SPACE WESTERN COMICS (vol. 1) #44 (June, 1953). Cover by Stan Campbell.
I find it bizarre enough that there was a comic book called Space Western, but that it ran for 44 issues as well? Mind blowing!
In truth, this book started in 1944 under the title Yellowjacket Comics. It later changed to Jack in the Box, and then to Cowboy Western Comics. The book became Space Western Comics with issue #40.
Charlton Comics, the publisher, did not start off with a new #1 issue each time the title changed, because that would have necessitated purchasing a new second-class mailing permit. This was a money-saving measure common to all comic book publishers; DC and Marvel were still doing it in the 1970s.
The hero of Space Western Comics was cowboy Spurs Jackson, accompanied by his Space Vigilantes - cauliflower-eared Hank Roper and Indian Native American Strong Bow (I'll let you guess what was each character's weapon of choice).
The characters and series were co-created by artist John Belfi and writer Walter Gibson. Yes, THAT Walter Gibson, the primary chronicler of the pulp magazine adventures of The Shadow. Gibson wrote most, if not all, of the Space Vigilantes stories, as well as solo stories featuring the three characters. There were usually 7 or 8 short stories in each issue.
Spurs and his pals, besides having typical Western-style adventures at home in Arizona, were involved in science fiction yarns that took them around the Solar System. They encountered all types of aliens and weird cultures, dinosaurs, Communists (!) and, in the issue above, Nazis on Mars!
Sadly for Spurs and his boys, the space cowboy concept didn't catch on. Issue #45 saw them ride off into the sunset, and. into comic book limbo. The comic book's title reverted to Cowboy Western Comics with issue #46, and remained so until it was ultimately cancelled in 1959.
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