Cowboy Western Comics #20

A drifter named Cal Brown crosses paths with a determined posse hunting Jesse James and his gang in the aftermath of a brazen bank raid, offering his help in tracking the outlaws—but his true allegiances are far more complicated than they first appear. This 1949 biography reveals how one of the Old West's most cunning figures pulled off a scheme that would cement his legendary reputation, blending audacity with deception in equal measure.

Denver Mudd thinks he's the funniest thing on two legs after pulling a prank with exploding cigars on his pal Bushey Barns, but when Bushey decides to return the favor with a fake bank robbery warning, Denver's lack of humor comes back to bite him—literally, when real outliers rob the bank while he's dismissing the alarm as another joke. By the time Denver realizes his mistake, it's too late, and a timely book gift from Moosehead delivers one final punchline he won't soon forget.

This issue features three distinct pieces on the Old West and frontier life. "Cowboy Clothes" examines the practical gear that made ranch work possible—boots, hats, bandanas, and chaps—and explains how each piece served a specific purpose in the saddle and on the trail. The issue also includes a tall tale about Paul Bunyan's encounter with timber wolves in the North Woods, and a brief historical overview of the Santa Fe Trail and the covered wagon routes that opened the American frontier.

When Tumbleweed Tom's sweetheart Lucy demands he stop running from trouble and fight like a man, his pal Splatter cooks up a scheme to make Tom look like a hero—staging a fake bank robbery for Lucy to witness. But when actual outlaws Monwell and Isidore show up to genuinely rob the bank, Tom's grand performance spirals hilariously out of control in ways nobody planned.

Wild Bill Hickok rides into a peaceful Nebraska town in 1867, hoping for a quiet respite after months of peace conventions and war—but a group of rowdy ex-cattle drivers has other plans. When they refuse to leave him alone and force a confrontation, Hickok proposes an unconventional solution: a gunfight on equal terms, four against one. What follows is a dramatic test of marksmanship and nerve that will determine whether the legendary gunslinger can finally catch his well-earned rest.