Outlaws of the West #34

In early New Mexico, the outlaw Copper Kolb has earned a Robin Hood reputation by robbing the rich while sparing the poor—a legend he carefully cultivates to win the territory's sympathy. When bounty hunter Matt Wayne arrives in Cowtown determined to track down "the Smiler," he devises a ruthless strategy: convince the townsfolk that Kolb is a ruthless criminal willing to turn on anyone, then cut off his easy targets so the outlaw has no choice but to reveal his true nature. As Wayne spreads his gospel and the sheriff tightens security across the land, the collision between the bounty hunter's cunning and Kolb's deadly reputation draws near.

In November 1849, John Franklin Cooper introduces a revolutionary weapon to a San Francisco saloon—a tiny, deadly pepperbox pistol so small it's nearly invisible, yet powerful enough to fell multiple gunmen in moments. The story traces how this ingenious repeating gun, perfected by gunsmiths like Ethan Allen and earlier innovators Mairet Aux Ponci, becomes a legend across the frontier, favored by gamblers, riverboat crews under Captain Jamison, and even frontier women, before the rise of the six-gun finally ends its reign.

When the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang tears through the town of Rawhide, the mild-mannered gunsmith's apprentice Clay Boone sheds his pacifist ways to become Gunmaster, armed with an arsenal of ingenious and deadly weapons designed to do what the local posse cannot. Facing ten desperate outlaws fortified in their impenetrable cave hideout, Gunmaster deploys magnesium flares, spring-loaded rifles, ammonia bombs, and ricochet tactics to methodically dismantle their defenses and turn their sanctuary into a trap. As the gang's leader Butch Cassidy looks for any way out, Gunmaster proves there's no corner of the Hole-in-the-Wall safe from a man willing to fight back.