Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders #13 stands as one of the most artistically distinguished western comics of the early 1950s, notable above all for its Frank Frazetta cover — a dynamic composition featuring the Golden Age Ghost Rider, the Lemonade Kid, and Red Hawk that exemplifies Frazetta's energetic, atmospheric work for Magazine Enterprises during this pivotal phase of his career. The issue is a vivid demonstration of how the publisher folded multiple genre characters into a single 36-page package, essentially running a one-company western universe at a time when the medium was still finding its editorial identity. As part of a series directly born from a nationally popular radio franchise, it also documents the cross-media ambitions of early 1950s publishing: a comic that began as licensed merchandise for a Mutual Broadcasting hit and then developed its own narrative personality. The concentration of three significant talents — Frazetta on the cover, Bob Powell and Dick Ayers on interiors — in a single issue makes it a rare snapshot of Magazine Enterprises at the height of its western output.
This anthology issue contains three stories: "Ghost Rider" depicts a supernatural confrontation in a desert setting involving a fireball that has swallowed all water in a basin, with a red demon-like spirit and Cheyenne medicine men performing ceremonial dances, while a character claims to have been visited by the spirit Momba Koya; "Lemonade Kid" follows a young boy who saves money through a television bank gimmick to purchase a bicycle; and "Red Hawk" shows riders discovering cattle rustling at a ranch, with the B-Bar-B Riders investigating mysterious brand markings and uncovering a plot involving the Lamplack and Blue outfit swapping cattle to cover their theft.
When a mysterious winged creature with poisoned claws begins hunting down archaeologists across the Superstition Mountains, the Lemonade Kid—an F.B.I. agent operating undercover—takes up the trail to uncover the truth behind the murders. With every victim connected to a museum expedition that discovered an ancient Indian tomb filled with treasure, the Kid must navigate deadly mists and a genuinely terrifying monster to solve the dread secret of "The Clutching Claws of Terror!"
When a Farnum freight stage carrying mysterious cargo falls under attack by rifle-wielding Indians, Rex Fury investigates a smuggling operation that runs deeper than simple robbery—and the Ghost Rider emerges from the shadows to protect the innocent. As Fury takes the helm of a stagecoach through treacherous Dead Man's Ravine, the spectral figure reveals the true architect of the scheme and ensures justice reaches its destination.
When Bobby Benson and Windy Wales discover a stray steer bearing a suspicious brand, they stumble onto a scheme far more sinister than simple cattle rustling—one involving a reclusive neighbor, a ranch south of the border, and a mystery that demands investigation. As they piece together evidence of rustling and brand tampering, the two riders find themselves in deadly peril, forced to outwit their captors in the desert before they can expose the full scope of the operation. What begins as a neighborly gesture becomes a race against time to stop a smuggling ring and bring the culprits to justice.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders comic launched in 1950 when Mutual Broadcasting licensed its merchandising rights for the first time ever, with a comic book among the planned products; Magazine Enterprises, under editor Raymond C. Krank, published the series with scripts largely credited to prolific writer Gardner Fox and interior art primarily by Bob Powell. By the time issue #13 arrived with a February 1952 cover date, the book had evolved well beyond its radio-show origins: backup strips featuring the Golden Age Ghost Rider and Red Hawk had been folded in, and Frazetta — who had been contributing covers to Magazine Enterprises' western line since Tim Holt #17 in 1950 — supplied the cover art, signing it with his familiar 'FF' abbreviation. The series ran for 20 issues total before cancellation, with the publisher's focus shifting back to the radio property as the comic's sales reportedly could not match the show's audience.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Cover art painted and signed by Frank Frazetta (credited as 'FF'), depicting the Golden Age Ghost Rider, the Lemonade Kid, and Red Hawk together — part of Frazetta's concentrated run of western covers for Magazine Enterprises circa 1950–1952.
- Interior story art split between Bob Powell (the lead Bobby Benson story and the Red Hawk segment) and Dick Ayers (the Ghost Rider story, which he both penciled and inked and signed).
- The issue contains four stories: 'The Clutching Claws of Terror!' (Lemonade Kid, 8 pages), 'The Stagecoach for Death!' (Ghost Rider, 7 pages), 'The Land of Flaming Ground!' (Red Hawk, 7 pages), and 'The Mystery of the Maverick Trail!' (Bobby Benson, 8 pages).
- The Golden Age Ghost Rider appearing in the backup strip is the original western incarnation of the character — Marshal Rex Fury — created by Dick Ayers for Magazine Enterprises beginning in Tim Holt, predating Marvel's use of the Ghost Rider name by roughly 15 years.
- The Lemonade Kid, a masked western hero whose secret identity is Bobby Benson's own foreman and guardian Tex Mason, serves as a recurring backup across the series — an unusual dual-identity arrangement where the alter ego appears in the main strip only as Tex, never as the Kid.
- The entire Bobby Benson comic series — including issue #13 — was reprinted in the modern era by Gwandanaland Comics as part of their Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders: Volume 2 collection (April 2017), making the stories newly accessible to contemporary readers.
- The series was based on the Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders radio program, originally created by Herbert C. Rice and broadcast first on CBS (1932–1936) and revived on Mutual (1949–1955); the comic adaptation was among the first licensed merchandise Mutual ever authorized for any of its programs.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Best of the West #10 (2000), Gwandanaland Comics #388 (2017)
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