Two-Gun Kid

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Two-Gun Kid
Image:Two-Gun Kid 01.jpg
Two-Gun Kid. Art by Scott Kolins.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance TWO-GUN KID #60 (Nov 1962)
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
In story information
Alter ego Matthew J. Hawk
Team affiliations Avengers
Fifty State Initiative
Desert Stars
Abilities None

The Two-Gun Kid is a fictional character, a cowboy gunslinger in the Wild West of Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe.

Contents

[edit] Publication history

The original Two-Gun Kid, Clay Harder, was Marvel's first continuing western character, appearing in Two-Gun Kid #1 (1948) and continuing off and on until 1962, with Joe Sinnott being the last artist to draw the original Kid on a regular basis. The second Two-Gun Kid, Matt Liebowicz (alias "Matt Hawk"--the Liebowicz name was eventually retconned in to replace the original "Hawk"), first appeared in Two-Gun Kid #60 (1962). The latter Kid is better known today, thanks primarily to his connection with and later full integration into the Marvel Universe, not to mention simply being more recent, but the earlier Kid enjoyed a prolific 14-year life span in comics. Two-Gun Kid #60 retconned the Clay Harder character out of existence, turning him into a dime novel character (at a time when comics had just gone up in price from a dime to twelve cents). The two Kids wore different outfits: Clay Harder had bright blond hair and wore an all-black suit with a plackard shirt, a broad-brimmed black hat, and packed two long-barreled pistols with individual overlapping gun belts, while Matt Hawk wore a similar outfit only with an orange-and-black spotted vest, a slightly narrower-brimmed hat, two pistols on a single gun belt, and a black mask covering the top half of his face in the Zorro style. At one point later in the second series, some of the original Kid's adventures were retouched to make him look like the newer Kid for reprints. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, creators of the Fantastic Four, concocted the new Kid to make the character resemble a superhero with a secret identity in order to stimulate sales for the title.

[edit] Fictional character biography

The character's original name was "Matt Hawk" but this was later retconned into "Matt Liebowicz." What follows is the current version of the character's biography: Matt Liebowicz was a lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts who was inspired to fight evil as a masked crimefighter of the 19th Century American West by the stories of the fictional "Two-Gun Kid", Clay Harder. After being trained in combat by the gunfighter Ben Dancer, Liebowicz assumed the dual identities of "Matt Hawk" and the Two-Gun Kid. With his horse Cyclone, his partner "Boom Boom" Brown, and a pair of pistols, he became one of the West's most prolific heroes, often teaming up with the Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt or the Phantom Rider. In one of his first adventures he fought an alien, and in other early outings he fought criminals who could only be called supervillains. During one adventure, he was brought to the present day via time travel and joined the superhero team of The Avengers. He fought alongside them before leaving to wander America alongside his teammate Hawkeye, and eventually returned to his own time, occasionally making a cameo appearance in other Western tales or stories of time travel.

The Two-Gun Kid: Sunset Riders limited series revealed that the Kid had married, only for his wife to die in childbirth; this series also revealed that the Kid had brought a cache of modern weapons back with him from the future. The later limited series Blaze of Glory depicted the Kid as retired from gunplay, now going by the name of Clay Harder and working as a full-time lawyer. The Rawhide Kid convinced him to return to action, but the Two-Gun Kid died in battle against the racist mercenary Nightriders, alongside his old partners Kid Colt and the Outlaw Kid.

[edit] The Return of the Two-Gun Kid

In She-Hulk (vol. 2) #3, Jennifer Walters, after dealing with the Time Variance Authority, is given the chance to free one time traveling Avenger out of continuity limbo. She chooses the Two-Gun Kid. It's clarified that his heroic nature prevents him from being returned to his own time, as he would inevitably try to fix things.

In present time, his learns his previous modern-day encounters with the Avengers has resulted in his law license and other paraphenellia being kept in an Avengers safety-deposit box. Once he learns She-Hulk works for a law-firm, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, he tries to become her colleague. He comes to the conclusion he will never be able to catch up on current laws and becomes a bounty hunter in issue #5. His first catch is Bushwacker.

For a time he rooms with the Awesome Android, who had reformed and was also an employee for the same law firm. He uses a twin-engine jet cycle to fly around the city. This cycle is donated to him by Hawkeye, an old friend who was aware of his past time-traveling difficulties and the potential for even more.

[edit] Civil War/The Initiative

During the Civil War event, Matt Hawk became a licensed bounty hunter and works alongside She-Hulk, helping her to apprehend super-villains. For example, he takes down the rampaging villain Ruby Thursday with a stun-rifle.[1] He was later sent to Arizona to lead the Desert Stars team of the Fifty State Initiative.[2]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ She-Hulk #10
  2. ^ NEWSARAMA - View Single Post - Cup o' Joe May - 23