Tex Ritter Western #44

This January 1959 Charlton issue puts the "Motion Picture Hero of the West" in a tense spot — the cover by Bill Molno and Vince Alascia shows Tex Ritter on his knees, gripped by warriors on either side while more figures close in around him, his sheriff's star still gleaming on his fringed jacket. It's a gripping image that captures the high-stakes drama Western fans were after, with interior work from the reliable team of writer Joe Gill, artist Bill Molno, and inker Sal Trapani backing up the story "Too Late." At a dime a copy, this was exactly the kind of pulse-quickening Western entertainment that made Charlton a go-to publisher for frontier adventure in 1959.