Gunsmoke #6

History

The Gunsmoke comic line grew directly out of Dell's licensing partnership with Western Publishing, which held agreements with the major TV studios and sent scripts to Dell editors for adaptation. By late 1957, when issue #6 went to press, the TV series was deep into its third season on CBS and firmly established as a ratings institution. The editorial and writing work on this issue fell to Paul S. Newman — one of the most prolific comic scripters of the era — with art by Jim McLaughlin, a veteran who had previously worked at Ace Comics. Script credits for the series were later reconstructed from Newman's own personal records by researcher Robin Snyder, confirming attribution that was never printed in the issues themselves, as was standard Dell practice.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Issue #6 (cover-titled 'Paid in Silver') was the first issue of the dedicated, standalone Gunsmoke series from Dell, following five prior appearances in the Four Color anthology line (issues #679, 720, 769, and 797, and #844).
• The Grand Comics Database records the on-sale date as January 1958, while at least one retail listing gives a November 1957 cover date — a routine cover-date vs. on-sale-date offset common to the period.
• All interior comic stories were scripted by Paul S. Newman and drawn by Jim McLaughlin; GCD notes that McLaughlin had previously worked at Ace Comics before that publisher folded.
• The issue contains three comic stories: the lead 'Enough Rope' (in which Marshal Matt Dillon must protect a bank robber from a lynch mob after the man is freed on a technicality), 'The Wild Russian' (a 'Dodge City Days' backup strip), and 'Paid in Silver' (the title story, also featuring Matt Dillon).
• The cover carries a photo of James Arness in character as Marshal Matt Dillon, consistent with Dell's standard practice for its TV-western tie-in titles; the interior also includes four additional photographs from the TV series.
• The issue closes with Dell's 'Pledge to Parents,' the publisher's self-imposed content code adopted in lieu of joining the Comics Code Authority — promising that objectionable material was 'eliminated, rather than regulated.'
• The Gunsmoke Dell series ran from issue #6 through #27 (approximately 1958–1962), after which Western Publishing's Gold Key imprint briefly revived the title with its own six-issue run in 1969–1970.
• The TV series that inspired the comic was, at the time of publication, the longest-running prime-time drama in American television history, which gave Dell's licensed adaptations both high newstand visibility and guaranteed reader familiarity with the characters.