Enjoy.

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