Cavalcade of Awesome

Billy the Kid Week 2010 starts officially on Monday.  However, I thought I’d do a “soft opening” of the Kid Week today.

After seeing the Young Guns movies, especially the first one in 1988, I went on the hunt for a movie novelization and/or a souvenir magazine for either movie.  Back then, there was no Internet to search, I had to “pound the pavement” at all of my local malls and bookstores to find these items.  And I was never able to find anything.  Surprisingly, I now know, neither Young Guns movie had a novelization nor a movie souvenir book released.  And it crushed me.  I really wanted that novelization.

While I never found a souvenir mag or a novelization, there were plenty of Billy the Kid items I did find.  Some of them right away, some of them years later.  Here are some items I found throughout the years featuring Billy the Kid.

Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine – This magazine began in 1950 and was published by Toby Press. It lasted 29 issues and finally ended in 1955.  The magazine featured old and new Wild West stories including tales told from the point of view of a killer bear as well as Katie O’Donnell, the first female prospector. The magazine also contained artwork by the great Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson and Mad Magazine’s Harvey Kurtzman.

Charlton’s Billy the Kid – Published sporadically throughout the ’60s and ’70s, this comic book featured artwork by the great Cracked magazine artist John Severin. The book told fictional tales featuring a fictional version of Billy the Kid. The comic was twice put on a year long hiatus in the ’70s and finally canceled in 1983.

(via Plaid Stallions)
Kenner’s The Real West – Kenner originally planned to release these figures as a tie-in to the 1979 film, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days. The film was a prequel to the Redford/Newman classic from 1969 and it starred William Katt as Butch and Tom Berenger as Sundance.  Needless to say, the movie bombed and Kenner opened the line up to all mythical figures of the Old West and tried to re-brand it The Real West.  In the image on the left above, you can see the figures in the line which include Billy the Kid in the lower left corner.  Click the image to see it bigger over on Plaid Stallions.  The top five figures were all from the movie and released with the Butch and Sundance branding.  The bottom three figures (including Billy) were planned to be released as the second series with the new Real West branding, and were produced, but never actually released.  In the image on the right, you can see the Western Cafe playset.  Look familiar?  It was a redressed Star Wars Creature Cantina playset.

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