Tim Holt, Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

More Wild Western Wonderment!

With its 6th episode, The Calico Kid was revealed as being U.S. Marshall Rex Fury, who had been working undercover.  In a sequence that parallels that of Texas Ranger John Reid and his Indian friend Tonto (see THE LONE RANGER), a failed attempt on the lives of Fury and his Chinese friend Sing-Song saw Fury transform himself into THE GHOST RIDER !  While I've found more than one earlier character that used that name, there's no doubt in my mind that Fury was the "definitive" article.  Artist Dick Ayers would illustrate every single one of his Golden Age appearances.  What a guy!

THE GHOST RIDER's popularity actually out-stripped Holt's, and was such that, starting in early 1950, he was spun off into his own series, which for 14 issues was part of the rotating A-1 series.

TIM HOLT 11  /  inset art by DICK AYERS   (November 1949)

Here's the splash page of THE GHOST RIDER's debut!
(I wish I had better scans to work with.)

Story by Ray Krank  /  art by DICK AYERS

TIM HOLT 12   (December 1949)

Here's the splash page of the 2nd THE GHOST RIDER story!
Note he's wearing a mask now, though not yet the "classic" one.

Story by Ray Krank  /  art by DICK AYERS

TIM HOLT 13   (January 1950)

A-1 #27  /  GHOST RIDER 1  /  art by DICK AYERS   (approx. January 1950)

TIM HOLT 14   (February 1950)   (In Progress!)

TIM HOLT 15   (March 1950)

TIM HOLT 16  /  inset art by DICK AYERS   (April 1950)

TIM HOLT 17  /  art by FRANK FRAZETTA   (May 1950)

A-1 #29  /  GHOST RIDER 2  /  art by FRANK FRAZETTA   (May 1950)

TIM HOLT 18  /  inset art by DICK AYERS   (June-July 1950)

TIM HOLT 19  /  art by FRANK BOLLE   (August-September'50)

(Continued in Part 3)

If anyone could supply me with a much bigger images of #14 & 16 to work with, I'd appreciate it.  (There's only so much one can do-- or am inclined to try to do-- with SOME real horrific messes.)

Artwork (C) Magazine Enterprises

Raw scans from Heritage Auctions site, except...
Raw scans of TIM HOLT #14 & 16 from the GCD site
     and "Freddyfly" / "Josemas" at the Comic Book Plus site
Raw scans of interior pages from "Freddyfly" / "Josemas"
     at the Comic Book Plus site

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read the complete contents of TIM HOLT comics at Comic Book Plus!
Visit the Frank Bolle Studio site
See Frank Bolle's work on the BOYS' LIFE BIBLE Stories series!
Read "Pappy"s TIM HOLT article at the Insomnia Notebook blog
Read the RED MASK article at Don Markstein's Toonopedia site
Read the TIM HOLT biography at the IMDB site

Read the GHOST RIDER article at Don Markstein's Toonopedia site
Read the GHOST RIDER article at the International Hero site
Read the Dick Ayers interview at the Twomorrows site
Read the Dick Ayers interview at the Adelaide Comics And Books site

Buy BEST OF THE WEST reprints from the AC Comics website!