On the newsstands late in 1955, Davy Crockett was everywhere, befitting a man who once reportedly rode a lightning bolt. At no other time in the history of comic books has a character appeared from seven different publishers at the same time!
Walt Disney could copyright its pioneering version of Davy Crockett, but that didn’t stop six other publishers from taking advantage of the fact that a real person’s name could not be copyrighted. The resulting phenomenon has kept collectors busy for years, because it’s quite a challenge to gather up all the Crockett comics.
Some of them are quite wonderful but also relatively common, such as the four issues in Dell’s Four Color series, plus a 25-cent Davy Crockett giant. Others, including the eight-issue Frontier Fighters from DC and two issues of Western Tales from Harvey, can be a significant challenge. One thing is for certain, however: You won’t need to follow Davy’s advice, “Be sure you’re right then go ahead.” You’ll always be right if you collect Crockett.
The Walt Disney company found several ways to get around the fact that its original one-hour versions of Davy – aired December 15, 1954; January 26, 1955; and February 23, 1955 – killed off the character, since he died at the Alamo along with all its other defenders in 1836. Disney’s commercial ingenuity enabled comic book publishers to catch up, since none of them had the faintest idea what would happen with the coonskin cap set. Many people have called it the greatest pop culture fad in American history, or at least until the Beatles came along!
Dell Comics, which published all the Disney characters, fittingly beat everyone to the Crockett punch with Four Color #631 (May 1955), entitled “Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter.” Four Color #639 (July 1955) quickly followed with “Wall Disney’s Davy Crockett at the Alamo.” Seldom had the Disney name been more prominent in the logo; the Disney folks probably knew what was in the works. Those two issues and the ensuing giant, “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier,” plus “The Great Keelboat Race” and “The River Pirates” are all based on Disney films. I highly recommend all five, if only for the wonderful Fess Parker covers, though the stories are also the best in the Crockett comic pantheon. Has there ever been a more fitting actor to portray a real–life American hero? Fess Parker was a fabulous Davy.
Ironically, however, Crockett appeared in more than twice as many issues from low-rent
Charlton as he did from Dell. Charlton, which paid a lot of attention to what was selling on the stands and often copied it, published 14 comics starring Crockett. The first, Davy Crockett Frontier Fighter #1 (Aug 1955), beat everyone but Dell to the stands. The title ran through #8 (January 1957). These less–than–stellar issues are for Crockett completists only.
Meanwhile, the company rushed Wild Frontier #1 (Oct. 1955) onto the stands with one of the most deceiving covers in comic book history, advertising “Saga of the Iriquois Trail” – that’s right. Charlton misspelled Iroquois! – with a buckskin-clad character who looked like Davy. In addition, Davy’s head was shown advertising a story, “Indian Raid,” which turned out to be four pages of illustrated text without color! Davy did appear in three one-page shorts on the covers “Iroquois Trail,” which turned out to be a 27-page Fox movie adaptation reprint starring James Fenimore Cooper’s Hawkeye. Single Crockett stories appeared in #s 2 through 6 (January 1957), as he shared the book with other frontier legends such as Daniel Boone and Jim Bowie (also adapted by Charlton). Again, these are for Crockett completists like me.
Classics Illustrated, with its motto “featuring stories by the world’s greatest authors,” made a purely commercial decision and published #129 (November 1955) with an uncredited 45-page history of Davy Crockett! The artist, Lou Cameron, turned in an interesting job, especially considering he may have been asked for a rush job. This issue was not reprinted until 1966, near the end or the original Classics run, so that reflects how quickly the fad faded. If you’ve never seen this issue, you have a treat in store.
DC, seldom beaten in any way, produced eight highly collectible issues of Frontier Fighters from #1 (September–October 1955) through #8 (November–December 1956). Though Davy had all eight covers, only one Crockett tale was allowed per issue. The Gerber Photo-Journal rates these as “fives” and “sixes,” with #3 (January–February 1956) given a “seven.” It seems hard for me to believe a DC comic prominently bannering Davy Crockett could be a seven, but it is true I haven’t seen this issue as often as #s 1 and 2, to name a couple. These issues, usually sold for $40 to $50 in “Good,” are the most valuable Crocketts. Some collectors, though, prefer the gorgeous job Joe Kubert did on the Buffalo Bill stories. A young Davy appeared in Tomahawk #s 35 and 36.
Other than appearances in “true life”–type comics, Davy appeared in only one comic book before Disney. That was the 1951 Avon one-shot Davy Crockett with three short tales of Davy. This issue wasn’t nearly as well done as most other Avon one-shots. Avon did Davy much better when it quickly converted Kit Carson into Fighting Davy Crockett #9 (October–November 1955), with a pretty cover by Everett Raymond Kinstler and two nicely done Crockett stories. This is one of the better western comics of that year, but it was a one-shot.
Harvey also got into the Crockett stakes in Western Tales #31 (October 1955) and #32 (March 1956) before starring Jim Bowie in #33 (September 1956). These three Simon & Kirby productions – the final issues of Western Tales, formerly Witches Tales – are all tough to find. The Photo-Journal gives them “threes,” perhaps because of the Harvey warehouse sales, but at this point they’re more like “sixes.” A lot of them are locked into S&K collections. Grab them if you see them, even if you aren’t a Davy Crockett collector, because they are sweet books.
By 1956, Ace was focused entirely on its line of six romance titles in its last year as a comic publisher. But even Ace couldn’t resist producing a knockoff of DC’s Frontier Fighters with Heroes of the Wild Frontier #27 (January 1956) and #2 (April 1956) This title, formerly the weird comic Baffling Mysteries, ended Ace’s 16-year history with a variety of heroic types.
The seventh Davy Crockett publisher? Get this one if you can from ACG: Forbidden Worlds #39 (December 1955) featured a marvelous 12-page fantasy, “The Davy Crockett Mystery,” in which Davy dies valiantly in Wor1d War II! This was surely the most original use of Davy.
I also have Great Britain’s digest-size Cowboy Comics #199 (January 1957), with a wonderful 64-page Davy Crockett story, but I have no idea how often he appeared.
This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.
