The Two-Gun Kid is the name of two
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
s appearing in
American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...
s published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
. The first, Clay Harder, was introduced in a 1948 comic from Marvel predecessor
Timely Comics
Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...
. The second, Matt Hawk a.k.a. Matthew J. Hawkins (
retcon
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...
ned much later to Matt Liebowicz ), was introduced in 1962 and has continued into the 2010s. The latter Kid is better known, thanks primarily to his connection with, and later full integration into, Marvel Comics' shared continuity, known as the
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...
, but the Clay Harder Kid enjoyed a 14-year span in comics.
Publication history
The series titled ''Two-Gun Kid'' ran in two parts, from 1948–1949 and then from 1953–1977. Clay Harder debuted in ''Two-Gun Kid'' #1 (March 1948). He was Marvel's second continuing Western character, following the
Masked Raider
The Masked Raider is an alias of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original character went by the name of Jim Gardley and appeared in comic books published during the 1930s and 1940s pe ...
, who had appeared in ''
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
'' #1 / ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' #2-12 (Oct. 1939 - Oct. 1940). ''Two-Gun Kid'' was the company's first ongoing Western title, running 10 issues.
The character then moved to the
Atlas Comics omnibus ''
Wild Western
''Wild Western'' (originally titled ''Wild West'') was a Western comic book series published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics. The omnibus series published 57 issues from 1948 to 1957. Kid Colt stories were usually the lead ...
'', sharing that title with other Western characters like
Kid Colt
Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous western-themed comic book series published by Marvel. The second is a ...
and the
Black Rider. Beginning in 1953, Marvel continued the original ''Two-Gun Kid'' series from issue #11, publishing it through
cover date
The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...
April 1977. The Harder version appeared sporadically through 1962, with
Joe Sinnott
Joseph Leonard Sinnott (; October 16, 1926 June 25, 2020) was an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' ''Fantastic Four'', from 1965 to 1981 (and briefly in the la ...
being the last artist to draw the original Two-Gun Kid on a regular basis.
''Two-Gun Kid'' #60 (Nov. 1962) retconned the Clay Harder character out of existence, turning him into a
dime novel
The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...
character who had inspired the second Two-Gun Kid, Matt Hawk/Liebowicz.
Stan Lee
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...
and
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gr ...
, creators of the
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
, concocted the new Kid to make the character resemble a superhero with a secret identity, in order to stimulate sales for the title.
From issue #93 (July 1970) on, ''Two-Gun Kid'' was mostly a reprint title. At one point later in the second series, some of the original Kid's adventures were retouched to make him look like the newer Kid for reprints. Reprints, including many Jack Kirby-drawn stories, also appeared in the 1968-1976 title ''
The Mighty Marvel Western
''The Mighty Marvel Western'' was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. A Western anthology that ran 46 issues, it consisted of reprint stories of the Marvel Old West heroes the Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, the Two-Gun Kid, and Matt S ...
''.
A story in the 2000s
retcon
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subse ...
ned that Matt's true last name is Liebowicz.
Fictional character biography
Clay Harder
Clay Harder has bright blond hair and wears an all-black suit with a placard shirt, a broad-brimmed black hat. He packs two long-barreled revolvers with individual overlapping gun belts.
Matt Hawk/Liebowicz
Matt Hawk wears a similar outfit to Clay's, only with an orange-and-black spotted vest, a slightly narrower-brimmed hat, two revolvers on a single gun belt, and a black mask covering the top half of his face.
In the
Wild West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
, Matt Hawk is a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
, who is inspired to fight evil as a masked crime fighter of the 19th-century American West by the stories of the fictional Two-Gun Kid, Clay Harder. After being trained in combat by the gunfighter Ben Dancer, the character assumes the dual identities of Matt Hawk and the Two-Gun Kid. With his horse Thunder, his partner "Boom Boom" Brown, and a pair of pistols, he becomes one of the West's most prolific heroes, often teaming up with the
Rawhide Kid
The Rawhide Kid (real name: Johnny Bart, originally given as Johnny Clay) is a fictional Old West cowboy appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A heroic gunfighter of the 19th-century American West who was unjustly wanted a ...
,
Kid Colt
Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous western-themed comic book series published by Marvel. The second is a ...
, or the
Phantom Rider
Phantom Rider is the name of several Old West heroic gunfighter characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was originally called Ghost Rider, and was renamed following the introduction of Marvel's moto ...
. In one of his first adventures, Matt fights an
alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
, and in other early outings he fights criminals who can only be called
supervillain
A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero.
Supervillains are oft ...
s. During one adventure, he is brought to the present day via
time travel
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
and joins the
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
team of the
Avengers
Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to:
Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
**Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...
. He fights alongside them before leaving to wander America alongside his teammate
Hawkeye, and eventually returns to his own time, occasionally making a cameo appearance in other Western tales or stories of time travel.
The 1995 ''Two-Gun Kid: Sunset Riders''
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
reveals that Matt had married, only for his wife to die during childbirth; this series also reveals that the Kid had brought a cache of modern weapons back with him from the future. He was forced to stage his own death in order to free a man accused of murder, which got him embroiled in an international conspiracy for a hidden treasure. The later miniseries ''
Blaze of Glory'' (2000) depicts the Kid as retired from gunplay, going by the name of Clay Harder and working as a full-time lawyer. The Rawhide Kid convinces him to return to action, but the Two-Gun Kid dies in battle against the racist mercenary Nightriders, alongside his old partners Kid Colt and the
Outlaw Kid
The Outlaw Kid is a fictional Western hero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character originally appeared in the company's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics. A lesser-known character than the company's Kid Colt, Raw ...
.
Later,
She-Hulk
She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk'' #1 (cov ...
, after dealing with the
Time Variance Authority
The Time Variance Authority (TVA) is a fictional organization appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is depicted as a group of timeline monitors.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Chronicoms, based on the lower-ran ...
, is given the chance to free one time-traveling Avenger out of continuity limbo. She chooses the Two-Gun Kid. It's clarified that his heroic nature prevents him from being returned to his own time, as he would inevitably try to fix things.
In present time, he learns his previous modern-day encounters with the Avengers has resulted in his law license and other paraphernalia being kept in an Avengers safety-deposit box. Once he learns She-Hulk works for a law-firm, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, he tries to become her colleague. He comes to the conclusion he will never be able to catch up on current laws and becomes a bounty hunter. His first catch is the supervillain
Bushwacker.
For a time he rooms with the
Awesome Android
The Awesome Android (also briefly known as Awesome Andy) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Fantastic Four'' #15 (June 1963) and was created by writer Stan L ...
, who has reformed and is also an employee of the firm. Liebowicz travels using a twin-engine jet cycle, donated to him by his superhero friend
Hawkeye.
During the company-crossover story arc ''
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
'' (2006–2007), Liebowicz becomes a bounty hunter and works alongside She-Hulk, helping her to apprehend supervillains. He is later sent to
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
to lead the
Desert Stars team of the
Fifty State Initiative
''Avengers: The Initiative'' is a comic book series from Marvel Comics. Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage with artwork initially by Stefano Caselli, Steve Uy and Harvey Tolibao, the series deals with the aftermath of Marvel's "Civil War" s ...
. In this capacity he is injured in ''Avengers: The Initiative'' #16 (2008), but is recovered by ''Avengers: The Initiative Special'' #1 (2009).
''The Marvels Project''
In ''
The Marvels Project'' the Two-Gun Kid is seen as an elderly patient of Dr. Thomas Halloway. He captivates Halloway with stories of a coming "Age of Marvels," which detail the exploits of the Avengers and other modern-day Marvel heroes. Halloway believes Hawk/Liebowicz' stories are fantasies generated by his advanced age and senility. After Hawk passes away, Halloway learns Hawk bequeathed him his mask and guns, inspiring him to become the superhero the
Angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
. In the epilogue to the final issue, Hawk - now referred to as Matt Hawkins - is seen in the present day as a young man, accompanying
Steve Rogers (Captain America) to the home of Halloway's grandson, Jason, to once again bequeath the mask and guns, as well as Halloway's journal, in the hopes that Jason will follow in his grandfather's footsteps.
The character appears in the 2010
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
''
Rawhide Kid
The Rawhide Kid (real name: Johnny Bart, originally given as Johnny Clay) is a fictional Old West cowboy appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A heroic gunfighter of the 19th-century American West who was unjustly wanted a ...
: The Sensational Seven''.
Reception
* In 2022, ''
CBR.com
''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion.
History
Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...
'' ranked Matthew Hawk 3rd in their "10 Most Powerful Lawyers In Marvel Comics" list.
Other versions
A new modern-day version of the character, a teenager, stars in the five-issue ensemble
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
''Six Guns'' (#1-4
cover-date
The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...
d Jan.-March 2012), by writer
Andy Diggle
Andy Diggle is a British comic book writer and former editor of the weekly anthology series '' 2000 AD''. He is best known for his work on ''Adam Strange'' and ''Green Arrow'' for DC Comics as well as his creator-owned series '' The Losers'' an ...
and artist Davide Gianfelice, and also starring the extant female mercenary
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...
and new contemporary versions of the Marvel
Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
heroes Tex Dawson a.k.a. the
Western Kid
The Western Kid is a fictional Old West character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was the star of Western feature published by Marvel's 1950s precursor, Atlas Comics.
Publication history
Tex Dawson, ...
; the
Black Rider; and
Matt Slade
Matthew Slade is a Paralympian athlete from New Zealand competing mainly in category T37 sprint events.
Slade competed in his first Paralympic Games in 2000 where he won a silver in the T37 200m and a bronze in the T37 100m as well as co ...
.
"''Six Guns'' (2012)"
at The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
from the original (required scrolldown) November 20, 2011
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Jack Kirby
1948 comics debuts
1953 comics debuts
Avengers (comics) characters
Characters created by Jack Kirby
Characters created by Stan Lee
Comics characters introduced in 1948
Comics characters introduced in 1962
Fictional characters from Boston
Fictional gunfighters
Golden Age adventure heroes
Jewish superheroes
Marvel Comics male superheroes
Marvel Comics superheroes
Marvel Comics titles
Marvel Comics Western (genre) characters
Timely Comics titles
Vigilante characters in comics
Western (genre) comics