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The Rawhide Kid is one of my favorite comics characters. Inspired by Essential Rawhide Kid Vol. 1, which reprints Rawhide Kid #17-35, I plan to write about the Kid every other Wednesday. In the first part of this ongoing series ...
The trolls who bitch about the Kirbys and Siegels wanting a share of the pie for their efforts probably are not considering that they are, by extension, saying that everyone else in the industry who has ever created a character -- Gary Friedrich being the most prominent recent example -- deserve nothing. Then again, maybe they do consider it, but think we should all be working for free and just for their enjoyment.
I love those Lee/Kirby/Ayers Rawhide Kid stories! I'm glad Marvel has released them in Essential format so they can be read by a wider audience than the Masterworks version. I did buy those more expensive volumes when they came out because I never thought they'd be reprinted any other way, but I'm glad I have them in color. My comics reading these days tends toward the pre-hero Atlas reprints that Marvel is putting out on a regular basis. You've reviewed a few of them and I know you love them, too.
Love 'em or hate 'em, Stan, Jack, Jerry, Gary, Dick and the rest deserve every penny they can get for their concrete contributions to comics, and Marvel in particular. (I know, Siegel was at National.) Why? These folks gave me joy as a kid, when comics were both affordable and readable.
During one particularly tough 1967 withdrawal period (I had read all that month's superhero and western stuff - even Submariner - I bought a Millie the Model.
This was truly an addiction, but an enjoyable one. I can't get such a fix from today's stuff, but that's why I keep a large reader copy collection of Marvel age books...and why I've slent a lifetime trying to recreate this feel. More on that later.
I am a four-decade veteran of the comic book industry. I'm married to the lovely Barb and we have two great kids at The Ohio State University: Eddie and Kelly.