Mood: a-ok
Topic: TV Shows
Wyatt Earp... I have to admit rembering the Hugh O'Brian version of Wyatt Earp on the TV show... yes I am that old, (baby boomer) !! The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp was a western television series that was loosely based upon the adventures of the frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. It was a half-hour black and white series that ran on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp. Amazingly, an off-camera barbershop quartet sings the theme song and hums the catchy background music in the early episodes of this TV show! Dell Comics printed a series of Wyatt Earp comics, after publishing three issues in the 'Four Color Comics' run.The photo covers with Hugh is the main reason for this title's collector popularity, (see comic book cover to the left for example). The issues ran from #4 (Septemeber 1958) thru #13 ending in December, 1960. Growing up in the 1950's I watched a lot of westerns on TV. I didn't get to see many western movies until the mid 1960's as they cost money and I was buying comics for my entertainment with my allowance instead. When looking for Wyatt Earp comics based upon my nostalgia for the TV Show, I came across Wyatt Earp comics from Atlas Comics that were published from November 1955 to June 1960. They had nothing to do with the Hugh O'Brian portrayal of Earp, but this Earp version was also printed in Gunsmoke Western, also published by Atlas. Marvel Comics, (Atlas' sucessor), reprinted some of these stories from issue #30 to 34 from 1972 - 1973. Charlton Comics also got into the Wyatt Earp business about the same time with their Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshall comic in January 1956. Earp's name must have been in the public domain, as they had issues #12 thru #72 which ran until December 1967. My main interest in Wyatt Earp was the TV show and the spinoff comics. However I do enjoy the Atlas/Marvel version also. I would not put Hugh's version up there with either Roy Rogers, or Gene Autry, but it was a good representation of the late 1950's cowboy heroes TV Shows. For those interested in Wyatt Earp Comics run we have listed them in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store . We have many more western comic books also! |
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