American Update: The Atlas Explosion! Two Portions of Two-Gun Western! 1st Series (1950) and 2nd series (1956)
*Western: An early entry in the Western boom from Atlas was Two Gun Western, a 1950-launched anthology which began with #5, taking over from Casey, Crime Photographer’s numbering. The first issue brought the first appearance of the Apache Kid, a white man raised by American Indians who adopted a ‘redface’ secret identity to battle injustice. Despite having a longer career in his own series and elsewhere, and being backed up by Kid Colt and the Black Rider and others, Apache Kid was unable to save Two Gun Western from cancellation, but Atlas liked the title so much they gave it another whirl in 1956, as a gunslinging anthology free from ongoing characters. Both series featured an array of distinguished artists, including Maneely, Morrow, Romita, Wildey, Crandall, Williamson, Powell and Severin. We have the first run from #5 (first of series) to its penultimate #13, and the second series from #5 to #11, lacking #9. Pictured are series One #5 VG £45 and #6 FN £49 and series Two #5 VG £29 and 11 VG+ £27.