Two-Gun Kid

Matt Hawk, Attorney at Law; Two-Gun Kid, Gunman at Play.

Both were the same person, but they took on crime in different forms. Matt Hawk was a Harvard educated law school graduate who had moved out west, and Two-Gun Kid was the handle by which he was known when fighting outlaws of the plains. Hawk had come out west to practice as a lawyer and it wasn’t long after he made his arrival that he was accosted by some of the local bad-guy gangs, namely the Clem Carter gang. He managed to avoid any serious trouble thanks to the intervention of Clem’s sister who took a liking to Matt, but shortly after this altercation he witnessed the same rabble harassing an older gentleman. Matt Hawk already showed the makings of a hero when he stepped in to help the old feller, and quickly discovered that it was none other than legendary gunfighter Ben Dancer.

The aged gun-hand took Matt under his wing and began to teach him how to look out for himself in the west. He taught him the tricks of the trade and Matt soon became an expert roper, rider, fighter, and most of all, pistoleer. In fact, he practiced so intently that he even surpassed the skill levels of his own mentor, and thusly decided he was ready to began fight against the forces of oppression. It was due to the foresight of old man Dancer that Matt began wearing a mask and going by a nom de guerre, all with the intent of keeping himself from being a target from badmen with bad intent.

The use of a mask served two purposes, one in the story and one in real life. At the time that Matt Hawk entered the scene comics were trending toward more super-hero stories, such as the DC’s new silver-age Showcase titles, and Marvel’s new Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. So the application of a mask helped broaden the appeal of the character and ideally extend his life as a marketable entity. On the practical side, it wouldn’t do for the town lawyer to be seen engaging so capriciously in life-threatening gun duels. Unlike todays heroes, who would probably need to keep their identities secret for legal reasons, law was a little more loosely applied in the old west, and a lawyer could just as well defend the citizenry as anyone else. This was the reason for Dancer convincing Matt that a mask and secret identity would serve him well against the threat of potential harassment and challenges.

Another possible result from the influence of the mask is that with the more “super-hero” aesthetic there were also more “super-villains”. Corny adversaries always popped up in the old western comics, but of the more popular ones, Two-Gun Kid possibly faced the most, counting among his rogues such villains as the Hurricane or the Rattler who became returning foes. One interesting moment due this dynamic was a story involving the modern day crime-fighter Daredevil.

Another lawyer named Matt, last name Murdock, went out west to handle a case and ended up in bad situation. Somehow a presence from the past helped to guide him and it was likewise lawyer/hero Matt Hawk, echoing from the past to today to help Daredevil. The story was only a one-shot episode in issue 215 of Daredevil, but it was certainly fun to see the old hero brought into a relevant story. Besides daredevil, Two-Gun Kid also came into contact with old west characters Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Cole Younger, Geronimo, and others.

Originally he was said to be living in Tombstone, Texas, but later comics amended it to Tombstone, Arizona. It was never stated if the claim of Texas was an editorial mistake, or if it was an actual in-story move, but the perception seems to be that they simply corrected themselves by changing from TX to AZ. But I guess that’s what you get with New Yorkers writing tales of the Old West.

Two-Gun Kid is a great comic and one of my favorites. It started just after Kid Colt did in the 40’s and continued into the early 70’s. So to put it in perspective, he came just after Kid Colt and before Rawhide Kid, but didn’t last as long as either of them, though he did have plenty of adventures with his fellow do-gooding cohorts. In fact, Matt Hawk didn’t even show up until issue 60 of Two-Gun Kid. Previous to that the main character was a fella named Clay Harder, but when the series was revamped, Clay Harder was said to have been a “dime-novel’ character that Matt Hawk admired. He co-opted the name, and that was where issue 60 picked up, which ran original stories up through issue 93, after which were all reprints with the exception of new material in issues 104 and 105.