By Fibivell Jackson

T HUNDER McGuire was a big, strapping
man with whiskers as strong as railroad
spikes and eyebrows bushy enough to hide a
covey of sage hens. His shoulders were wider
than a longhorn’s long horns and the muscles
of his arms looked as if he’d accidentally
gotten a couple of basketballs under his skin.
Luckily, he was a real good-natured feller ex¬
cept when he got angry.

When he wanted to be, Thunder McGuire
was the best cowhand that was ever born south
of the North Pole. The wildest mustang
couldn’t throw him. He was a dead shot if
any rustlers happened to be foolish enough
to nose around any spread where he was work¬
ing. And he once stopped a stampede of two-
thousand head of cattle by just merely stand¬
ing out in front of them and frowning at them.
Those steers were plumb scared to pass by
good old Thunder when he was a-frowning!

As I said, he was a good cowhand when he
wanted to be, but mostly he liked to be in
town where there was excitement. And when¬
ever he was in town, there was bound to be
excitement. He only took ranch jobs when he
ran out of money, which was frequently, be¬
cause he was a generous-hearted feller and
whenever he happened to bust anything he
wanted to pay up the expenses for having it
fixed.

Yes sir, he was broke quite a lot of the
time. Like one time he was broke he went into
the Silver Dollar Casino. He was mighty
thirsty from just having wrestled thirty men
all at once out on the courthouse lawn. He
licked them all, of course, but a job like that
would work up a thirst for ’most anybody.

So he went into the Casino and wanted to
get a drink of sody pop on credit. He says to
Old Slick Pompadour, the proprietor, “Slick,
how far would you trust me?”

“I would trust you just about as far as you
could throw a piano!” said Slick, who was in
a mean mood on account of his ulcers jumping
around again.

“Well, let’s just see how far that is!” said
Thunder, and before Slick could even gasp.
Thunder picked up the piano off the dance
floor and marched outside with it. Then he
heaved that piano clean over the blacksmith
shop and over the Grain and Feed store and
down past the jail and plumb into the middle

Slick was so hopping mad he got hold of the
sheriff and swore out a complaint against
Thunder McGuire. The sheriff wasn’t scared
of anybody so he says, “Thunder, you’ve got
to go to the jail house and if you don’t go
peaceable, I’ll get me a cannon and put a
cannonball through your ornery hide! ’

Thunder chuckled, and his chuckle sounded
like four bowling alleys all going at once. He
said, “I'll go peaceable, Sheriff. ’Cause if you
were to shoot that cannonball at me, it would
just bounce off and hit some innocent person.
I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

The sheriff took Thunder off to the jail
and locked him in a cell where the walls were
solid stone, four feet thick. Thunder sat th’ere
peaceable for about a minute, then he thought,
“There isn’t too much excitement in here.
Think I’ll take me a stroll uptown and see
what’s going on.”

He didn’t want to bother the sheriff about
unlocking the door and all that, so he just up
with his fist and knocked out the side wall of
the cell.

When Slick saw him walking around free
as a bird, he was fit to have apple plexy. He
stormed into the sheriff’s office and yelled,
“You’ve got to arrest him again!”

“No sirree!” said the sheriff. “I’m not going
to have the jail busted down all the time.
Jails don’t grow on trees. Besides, Thunder
has promised to buy you a new piano as soon
as he gets the money. That’ll have to satisfy
you!”

This matter I have told you about was just
(Continued on inside back cover)

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

commander: i

COMP LIME NTS.'

FOR HIS GALLOP
BEFORE SUNPOVM
EVERY NIGHT/

I UNIFORMS ) VES, SIR, ^

MAJOR /COLONEL MUNPy.1

I VULTURES I

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

t'M FOP CAMERON, T
JEW CIVILIAN SCOUT/
I'M TO REFORT TO

ANYTHING UNTIL
m OUT MORE!

JUST THOUGHT OF A
' GET NEXT MONTH'S y

MAJOR HAKE'S

) TO l70 IS SCRAWL
' AN ILLEGIBLE
SIGNATURE ON THIS 1
RECEIPT ANP THE A

SIGNATURE (

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

WOULD you 90 ME A FAVOR ^
AN? TAKE THIS PISTOL SACK)
TO GENERAL SAN NOCK AT J
HEADQUARTERS/ TELL HIM J
T COULDN'T DELIVER IT y«g|j
BECAUSE MAJOR HAKE J § %

MEANWHILE,
TIL GO GIVE THIS

_ RECEIPTTO
r THE DRIVER/ }

: MISTAKEN,

}F COMMA NO HERE.'
, TREMENDOUS HOA)

HAPPENED TO MAJOR

COME HE IS BURIED

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

LET'S SHOOT I

= ) MAKING A

/mistake,

MEN.' THIS

I TELL you HE'S NOT A COLONEL/ iB
ME MURUERE P MAJOR HAKE^d^
ANP TOOK HIS FLA CE/y^p /V10V|MG|
Kp»PJ|ra^ MISTER.' WE'VE GO

IHKPmi A NICE QUIET CELL

jjv for you/

IT'S NO USE/ I RECKON THE ^

SOLPIERS WILL OBEY THE MAN \b
THE OFFICER'S UNIFORM AND
NOTHING I SAY WILL CONVINCE
THEM THAT HE IS AN IMPOSTER/
I'LL HAVE TO FIGURE SOME WAY
TO GET ALL THE SOLDIERS OUT
OF CAMP SO I CAN BE ALONE
WITH THESE CRITTERS/^

CROSSBAR

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

J BACK TO DRAW

GOOD/ HERE COME THE SOL PIERS/ IHEY'LL NEVI
CATCH THE INDIANS NOW, BUT THEY'LL GIVE M
^ENOUGH TIME TO GET THOSE TWO POLECATS.'

THE PUCE IS EMPTY/
p* NOW I’LL SEE THE .
COLONEL ALONE/

OFF ON A WILD GOOSE CHASE
WHEN THE REAL ENEMIES OF v
OUR COUNTRY ARE y~, -

\guarpJ}

OUT CHASING
.INDIANS/^

5R TURNING IN THOSE,
RETURNING TH^^d

CROOKS WERE ) CROOKS ANP f
FOUND GUILTY J PAYROLL ANP, ’

OF MURDER, ^APPRECIATION T(

general; J friends for the. r% r. t ..r,

-v r-a GOING TO SEND THEM SEVERAL
^*\r*N^WAGONl°ADS OF GIFTS/^

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

>’RE ALSO A A
>LP STEALING-
BANDIT.'

r SHUCK5, FELLERS, WE
ALL KNOW ROD CAMERON’S ]
REPUTATION.' WE CAN TELL J
► HIM 1 WE*RE CARRYING <4
GOLD DUST. 1 THE RESULT T
„ OF A YEAR’S PROSPECTING I
JyAND WE’RE TOTING IT

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

SURE, HERE.' I .
D THE HANDLES *
> SPECIALLY FOR

UNGH.

SNEAKING

ARE HANDSOME LOOKING
THOUGH.' I RECKON I J LL 1

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

^ RECKON I’VE*FOUND ME
SOMF PROSPEROUS VICTIM*

WYAR’S OUR GOi
rn^HOSE GUNS-

FIRING,

WHAT I AIM

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

’ YOUR GUNS/

ACCUSE HIM JUST BFCAUSE HE ,

PALAVER J

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

Cohere were no gunshots and no robbers,
but town after town was looted-picked clean,
and not a clue as to who was responsible for the
crime/ Sod Cameron, valiant fighter for law and
order, sets out to solve this strange purzle and
finds himself up against a gang of ruthless ■*'
killers who are as cunning as they are cruel:

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

SORT OF FIGHTING.'

)TALKING BY GETTING

OU WORK HIM OVER <
THE WINDOW AND \

' Booking]

BLAYSVILLE, SHERIFF.'
IT'S HARMLESS ENTER'
' TAINMENT FOR THE '
TOWNSPEOPLE/ WHY

’ GALOOT 1

! ANY FIGHTING

ROD CAMERON WESTERN.

wow.' DID you SEE TH>
HE KNOCKED OUT ROC
j fe pr CAMERON/

IF HE COULP VO THAT,
THEN I WOULDN'T TRY
TANGLING WITH HIM/

Pthen if THERE are!
NO/MORE CONTESTANTS,
WE HAVE TO LEAVE AND ,
PUT OUR SHOW ON IN J
THE NEXT TOWN/ ^

‘ THAT MOMENT-

) BEATEN IN A FAIR FIGHT,
'BUT WHAT I CANT FIGURE
\OUT IS HOW I GOT THIS
1 BUMP ON MY HEAD FROM
A PUNCH ON THE JAW/J

HING HAPPENED AT *

ALL VALUABLES GON

> MEET THE OTHERS HERE/
WONDER VVHATS^HEEPING,

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

D BETTER BE MOVING NOW.' COME ON,

IL RIDE OFF AND LAY LOW SOME-
IERE UNTIL IT'S TIME FOR US Wmk
TO GO TO THE NEXT TOWN/^ 1 I

^BUSINESS IS '

VERY BAD.' I

STAND.’ THE / ,n«i n M rr E n»
PLACE WAS ' ^ADVANCE PUB
ALMOST EMPTY J PUTTING ON

,THAT'S PROBABLY BECAUSE V
) THE PEOPLE LOST ALL THEIR Ji
/MONEY IN THE ROBBERIES M.
TUA-r UAnneucr, WHILE YOUR

LICITY MEN WERE

I CAUGHT THEM
STEALING/ >

1 AND A R BIG A JASPE^'
I^THEYjCA^LED jj |

SOME TIME LATER, IN THE HILLS
OUTSIDE OF HAMPTON CREEK —

HEADING FOR HAMPTON ^
CREEK' THOSE VARMINTS
MUST BE BUSY THERE ^
tesrALR EAPy/janfl^^fl

WHAT TOWN ARE
YOU SCHEDULED .
TO PLAV NEXT^

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

FOR HOURS ROD STRAWS

CREEK ISA RICH TOWN.' Wf
^OUGHTTO VO WELL THERE/

LOOSENEP/

t THE SNEAKING COYOTES/
7 WELL, THEY'RE IN -*ig
W FOR A RIGHT *
V MIGHTY SURPRISE/ <

/MEANS THAT THE LOOTERS -
/ARE STILL AT WORK ANP THEV
' ARE THE ONE'S WE'RE GOING
AFTER FIRST.' COME ON, WAP

[YOU VARMINTS ARE GOING

^ OUT OF BUSINESS <*-

' COLLECT TONIGHT/

ROD.CAMERON WESTERN

THOSE EMPTy

I TAKE CARE OF
THE OTHER.' J

T VALUABLES TO THE,
g |OCKAN.THEV^

/circus COMES TO
l\ HAMPTON CREEK/

■ JROD CAMERON,^

/we shore are

'GLAD VO'RE ALWAYS
^THERE'S TROUBLE^
Srtf THET NEEDS

HANDLING^

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

' IT'S NO wonder:, rod.' he never
EATS ANYTHING/ EVERY PAYDAY HE
GOES OUT INTO THE WOODS AND JUi
TOSSES HIS SALARY AWAY/ COME 01
WE'LL FOLLOW HIM SO YUH CAN

SEE FER YORESELF/ <

A WALKING
SKELETON/

.

TOSSES IT AWAY/ I CAN’T MAKE
HEADS NOR TAILS OF IT EITHER/ ^

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

rIONE Y! I RECKON THE HH

(VINO MUST HAVE ,-

CARRIED IT /-S EITHER ^
r AWA//7 THE REGULAR

\ I'M NOT SURE MY5ELF, GROWN.' A GOOD
\ FRIEND OF MINE PUTS ON A HYPNOTI ST
/ACT AT THE LOCAL CARNIVAL.' IF IT'S ALL
/RIGHT WITH VOU, I'M GOING TO BRING
HIM BACK TO YOUR PLACE AND SEE IF HE CAN

^STGETCHINGj^j^--

\ THE EVIL SRRITS—THEY ARE
) EVERYONE KNOWS THAT EVIL £
/MONEY, SO THE ONLY VWYI CA
\MYSELF IS BY TOSSING MY MO!
> AWAY SO THAT THE SPIRITS
WILL CHASE IT INSTEAD .

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

that would have been all right ^

HAP W£ CAKRIEP ON THIS EXPERIMENT i
IN PRIVATE, BUT WITH ALL THOSE J
PEOPLE WATCHING THIS STORY IS
BOUNP TO LEAK OUT ANP I'M AFRAlP J
THE BANPIT WON'T BE AROUNP

/PO IS WAIT UNTIL
v NEXT PAY PAY -<
}anpthen arrest

A CHINESE SUPERSTITION
ABOUT TOSSING MONEY Ti
THE WINP TO WARP OFF E\
SPIRITS COULPN'T BE TOO
WELL-KNOWN/ SOMEONE
WOULP HAVE TO HAVE POf

MEANWHILE-

'VE GOT \ I'M SORRY TO BARGE IN ON
PRIVATE ) YOUR PRIVATE PARTY, SPORTV'
NCOMEf / BUT I'VE GOT A MESSAGE J
_ v FOR YOU FROM SOME

\ | K£m sp/R/rs/^y/^p

YES, IT WOULP BE HARP
FORGET SINCE THAT WAS '
FIRST TIME ANYONE y~^
EVER ASHED ME xfS*
FOR SUCH A BOOK/

IT WAS SPORTY
^EVANS' *1

ROD CAMERON WESTERN

WHAT? 1 THE HE5SASA 6
V?ETUB?I Alu ‘HJTT
■I ^^TR!C*1»S CUT <

TO THE SENEGAL STORE SO '
TEU. CHINS THE TRUTH/^r

Thunder McGuire

(Continued from inside front cover)

a for-instance. Good Old Thunder was all the
time doing interesting things like that, and
naturally he became quite a hero around town.
He was especially a hero to the small fry. Why
there was ’most always a whole platoon of
little boys following along after Thunder,
trying to walk like him and talk like him and
be just as much like him as possible.

Everbody thought that was pretty cute ex¬
cept one man. He was James J. Duncan, the
new school teacher. Now is was common gener¬
ally in those parts to have a school marm, but
under the influence of Thunder McGuire, the
students had become too rough for any lady to
handle. So they brought in a man for the job.
And I’ve got to admit that James J. Duncan
was every inch a man. Trouble was, there
weren’t enough inches. He was only about
average height and kind of slender.

Some of those little kids in his classroom—
the boys of eighteen and nineteen—were even
bigger than the teacher. ’Course, he could’ve
licked some of the smaller ones, but he had
some queer notions and one of ’em was that
he didn’t believe in spankings.

Yessir, James J. Duncan no spankee and
even the little kids soon found out about it.
Every two or three days, the whole class would
be missing except for the girls. And they all
got so brazen, they wouldn’t lie about where
they’d been. They say, “We all went to watch
Old Thunder lick his weight in wildcats!” Or,
“We were watching Old Thunder bust an anvil
in two with his bare hands.”

Whenever he could get a quorum into his
classroom, one of the things this teacher kept
drilling into the pupils was this: “If you don’t
know the answer, at least know where you can
find the answer!” To me that seemed like a
dumb thing to harp on because any blame fool
knows you can always find the answer in the
back of the book.

But that’s neither here nor there. The stu¬
dents got to be absenter and absenter and once,
when they didn’t show up for a whole week
because they were all on a roundup with

Thunder McGuire, the teacher couldn’t stand
it any more. He marched right up to that giant
of a man and he said, “Thunder, you are a bad
influence on the children. You’d better get out
of town.”

Old Thunder looked down on James J.
Duncan like as if he was a catty piller. He
said, “Teacher, that’s good advice for you. If
you ain’t out of town by sundown, I’m going
to bust you in two with my bare fists.”

Well, sir, nobody was much surprised when
the teacher packed up and caught the four
o’clock stage for Frisco. And nobody blamed
him, either. That is, none of the men. Some of
the womenfolk said it was a shame that such
a good teacher turned out to be a coward. We
were a mite surprised a few weeks later to
hear that James J. Duncan had got on board
of a ship and sailed plumb out of the country.
Seemed no call for him to go that far. ’Tweren’t
likely that Thunder McGuire would chase

ing when somebody shakes my shoulder and
hollers, “Hey, wake up. Who do you think is
back in town? The school teacher! And if you
hurry you can see him and Thunder have their
showdown on the courthouse lawn!”

Believe me, I slid into my breeches faster
than a fireman. There was a big circle of folks
on the lawn, watching, as Thunder and Duncan
squared off facing each other, but I managed
to squeeze up front.

Thunder let out a roar and lunged at the
little man. The teacher sort of backed away,
then he made a quick grab at Thunder. It was
amazing. Thunder flew up in the air, turned
a somersault, and landed on his back with an
earth-shaking thud. The teacher jumped on
him and pressed a finger on Thunder’s neck.
That giant of a man lay still, licked for the
first time in his life. It was astonishing!

W ELL, sir, that’s about the end of the
story. That teacher never ran away at
all. He just simply went over to Japan and
took some jujitsu lessons. Then he came back
and used what he had learned on Big Old
Thunder. Believe me, interest in his classes
really perked up after that, and who do you
think became one of his star pupils? —
Thunder McGuire!

THE END

THE MAGAZINE THAT HAS .. .

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ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

TEEN TITANS

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Teen Titans copyright ol DC Comics

ROD CAMERON WESTERN