John Wayne Adventure Comics

From 1949 to 1953, Superior Publishers brought the Duke to comics in John Wayne Adventure Comics, a 23-issue Western series that adapted the iconic actor’s rugged screen persona into four-color adventures. While the covers featured striking photographs of Wayne himself, the interiors were largely illustrated by a team of journeymen including Gerald McCann and Jack Sparling, who delivered straightforward, action-packed tales of frontier justice. This series stands as a curious but earnest piece of Hollywood-meets-comics history, capturing the post-war appetite for Western heroics and the star power of John Wayne at the height of his film career.