Slap Leather takes on a whole new meaning for The Rawhide Kid.

Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather Written by Ron Zimmerman, Illustrated by John Severin.

Remember the Rawhide Kid comics when you were a kid? He was the toughest, strongest, fastest, straightest shooting son of a gunslinger ever, and he beat cattle rustlers, Indians, and bank robbers, all without mussing up his excellent clothes. He was pretty much the same as the other cowboy titles of the time; Kid Apache, Durango Kid, the Lone Ranger…all these titles were about the same. Each had a larger than life hero righting wrongs and foiling desperados. Only the quality of writing varied.

Now, the hero has been reborn. He’s still the toughest, strongest, fastest gun in the west, but with one BIG difference. He’s gay!

This five issue run originally published in 2003 has been collected in a graphic novel form. Like a shooting star, it was brief, but it blazed brightly.

The narrator of this tale is Toby Morgan, son of Matt Morgan, Sheriff of the town of Wells Junction. One day when Cisco Pike and his men came rip-snorting into town, Sheriff Morgan went over to the saloon to do his job, and inform them they would have to keep it down to a dull roar while they were in town.

Cisco Pike shot Matt twice, and killed his deputy. Hauled outside and beat upon by Pike’s men, it did not look good for Sheriff Morgan until the timely intervention of Johnny Bart, The Rawhide Kid!

Things are still not good for Matt Morgan. He has lost the respect of the entire town, including that of his son, Toby. And the people of Wells Junction are a plain spoken lot with all the tact of Howard Stern, with rabies.

The only people that still believe in Matt Morgan are the School Marm, Laura Ingles, and The Rawhide Kid. Here is a little father and son chat that will give you a feel for the humour. This is just after Matt has been patched up by the Doc, and he’s recovering at home. Matt asks if Toby was scared.
Matt: “Well, that’s all right. I think you’d feel a lot better if’n ya talked about it.”
Toby: “Okay, if you say so.”
Matt: “A little talk never hurt nobody.”
Toby: “Well, see, I wuz just thinkin’ ‘bout the shame and humiliation I wuz feelin’ while I watched you let your deputy git his brains blowed out, then seein’ you git beat like an old rug in front’a all my friends and havin’ ta realize that my paw is nuthin’ but a yellowbellied coward and how I gotta run away from home now so’s nobody will know I’m yore son. That’s all. Hey, I DO feel better!”
Matt: “That’s nice for YOU, son, although I’d like to point out I may have been wrong about little talks not hurtin’ anybody. But look here, I DON’T think I’m a coward.”
Toby: “Seriously?”
Matt: “What do you mean by THAT?”

Man alive, it really has not been his day!

Anyway, Rawhide rides out to get the lay of the land with the outlaws, then comes back, and applies for the position of deputy.

The humour in this comic is great; it’s somewhere between an episode of Seinfeld, a Ben Stiller Movie (one of the better ones) and the late great Paul Lind. The outlaws spend a good deal of time commenting on the quality of Cisco Pike’s Dirt Maps. Catastrophe Jen is a scary and homicidal bull dyke with a penchant for killing their own men. The local paper has the time to print an scathing account of Sheriff Morgan’s humiliating shooting and subsequent beating, but can’t make time to report that the Sheriff had been trying to avoid bloodshed, had been outmanned and the desperados had robbed the saloon, raped some soiled doves (drat the filter!) and lit out of town. Deadlines are murder.

The self serving Mayor is a greedy insensitive tool only interested in lining his own pockets, and getting reelected. Even without the name Mayor Walker Bush, you can recognize this polecat from a mile off.

And the gay humour is delightful. It never says he is gay, and never leaves any doubt. It’s the sly humour of the inside joke, and while it is a bit over done, it’s hilarious. A scene: The Kid is out doing some early morning practice shooting in his chaps and long johns.
Matt: “Thought you said you wuz a late riser?”
The Kid: “I had nightmare that scared me to heaven and back. Guess I’m not used to sleeping in a houseful of men….alone.”
Matt: “Yeah, you kin get used to sleepin’ under the stars.”
The Kid: “That little hint missed you by a mile.”
Matt: “Huh?”
The Kid: “Never mind. No one ever said handsome and smart were inseparable.”

And for a Wild West town, and all their own fashion faults, they do seem to recognize good taste when it’s in front of them….

I will admit, the constant double meanings whizzing by overhead do make you want to slap someone, but at the same time it’s a riot, because I know these people; we live amongst them. Also, nothing in this book is lurid. No sex, just jokes about it, in a round about way.

We have established the writing is first rate, funny and well plotted. I’d like to say a few words about the Art. John Severin was the artist for many of Marvels old western and war stories, including the Rawhide Kid. He was 81 when he drew this comic, and he has lost none of his skills; I remember as a kid, I liked the super hero books much better and always wished Severin would take one of them over. He is hands down a master at the craft, with a detailed, realistic approach to the human form, use of line shading which is further augmented by the inker, and intricate backgrounds. He is superlative. And having this icon breath life into this new incarnation is truly wonderful.

This comic was far too brief, but burned so bright. It is hard to describe what it means to find a positive gay character in this art form. There are those who say, oh, pooh, there are lots of gay characters in comics. Northstar was the first. Apollo and Midnighter are married. Pied Piper and the Tasmanian Devil for DC, and John Constantine (bisexual, and a bit of a perv.) for Vertigo. There are others. But with the exception of Apollo and Midnighter, these are minor characters, and have been relegated to the background. Northstar laid the ground work early in the run, but it did not bloom. Then, they looked like they were going to make him HIV+, but they chickened out and came up with this lame story where he was actually a faery and earth’s pollution was killing him. Then finally, in Alpha Flight 106, they bit the bullet, and he said he is gay. Then he dropped off the face of comics for a number of years. Only recently, in the Ultimate X-Men, has he gotten a real run, and a boyfriend, Peter Rasputin, the Mighty Colossus. The only other full-time couple for Marvel is Wiccan and Hulking of the Young Avengers. Ten percent of the world is gay, but less than one percent of our heroes are. I would have given anything for a spot of validation like that as a child. As Whoopi Goldberg said of Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, “I was thrilled! It meant that in the future, there were people like me. And they were respected. And that gave me hope.”

So check out this excellent title and laugh a little.


The Lavender Quill
Gay Non-Fiction

Is It a Choice?
The Martian Child
What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality
Gay Tales of the Samurai


Gay Fiction.

Son of a Witch
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Raised by Wolves: Brethern
Raised by Wolves: Matelots
Raised by Wolves: Treasure
Raised by Wolves: Wolves
Master of Seacliff 
Ransom
Forbidden Colours
Lord John and the Private Matter
Lord John and the Hand of Devils
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade

Comics and Graphic Novels

Side by Side
Fogtown
Black Wade: The Wild Side of Love
The Authority: Prime
Hellblazer: Highwater
Midnighter: Anthem
Midnighter: Killing Machine
Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather
Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather (part 2)

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