As noted in our postings on Jane and Snood, Tom Mix's gang on the TM Bar Ranch were known as the Straight Shooters. They used that phrase frequently, and applied it to others beyond themselves. So, in every issue of Tom Mix Comics there was a Straight-Shooters! page featuring a real-world figure in a biographical profile, starting with Tom Mix himself -
The feature went on to spotlight the kind of notable western history figures one might expect...
Another way they used the Straight Shooters hook was to bring in the readers themselves...
They featured several spreads with the names of kids who joined the Straight Shooters Honor Role,<sic> building their fan base with readers and radio show listeners like the Supermen Of America, who might be more familiar to modern readers.
But, as we've seen with Jane and Snood, the war came to the TM Bar Ranch and the book changed from Tom Mix Comics to Tom Mix Commandos. With that shift, the feature changed from Straight-Shooters! to Commandos And Their Weapons -
There was another change beyond just the war, but i can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe you can spot the oddness not related to WW2...
Wash was another member of the Straight Shooters, as you may have noted in the pic we use when talking about them -
Being an actual person helped Wash to avoid being drawn in the heavily caricatured style typical of the times, but didn't save him from the step'n'fetchit dialectics. He was saddled with them in the radio show, too, so there was no sparing him here.
The feature went on to spotlight the kind of notable western history figures one might expect...
 |
| (Movies LIED to me about how Kit Carson looked, apparently) |
Another way they used the Straight Shooters hook was to bring in the readers themselves...
They featured several spreads with the names of kids who joined the Straight Shooters Honor Role,<sic> building their fan base with readers and radio show listeners like the Supermen Of America, who might be more familiar to modern readers.
But, as we've seen with Jane and Snood, the war came to the TM Bar Ranch and the book changed from Tom Mix Comics to Tom Mix Commandos. With that shift, the feature changed from Straight-Shooters! to Commandos And Their Weapons -
There was another change beyond just the war, but i can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe you can spot the oddness not related to WW2...
Wash was another member of the Straight Shooters, as you may have noted in the pic we use when talking about them -
Being an actual person helped Wash to avoid being drawn in the heavily caricatured style typical of the times, but didn't save him from the step'n'fetchit dialectics. He was saddled with them in the radio show, too, so there was no sparing him here.
page art by Fred Meagher from Tom Mix Comics #s 1-9 and Tom Mix Commandos #s 10-12 (1940, 1942)
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