You Can't Copyright or Trademark a Historical Figure: WYATT EARP

Wyatt Earp

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Sheriff...Uh...What Was That Name Again?

THE SHERIFF/BLAZE CARSON

Blaze Carson :TGK 1-4, 7-9, Whip Wilson 11, KCO 1, 5, Tex Taylor 1,2, 4,5,6, Tex Morgan 1

The Sheriff: TGK 1 (3/48), 2 (6/48), 3 (8/48), Tex Morgan 1 (8/48), Kid Colt 1 (8/48), WW 3 (9/48), Texas Kid 6 (11/51) Al/ Speed Larson/Dave "Blaze" Carson

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Your Famous (?) Western Star, REX HART

REX HART appeared in three issues of his own comic, numbered 6-8, running bimonthly dated from August 1948 to February 1950. The series had assumed the numbering of BLAZE CARSON, in the well-known technique of launching a new series by changing its title and contents, thus sparing the publisher additional business expenses involved and giving the sheen of an established magazine to a newly-introduced product. 

A lot of the Atlas Western features struggled to find success on the stands. One approach that appeared to be working for other publishers was to get the rights to a famous star of Western film or television and cast them as the lead of your comic feature. Fawcett had the rights to publish the fictional Western adventures of Gabby Hayes, Lash Larue, Rocky Lane, Monte Hale, Tom Mix and Hopalong Cassidy, for example.  

Atlas opted to publish the comic book adventures of "Your Famous Western Star" Rex Hart. Hart was not nearly so well known as the round-up of riders Fawcett had licensed, or any of those Atlas's competitors had managed to snap up, like Dell's Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, or Magazine Enterprise's Tim Holt. Hart was best known for his appearance in...

Hmm, hold on a second, let me do some research...

OK, turns out there's a good reason I wasn't familiar with this "famous" Western star: there [i]was[/i] no such cowboy star. Atlas just used a few staged photo covers with the same model and tried to insinuate that he was a legitimate celebrity, rather than paying for rights to whatever bottom-tier cowboy actors were still available to make arrangements with. 

The first issue has the usual multiple short stories, the second two feature longer 18-page stories, with a few text stories and disposable back-up shorts in all three. 

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Twice As Much Tex: TEX TAYLOR and TEX MORGAN

 Tex Taylor: issues 1-9,Sept '48-Nov '49, fake cowboy star photo covers?

Sidekick Alkali Ike, discovery of dinosaurs

In WILD WESTERN 11-14, after his own comic was cancelled, Tex began going by the nickname "The Prairie Kid"

Tex Morgan: issues 1-9 Aug '48-Feb '50, WW 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, AK 53, BC 2-3, KC 3

Debuted in his own comic, appeared in backups in almost all of Atlas's other Western comics, through WW 14, 02/51. 

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Annies Get Your Guns: ANNIE OAKLEY and Arizona Annie:

Annie Oakley: issue 1-11, WE 15, RK 10, WW 46, Millie 15, Tessie 19, Nellie 17, Millie 16

Arizona Annie: WW 1-4, TM 3-4, TGK 5, TT 3

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What if Daniel Boone Went West? BILLY BUCKSKIN

Billy Buckskin: BB1-3, Gunsmoke W 32-34, WW 48-49, Frontier W 3-4, 2-GW 4

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Why Don't We Play "Indians and Cowboys" For a Change? ARROWHEAD

Arrowhead : Ah 1-4, WW 34-39, RK 1, BR 24-25, 

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Before They Were Top Guns: The original TWO-GUN KID and RAWHIDE KID

Two-Gun Kid

Rawhide Kid