Black Diamond Western #19 (1950)

In the quiet of Southern California’s sprawling Marquez Ranch, Bob Vale and Bumper enjoy a peaceful visit with an old friend of Bob’s father—until a sudden, ominous shift in the mood hints at hidden dangers beneath the surface. As a grand fiesta looms and the ranch’s treasures are left unguarded, a whispered plan begins to take shape, setting the stage for a tense escape that will test their courage and quick thinking.

In the Arizona frontier, a scheming rancher named Rake manipulates tensions at an Apache reservation, secretly provoking a revolt to claim the land for himself. When the Apache chief Cochise leads his people in a peaceful departure from the reservation, a corrupt agent is murdered—only to be framed by Rake’s plot. Black Diamond arrives on the scene, uncovering the conspiracy and confronting the truth behind the so-called "warpath."

In a wild, slapstick chase across the frontier, the bumbling outlaw Clawpaw McRaw evades bounty hunter Bingbang Buster and his horse Hedy through a series of increasingly absurd mishaps—ranging from a collapsing bridge to a river plunge—before finally being captured, not by force, but by the sheer ridiculousness of his own antics. The story blends exaggerated Western tropes with playful absurdity, turning a standard manhunt into a comedic spectacle of misjudged escapes and physical gags.