Cowboy Western Comics #37

When two Eastern salesmen roll into Custer Run looking for a taste of Wild West thrills, they have no idea that local crooks Sammy and Ranny—along with the ruthless Hester—have already marked them as easy targets. Marshal Sunset Carson senses trouble brewing and keeps watch, determined to protect the visitors from the schemes unfolding in the saloons and shadows of town. It's a race against time as Carson works to outsmart the would-be robbers and keep the dudes safe through the night.

When Paul Bunyan's lumber camps get overwhelmed with timber, a creative Swede suggests shipping it overseas—but with only small boats available, the legendary logger needs a bigger solution. Paul heads to Alaska with his trusty spade and, in true tall-tale fashion, sets about catching giant whales to haul his lumber across the Pacific Ocean, creating stepping stones of mountain chunks that (according to the story) became the Aleutian Islands. It's a wonderfully absurd tall tale that blends frontier ingenuity with the impossible scale that makes Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan.

Denver Mudd and Bushey Barns are hot on the trail of some clever bank robbers who've decided to skip the guns and go "modern" with their crime—but when the crooks find themselves stranded and desperate in the desert, they don't count on "Happy Homer" already being there with a sharp business mind and an eye for opportunity. This 1952 humor western turns the tables on who's really pulling the strings when profit is on the line.

Happy Homer boasts to his friend about all the rodeo trophies he's won for bronc busting, steer riding, and bull-dogging—until his pal delivers a perfectly timed punchline that deflates his bragging in one quick jab. It's a snappy slice of cowboy humor that proves sometimes the best competition happens with words, not animals.

A slick tonic salesman promises a thousand dollars to anyone who can perform an impossible feat of strength, but when a confident kid takes the challenge, the scheme spirals into chaos involving a wanted outlaw and some very poor marksmanship. This 1952 yarn from Cowboy Western Comics #37 is a rollicking reminder that the best-laid plans of con artists rarely survive contact with both an innocent bystander and the law.