Four Color #1018

May 1959 · Dell · 0.10 USD

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About this Issue

Four Color #1018 is the sole comic book adaptation of Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo (1959), one of the defining Westerns of the sound era and a film whose influence on the siege-thriller genre extended far beyond Hollywood. Its significance rests partly on the artist Dell assigned to the job: Alex Toth, whose clean, cinematic linework was already earning him a reputation as one of the medium's most disciplined draftsmen. As a Dell Four Color one-shot, the issue also exemplifies the series' broader cultural function — translating major theatrical releases into ten-cent pamphlets for young readers at the exact moment the film was in theaters, giving comics a genuine role in the American pop-culture ecosystem of the late 1950s.

"Rio Bravo" kicks off with Sheriff Chance holding Joe Burdette in jail, only to find the Burdette gang sealing off Rio Bravo and cutting off all help. With a crippled deputy and a disgraced drunk as his only allies, Chance must hold the line until the Marshal arrives—complicated by the sudden arrival of a young gunslinger and a mysterious woman on the last stagecoach. Written by Eric Freiwald and Robert Schaefer, with sharp, dynamic art by Alex Toth (pencils and inks), this 1959 Dell Four Color issue captures the tension and grit of a Western standoff in just a few pages.

Contains 3 stories

Rio Bravo

32 pp · Western-Frontier

Sheriff John ChanceDude [Borachón]Colorado RyanFeathersStumpyPat WheelerNathan BurdetteJoe Burdette

In the dusty frontier town of Rio Bravo, Sheriff Chance finds himself outnumbered and outgunned when the Burdette gang seals off the town to prevent help from reaching him. With only a crippled deputy and a disgraced drunk for support, he must hold fast until the marshal arrives—especially as a young gunslinger and a mysterious woman step off the last stagecoach into the tense standoff.

Wanted! Wanted!

1 pp · Non-Fiction, Western-Frontier

General Bulletin Tree

1 pp · Non-Fiction, Western-Frontier

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $78

CGC 9.6 · 1 in census $6,012*

CGC 9.4 · 1 in census $3,079*

CGC 9.2 · 3 in census $1,784

CGC 9.0 · 5 in census $1,212*

CGC 8.5 · 1 in census $829*

CGC 8.0 · 3 in census $639*

Show all 16 grades ▾

CGC 7.5 · 4 in census $279*

CGC 7.0 · 5 in census $234*

CGC 6.5 · 1 in census $196*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $175*

CGC 5.5 none in existence

CGC 5.0 · 3 in census $137*

CGC 4.5 · 4 in census $109*

CGC 4.0 · 2 in census $108*

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $69*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

Dell's Four Color line served throughout the 1950s as the publisher's primary vehicle for licensed movie and television tie-ins, releasing one-shot adaptations timed to coincide with a film's theatrical run. Rio Bravo reached theaters in March 1959, and Dell's adaptation — carrying the indicia title 'Rio Bravo, No. 1018' — was published in June 1959, fitting the standard window the publisher used to keep adaptations on sale while audiences were still engaged with a film. Alex Toth was the interior artist; his assignment to a high-profile Warner Bros. / John Wayne production reflects the esteem he held at Dell at this point in his career. No separate writer credit has been widely documented in secondary sources.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published June 1959 by Dell Comics as part of the long-running Four Color anthology series (Series II), carrying the indicia title 'Rio Bravo, No. 1018.'
Adapts Howard Hawks's 1959 Warner Bros. Western Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne as Sheriff John T. Chance, Dean Martin as Dude (Borachón), and Ricky Nelson as Colorado Ryan.
Interior art is by Alex Toth, one of the most celebrated draftsmen of the Silver Age, known for his economical, cinematically composed page layouts.
The cover is a photo cover featuring the likenesses of John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Ricky Nelson in character — a standard Dell practice for movie tie-ins of the period.
The issue includes an introductory section with photographs and cast credits, bridging the film's promotional materials and the comic adaptation.
The source film was itself a deliberate creative response to High Noon (1952); Hawks and Wayne conceived it as a counter-argument to that film's portrayal of a lawman who pleads for community help, preferring a story of professional self-reliance.
The Four Color series was Dell's principal try-out and one-shot vehicle, publishing movie, TV, and character adaptations from 1942 to 1962 and accumulating over 1,300 numbered issues — making it the most prolific single-numbered American comic book series in history.
No ongoing Rio Bravo comic series followed this issue; it remains the only Dell comic adaptation of the film.