Bookshelf is a monthly column examining printed matter relating to television. While I love watching TV, I also love reading about it, from tie-in novels to TV Guides, from vintage television magazines to old newspaper articles.
Lancer #1
First Published November 1968?
Published by Gold Key/Western Publishing Company
I made a mistake when I was rummaging through boxes at a local comic book store and came across this particular issue. I thought Lancer was a one season wonder when in fact it ran for two seasons and 51 episodes on CBS from September 1968 to May 1970. Oh well. I’m still going to review the comic. As is often the case with such reviews, I haven’t seen any episodes of Lancer, so I can’t say whether the characters are accurately depicted.
Lancer starred James Stacy and Wayne Maunder as half-brothers Johnny Madrid Lancer and Scott Lancer. Andrew Duggan played their father Murdoch, who was a widower twice over. After he was injured in a raid on his ranch he sent for his sons, neither of whom knew the other existed. Johnny was a half-Mexican gunslinger while Scott was an educated Bostonian with a temper. Rounding out the cast was Elizabeth Baur as Teresa O’Brien, Murdoch’s young ward. She was orphaned when her father, the Lancer foreman, was murdered in the same raid that left Murdoch walking with a cane.
Lancer #1 Front Cover – Copyright 1968 Western Publishing Company
The likenesses of the characters in this issue aren’t terrible. Johnny and Scott may not look exactly like they did on TV but they’re identifiable. The hair on Johnny is particularly well-done. Murdoch looks vaguely like Andrew Duggan but poor Teresa is rather bland and doesn’t resemble Elizabeth Baur at all. But that’s typical of these comics and it doesn’t really detract from the story, which in this issue was quite good.
The two-part story starts with a confusing scene in which Johnny and Scott are being shot at by a shady character named Big Calaco and then flashes back to reveal that two gunslingers (one actually named Slinger) rode up to the Lancer ranch and demanded lodging. They told Murdoch and Teresa that Johnny had helped them rob an assayer and killed a man while doing it. If they are turned in, they’ll hang and Johnny will hang with them.
Lancer #1 Page 2 – Copyright 1968 Western Publishing Company
Johnny insists he refused to participate in the robbery but Slinger has Johnny’s silver medallion, the one Murdoch gave him. According to Slinger, the medallion was almost left behind after the robbery. Johnny says he tossed it into the brush months ago. To prove his innocence, Johnny rides off in the night looking for the man he was playing poker with while the robbery was taking place. Murdoch, however, believes his son is running because he’s guilty. Scott demands the opportunity to follow his half-brother and uncover the truth.
Obviously, there’s a happy ending for Johnny but not before he and Scott separately get themselves into trouble in Big Calaco’s outlaw town. They’re able to find proof of Johnny’s innocence and escape only by working together.
Lancer #1 Page 23 – Copyright 1968 Western Publishing Company
The dialogue is stilted and cliched. The phrase “hot lead” is used at least three times, if not more. Still, the story works. It’s even somewhat of a page turner even if the first part (“Circumstantial Evidence”) is a bit slow to get going. The second part (“Strangers in Outlaw Town”) is more explosive. Most of the comic tie-ins from the 1960s I’ve read aren’t that great. This was a fun read.
Teresa is depicted as feisty and protective of the Lancer family, at one point telling Murdoch to just kill the two gunslingers who accuse Johnny of murder (“Those two admit they’re murderers, Mr. Lancer! Let’s just shoot them, then they can’t talk!”). No explanation is given for why Murdoch was so eager to believe Johnny killed the assayer other than vague references to his gunslinger past.
There’s no publication date anywhere in the issue, only a copyright date of 1968. The Grand Comics Database states it was published in February 1969 but it was likely on sale months earlier. There’s an advertisement for the 1968 Golden Magazine Christmas Annual for Boys and Girls, said to be on sale in October. That suggests the comic was on newsstands in October or November 1968.
The issue includes two additional advertisements on the inner front and inner back covers for Matchbox and General Electric. There is a four-page Gold Key section in between the two parts of the story. This includes a Keys of Knowledge features about bison, a Picture Dictionary feature about four different definitions of the word “seal,” a special Gold Key Club Comics holiday offer, and a Dinosauria feature about triceratops. There is also one page of Mini-Comics.
Gold Key published two other issues of its Lancer comic book series. One or more issues were later reprinted in Germany and the Netherlands.
