Buster Crabbe #5 (1952)

Buster Crabbe and his sidekick Whiskers stumble upon a Martian landing while prospecting for uranium, only to be captured by a female Martian explorer who reveals her people’s secret mission to study Earth—before conquering it. As the two Earthmen find themselves stranded on Mars, the tension mounts when the Martian commander, torn between duty and her growing feelings for Buster, begins to question her orders.

Jo, a wide-eyed prospecting enthusiast, stumbles upon a glimmering gold nugget in a creek and bursts into ecstatic claims of fortune—only to have his excitement quickly dampened when his companions find nothing after hours of frantic panning. The storekeeper’s cryptic directions lead them to the site, but the mystery of the gold’s whereabouts remains as Jo’s confidence wavers under the weight of his own wild claim.

Buster Crabbe arrives in the town of Drago, where he’s mistaken for the recently murdered outlaw of the same name, setting off a tense standoff with the self-appointed vigilantes who’ve been using fear and false justice to control the territory. As the vigilantes close in, claiming he’s the killer, Buster reveals he’s the real Buster Crabbe—and that the man buried was an imposter, leaving the town’s true criminals scrambling to silence him before their secrets unravel.

In a tall tale of frontier absurdity, Jo—formerly known as the feared "Whiskers the Indian Fighter"—finds himself unexpectedly adopted into a Comanche tribe after his comically unattractive face wins the heart of a chief’s daughter. Forced to play the part of a brave warrior, Jo must navigate the chaos of tribal life, his own conflicted loyalty, and a sudden war with the very cavalry he once served, all while trying to keep his true identity a secret.

In the dusty frontier, a desperate gang plans to ambush Buster Crabbe as he travels through the territory, fearing his reputation will ruin their latest heist. When the plan goes awry and the gang is cornered by Crabbe and a surprise ally, they face a choice: surrender or face a deadly reckoning.