Two Gun Kid #33
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeTwo-Gun Kid #33 (cover-dated October 1956) is a representative mid-run entry from Atlas Comics' flagship Western anthology title at the height of the genre's 1950s popularity — a period when Stan Lee, as both writer and editor-in-chief, shaped the house style across the entire Atlas western line. The issue marks the first appearance of Danny Ringo, a minor but catalogued addition to the Clay Harder supporting cast, and it showcases the breadth of Atlas talent assembled in a single anthology package: the cover by Russ Heath, interior art by workhorse Chuck Miller, scripts by Stan Lee, and contributions from EC veteran Reed Crandall and illustrator Jay Scott Pike. Its chief historical value lies in exemplifying the creative infrastructure — rotating artist pools, tight short-story formats, and Stan Lee's editorial hand — that Atlas deployed across dozens of western titles simultaneously in the mid-1950s, directly prefiguring the shared-universe sensibility Marvel would develop in the following decade.
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By mid-1956, Atlas Comics (the direct predecessor of Marvel) had resumed its Two-Gun Kid series from issue #11 in 1953 after a gap in the original Timely run, and Stan Lee served as both editor-in-chief and frequent uncredited or credited scripter across the entire western output. The title ran on a bimonthly schedule and drew on a rotating pool of freelance artists — a production model Lee managed across many simultaneous western books. Issue #33 was released to newsstands on June 13, 1956 (with an October 1956 cover date), squarely within Atlas's peak western publishing period before the distributor upheaval of 1957 severely contracted the line.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated October 1956; on-sale date June 13, 1956; published by Atlas Comics (Marvel's 1950s predecessor) as part of its bimonthly western line.
- First appearance of Danny Ringo (Earth-616), a supporting character in the Clay Harder / Two-Gun Kid mythology.
- Cover art by Russ Heath, one of Atlas's most accomplished western illustrators of the period.
- Interior art credits include Chuck Miller (pencils/inks on multiple stories), Reed Crandall (pencils/inks), and Jay Scott Pike — with at least one story scripted by Stan Lee.
- Stan Lee served as both writer (on select stories) and editor-in-chief of the Atlas line at this time, often without a formal writing credit on individual stories.
- The lead story revolves around the Two-Gun Kid (Clay Harder) visiting the sheriff of Bellstown, who recounts the legend of the master gunslinger Jesse Ringo and his custom-balanced firearm — with Danny Ringo present as a supporting figure.
- Secondary stories include 'Trapped' and an untitled tale set along the Colorado River, all featuring Clay Harder (the original, pre-Matt Hawk version of the Two-Gun Kid).
- The series ran 136 issues total (1948–1977 across Timely, Atlas, and Marvel imprints); the Clay Harder version of the character was eventually retconned out in Two-Gun Kid #60 (November 1962), making the Atlas-era issues like #33 the final years of Harder's starring role.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Kid Valour #4 (1957), Frontier Western #10 (1957), Two Gun Kid #51 (1959), Two-Gun Kid #20 (1960), Kid Colt Outlaw #111 (1963)
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