John Wayne Adventure Comics #6
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeJohn Wayne Adventure Comics #6 is one of six issues in the Toby Press run to feature a collaboration between a then-teenaged Al Williamson on pencils and Frank Frazetta on inks — two artists who would go on to define the look of EC Comics and fantasy illustration respectively. The issue therefore serves as a rare, datable artifact of that partnership's formative years, when both men were still cutting their teeth on mid-grade freelance work. As part of a 31-issue series launched in 1949, it also represents one of the earliest sustained celebrity-licensed comics in the Golden Age, translating the screen persona of John Wayne directly into pulp adventure narratives at a time when Hollywood tie-ins to the comics page were still an experiment rather than an industry standard.
This issue contains two stories. "Dude Ranch" by Betancourt follows a man seeking revenge on "Cactus Joe" after years of separation, only to be thwarted in a comedic confrontation at a dude ranch. The main John Wayne feature "Cavern of Doom" depicts Wayne escaping from a cage, battling mysterious villains, and fleeing through a circus tent before confronting a lynch mob that has murdered a blind woman and plans to execute him without trial, leading to a gunfight.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 22 grades ▾
Find on ebay
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Toby Press, founded in 1949, launched John Wayne Adventure Comics (Winter 1949/50) as its flagship live-action celebrity title, with Wayne's movie stardom — cemented by hits like 'Stagecoach' and 'Sands of Iwo Jima' — providing the commercial hook. The publisher drew from a pool of hungry freelancers working across multiple houses simultaneously: Williamson and Frazetta were taking Toby assignments alongside their better-known EC work, while Harvey Kurtzman contributed gag-strip filler ('Pot-Shot Pete,' 'Genius') to several issues in the series before his MAD-defining years at EC fully consumed his schedule. Issue #6, dated November 1950, appeared midway through the first year of the series' mature run, by which point the Williamson/Frazetta team had already contributed to four earlier numbers.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published November 1950 by Toby Press; part of a series that ran 31 issues from Winter 1949/50 through May 1955.
- Features a John Wayne photo cover, consistent with the series' practice of using Wayne publicity photographs rather than painted or drawn covers at this stage.
- Contains an Al Williamson (pencils) / Frank Frazetta (inks) story in which Wayne's sidekick Bonanza is put on trial for murder and Wayne must clear his name before a lynching — this is the 4th of 6 issues in the series to include a Williamson/Frazetta collaboration.
- Story contents include 'Cavern of Doom,' 'The Lion's Den,' and 'Murder Will Out,' among other adventure features.
- Harvey Kurtzman contributed gag-comic material ('Genius' / 'Pot-Shot Pete' strips) to the series during this period, representing some of his pre-MAD freelance output for Toby Press.
- The series was reprinted in Canada by Superior Publishers Ltd., making #6's content accessible to a cross-border readership almost simultaneously with the original Toby edition.
- Cover price was 10 cents for 36 pages of full-color content, standard for the period.
- The complete 31-issue Toby run has been reprinted in modern trade-paperback form, making the original story content accessible to contemporary readers without requiring the original editions.
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.