Billy the Kid #50

Billy the Kid rolls into Popskull Flats with a winter's savings and a taste for celebration—but his first two hours land him in a jail cell after three saloon brawlers end up on the floor. Rather than face a 4th of July behind bars, he agrees to fill in as deputy sheriff for one night, only to discover that a trio of hardened outlaws have other plans for the holiday weekend. With the town's cash boxes loaded from the mid-summer shopping rush, Billy finds himself standing between the owlhooters and the merchants of Popskull Flats.

A rodeo hand learns a hard lesson about wild horses when he encounters a bronc with a deceptively calm temperament—one that harbors a dangerous, unpredictable nature beneath its tame exterior. "Outlaw!" explores the difference between ordinary unbroken horses and those rare, truly vicious animals that can never be trusted, no matter how docile they may appear.

Billy the Kid takes a job at the sprawling Tri-Co Ranch, only to clash immediately with its domineering manager, Steve Cole, who rules the spread with an iron fist and demands total submission from his hands. When Cole shoots at the Kid's dog to force him off the property, Billy is pushed past his breaking point and decides to strike back—sparking a confrontation that will test whether the outlaw can truly leave his wild ways behind.

When Billy the Kid buys a magnificent golden palomino named Gold King from a horse trader, he's utterly charmed by the man's daughter, Ellie-Mae—but the stallion has other ideas about where he belongs. As Billy discovers the horse has an uncanny bond with the girl and keeps returning to her, he realizes Gold King is a "boomerang bronc," a breed that always finds its way home, no matter how many times it's sold. Now Billy must track down his wayward purchase and uncover what scheme the Reardons have in mind at a rough town called Gormley's Crossing.