Matthew Masters

Matthew Masters is a Golden Age Marvel Western hero known as the Black Rider, a frontier figure who rides the rugged American West. Though no powers beyond grit and gunfighting skill are recorded, he carved out a place among Marvel's classic Western legends.

Matthew Masters rode onto the four-color range in 1948, a Golden Age creation from the team of Leon Lazarus and Syd Shores, debuting in the pages of All Western Winners #2 at what would become Marvel Comics. What's remarkable about this frontier figure is the sheer span of his presence — from the late 1940s all the way through 2022, a testament to the enduring pull of Marvel's Western universe. His adventures in Black Rider and All Western Winners put him in rugged company alongside legends of the genre like the Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, and even Captain America himself. With 11 catalog appearances including two collector-recognized key issues, Masters is exactly the kind of deep-cut Golden Age gem that rewards the dedicated Western comics enthusiast.