The Brokeback Kid Rides Again

The collected series was released in hardcover in 2010.

Jack Kirby's Rawhide Kid, back in the day.

In 2003’s “Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather,” Marvel’s 1950s-1960s Jack Kirby/Stan Lee gunfighter hero is re-imagined as an archly funny guy with no eye for the ladies at all but a killer fashion sense. 

If you know what I mean.

“Re-imagined” may be too strong a term, since it’s remarkable how little realignment is required for writer Ron Zimmerman and artist John Severin to cast the original slight, lithe and dandyish character in this new light — a light this Rawhide Kid would insist must be flattering to his complexion.

All that’s really required is a dash of double entendre, a wink of wit and a sense that the Kid knows a great deal more about what’s going on than anybody else in the story — and isn’t talking.

Series editor Axel Alonso said, “We thought it would be interesting to play with the genre. Enigmatic cowboy rides into dusty little desert town victimized by desperadoes, saves the day, wins everyone’s heart, then rides off into the sunset, looking better than any cowboy has a right to.”

It’s the most artful introduction of gay elements into traditional comic book material that I’ve run into — accomplished not with sex, but, more effectively, with style.