Tom Mix Western #53

A fellow called Saddlehead is feeling pretty low about his brother's unfortunate resemblance to a circus ape—so much so that when an ape escapes nearby, his brother gets mistaken for the animal more than once. This quick-witted humor piece plays out the comic misunderstandings that follow in a single, snappy page.

When Jeeter's talking horse Ya-Ta-Ta demands his feed bag, a quarrel over the animal's peculiar diet and a certain breakfast food spirals into a comedic back-and-forth where one forbidden word keeps getting them both in trouble. As the bickering escalates, Jeeter recounts his harrowing adventure in a posse chasing the outlaw Two-Gun Dexter—a tale that circles right back to the very thing they've been arguing about all along. It's a four-page romp through western humor that proves sometimes the smallest disputes hide the biggest payoffs.

Tom Mix finds himself caught between a dangerous gang of outlaws and his own conscience after being mistaken for a criminal during a daring gold coach robbery. Now he must fight his way out of the gang's hideout and bring the real culprits to justice before they can escape with their stolen fortune. It's a brutal reckoning as Mix struggles against the men who nearly cost him his life in "The Black Void Part II: Fight for Survival."

When Cowboy Cal and Perkins get to debating which town has the prettiest girls, Cal decides to settle the matter with a tall tale about his hometown—and the punchline lands harder than a roundhouse right. It's a quick, silly slice of Old West humor that proves sometimes the best comeback is a joke nobody saw coming.

When Gopher-Face finds his pal Flip looking mighty blue, he learns that the cowboy is fed up with himself for always biting off more than he can chew—but Gopher-Face's confession about his own shortcomings proves to be even more discouraging. This one-page humor yarn from 1952 delivers a quick-fire comedy setup with the kind of good-natured ribbing that made Tom Mix Western such a grin-worthy read.

When a valuable painting called "Countryside" arrives in Dobie for exhibition at Dick Hopkins' ranch, Tom Mix volunteers to stand guard—but a masked thief with a distinctive walrus mustache strikes that very night, seemingly making off with the masterpiece. As Tom investigates the theft, he discovers the suspect may not be a stranger to town at all, and the real crime might be far more personal than anyone suspected.