The Daily Comic Book Coffee, number 64: It was announced this week that Golden and Silver Age artist Frank Bolle had passed away on May 12th at the age of 95. Today’s artwork is penciled & inked by Bolle. “Outlaw Gold” appeared in Tim Holt #29, published by Magazine Enterprises with an April-May 1952 cover date.
Tim Holt was a Western movie star during the 1940s and early 50s. The comic book Tim Holt featured a fictionalized version of the actor who assumes the guise of the costumed vigilante Red Mask in the post-Civil War “Old West.” Tim Holt ran for 54 issues, being re-titled Red Mask with issue #42. Frank Bolle’s artwork appeared in every single issue of Tim Holt / Red Mask. Bolle really excelled at drawing Westerns, and his work on this series was definitely impressive.
“Outlaw Gold” sees beautiful dancehall girl Della Martin enlisting the help of Red Mask to locate a treasure which she says her father hid out in the desert, west of Bald Rock. Pursuing Della are members of Butch Cassidy’s “Wild Bunch” gang, who are all too ready to murder the lovely singer so that they may claim the buried fortune.
On this page, en route to Bald Rock, Red Mask and Della are pursued by a trio of Wild Bunch thugs. Red Mask makes short work of them, knocking all three out. He and Della then bunk down for the night, brewing up some hot coffee to keep warm.
Bolle does nice work on this page. The action flows well. I like how Bolle has Red Mask’s fist swinging out of that third panel, really highlighting the punch. Della is beautifully drawn. And since this is a Western, of course we have horses. I guess this is another crossover with Jim Thompson’s 1000 Horses series!
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