Tex Dawson, the Western Kid, debuted in Western Kid #1, from publisher Atlas Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics. The character was created by an unknown writer and penciler-inker John Romita Sr., who the following decade would become one of Spider-Man's signature artists. The feature, drawn exclusively by Romita, ran through issue #17, with cover art by Romita, Joe Maneely, John Severin, and, for one cover each, Carl Burgos, Russ Heath, and Syd Shores. The character resurfaced as the lead feature of the omnibus title Gunsmoke Western #51, in a story written by Atlas/Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee and drawn by Dick Ayers. Western Kid reprints appeared in Marvel's 1970s omnibus series Western Gunfighters #3-6 and 17-33. In-between, the character starred in the reprint series The Western Kid vol. 2, #1-5 — the first issue of which sported a new cover by original artist Romita — and in Rawhide Kid #105 and Gun-Slinger #1-3, a series reflecting the character's temporary new name. The first issue, with a cover drawn by Jim Steranko, was titled Tex Dawson, Gun-Slinger. The character returned in Apache Skies, a four-issue miniseries starring the Rawhide Kid and two persons called the Apache Kid: Dazii Aloysius Kare, and his wife, Rosa. This was a sequel to the miniseries Blaze of Glory, which specifically retconned that the naively clean-cut Marvel Western stories of years past were merely dime novel fictions of the characters' actual lives.
Tex Dawson, a.k.a. the Western Kid, was a clean-cut Old West cowboy with a stallion named Whirlwind and a white German shepherd dog named Lightning. Unlike such fellow Atlas Western stars as Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid, he was not hunted by the law for a perceived crime, and unlike the Two-Gun Kid or the Outlaw Kid, he wore no mask. Wandering the range as a do-gooder adventurer, the Western Kid was respected by sheriffs and marshals, whom he often helped, and idolized by children.
Other versions
A modern-day version of the character stars in the five-issue ensemble miniseries Six Guns, by writer Andy Diggle and artist Davide Gianfelice, and also starring the extant female mercenary Tarantula and new contemporary versions of the Marvel Old West heroes the Black Rider; Matt Slade; and the Two-Gun Kid.
