Indicia title is "JOHNNY MACK BROWN COMICS", No. 455." Code number is J.M.B.O.S. #455-533. Copyright 1953 by Johnny Mack Brown. On-sale date is publication date in Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1953 Pamphlets, page 81.
First Four Color issue after regular Johnny Mack Brown (Dell, 1950) series ends with #10 (September-November 1952).
Cover
Johnny Mack Brown Comics / 1 page
Pencils
? (photo); ? (background)
Inks
? (photo); ? (background)
Colors
? (photo); ? (background)
Genre
Western-frontier
Characters
Johnny Mack Brown (photo)
Notes
Cover is an edited photo with a hand-drawn background illustration.
Text Article
California's Desert Posse (1 page)
Synopsis
Short article about the modern-day California desert posse, based in the San Bernadino Sheriff's office.
Letters
typeset
Genre
Non-fiction; Western-frontier
Pencils
August Lenox (signed)
Inks
August Lenox (signed)
Notes
Inside front cover; black and white. Two illustrations with typeset text.
Comic Story
The Race Track Trick / Johnny Mack Brown (16 pages)
Synopsis
Johnny happens upon an accident when a horse falls down a hill and the rider's leg is broken. He takes the man to his nearby ranch, where he finds that this is one of a number of "accidents" that have befallen the rancher and his men recently.
Genre
Western-frontier
Characters
Johnny Mack Brown; Rebel (horse)
Pencils
Sparky Moore
Inks
Sparky Moore
Notes
Faces with rather big ears and horses often moving as if flying are points to notice on Sparky Moore art, and later the many closeup faces in sideview. He had most of the stories in Dell's Rin Tin Tin, and also several on Mack Brown and other westerns. He is credited on Johnny Mack Brown by Jerry Bails' Who's Who.
Text Story
The Border Trail (2 pages)
Synopsis
A taciturn prospector refuses to give directions to a pair of men on the run after a murder, leaving them to pick their own way at a fork in the trail. One way leads to the border, the other to a deathtrap in quicksand.
Letters
typeset
Genre
Western-frontier
Notes
Text story with two 1/4 page illustrations.
Comic Story
Johnny Mack Brown and the Glass Scavenger / Johnny Mack Brown (8 pages)
Synopsis
A hotel guest hides a map to his dead brother's gold mine in a bottle and lowers it to a pile of bottles below the window of his room. The next morning two crooks rough him up looking for the map before Johnny interrupts them. After telling Johnny his story, the man finds that the pile of bottles has been taken by a junk man who's building a bottle house in the desert five miles out of town. The house builder turns out to be Mule Beardsley, an old friend of Johnny's.
Genre
Western-frontier
Characters
Johnny Mack Brown; Mule Beardsley
Pencils
Jesse Marsh
Inks
Jesse Marsh
Notes
Most probably this is the work of Marsh, and the faces on page 3 have some of his characteristic protuding lips. The horses are clearly his, as the face of the old man with strawhat. He is credited on Mack Brown by Jerry bails's Who's Who, and had most of the early ones.
Comic Story
Murder in the Dark (6 pages)
Synopsis
A stranger rides into Red Rock just before midnight to report a murder. The next morning the stranger rides with the sheriff back to the murder site, but the stranger's story arouses suspicion.
Genre
Western-frontier
Characters
Sheriff Walt Morrison
Notes
A generic western story, not Johnny Mack Brown.
Text Article
The Prospector's Burro (1 page)
Synopsis
Facts about burros.
Genre
Non-fiction; Western-frontier
Pencils
Till Goodan (signed)
Inks
Till Goodan (signed)
Letters
Till Goodan
Notes
Inside back cover; black and white. Two illustrations and hand-lettered text.
Illustration
Johnny lighting a lantern / Johnny Mack Brown (1 page)
Synopsis
Johnny Mack Brown lighting an old-fashioned kerosene lantern.
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