Texas Rangers in Action #23

Three stories — "Ranger in Exile," "Saddle Tramp," and "Clay Pigeon" — pack this 1960 Charlton issue with what the cover boldly calls "blazing 6-gun action on the last frontier." Up front, a determined Ranger in a wide-brimmed hat and red bandana levels his revolver straight at the reader, his star badge glinting, while behind him a full-scale brawl erupts in a frontier town — fists flying, guns drawn, and several rough characters tangling in the dusty street. Cover pencils by Charles Nicholas and inks by Vince Alascia give the whole scene a kinetic, hardboiled energy that makes this a fine snapshot of Western anthology comics at their most straightforward and fun.