Rawhide Kid - the Sensational Seven
Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 5:24 am
I did an entry a little while back for Appendix covering the Ghost Rider of Tombstone who was introduced in Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven, and one of the things I tried to figure out was when the events could have taken place. In this thread, it is noted that:
"Due to the presence of Billy the Kid, the story has to occur between 1877 and 1881 and more likely in 1880 or 1881 since Pat Garrett is mentioned."
However, there's way more historical dating hints in the story than that! And since the dating will impact on where the story gets placed in the overall chronologies for Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Red Wolf and Lobo, I thought I should share the observations I made for the Appendix entry. Please feel free to shoot down any errors you spot:
"The dating of his appearance in Sensational Seven, and indeed that series' entire storyline, is somewhat confused. At one juncture, Kid Colt tells Rawhide to ask Wild Bill Hickok to help rescue the captured Earp brothers, and Rawhide informs Colt that Hickok is dead; Wild Bill Hickok died in 1876. However, the story is set after the Gunfight at the OK Corral, which took place on October 26th 1881 - I guess Kid Colt really doesn't keep up with the news! Morgan Earp, present in Sensational Seven, died on March 18th 1882, so presumably the Rawhide Kid adventure and Ghost Rider's brief tenure as Tombstone's sheriff has to take place between November 1881 and March 1882. Except that Billy the Kid joins Rawhide's team, and he died in July 1881. I guess the Marvel universe Billy survived, like the legends claim. Then we've got villain Cristo Pike mentioning the James Gang - Jesse died April 1882, so that at least doesn't pose a problem; the Dalton Gang (not active until 1890! But Frank and Grat Dalton were in their early 20s in 1881, so despite not being criminals or famous at that point, at a stretch Cristo might have meant them. Alternatively, he might have been referring to the real-world Dalton's fictional cousins, the Dalton Gang of the French comic Lucky Luke, bringing them into the Marvel universe); and Tonto (since the fictional Lone Ranger and Tonto weren't created until the 1930s, this might be considered evidence that Tonto, and presumably Lone Ranger too, exist as real individuals in the Marvel universe)."
"Due to the presence of Billy the Kid, the story has to occur between 1877 and 1881 and more likely in 1880 or 1881 since Pat Garrett is mentioned."
However, there's way more historical dating hints in the story than that! And since the dating will impact on where the story gets placed in the overall chronologies for Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Red Wolf and Lobo, I thought I should share the observations I made for the Appendix entry. Please feel free to shoot down any errors you spot:
"The dating of his appearance in Sensational Seven, and indeed that series' entire storyline, is somewhat confused. At one juncture, Kid Colt tells Rawhide to ask Wild Bill Hickok to help rescue the captured Earp brothers, and Rawhide informs Colt that Hickok is dead; Wild Bill Hickok died in 1876. However, the story is set after the Gunfight at the OK Corral, which took place on October 26th 1881 - I guess Kid Colt really doesn't keep up with the news! Morgan Earp, present in Sensational Seven, died on March 18th 1882, so presumably the Rawhide Kid adventure and Ghost Rider's brief tenure as Tombstone's sheriff has to take place between November 1881 and March 1882. Except that Billy the Kid joins Rawhide's team, and he died in July 1881. I guess the Marvel universe Billy survived, like the legends claim. Then we've got villain Cristo Pike mentioning the James Gang - Jesse died April 1882, so that at least doesn't pose a problem; the Dalton Gang (not active until 1890! But Frank and Grat Dalton were in their early 20s in 1881, so despite not being criminals or famous at that point, at a stretch Cristo might have meant them. Alternatively, he might have been referring to the real-world Dalton's fictional cousins, the Dalton Gang of the French comic Lucky Luke, bringing them into the Marvel universe); and Tonto (since the fictional Lone Ranger and Tonto weren't created until the 1930s, this might be considered evidence that Tonto, and presumably Lone Ranger too, exist as real individuals in the Marvel universe)."