Two Gun Kid #40

The cover of this 1958 Marvel western sets up a tense scenario with the Kid pressed against an interior wall, unarmed and clutching only a lamp and what appears to be a holster, while through the open window three armed gunmen call out "Come on out, kid! We know you're in there!" — a predicament perfectly matched by the story title "Man Without Guns." Joe Maneely's cover art captures that wonderful mid-century western drama, all sharp lines and charged atmosphere, with a pink curtain billowing in the foreground as debris litters the floor around the cornered hero. Promising "all brand-new Two-Gun Kid tales," this issue delivers exactly the kind of scrappy, against-the-odds frontier storytelling that made Marvel westerns a staple of the era.