RAWHIDE, starring Eric Fleming as trail boss Gil Favor and Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates, debuted on
television January 9, 1959. The show lasted for eight seasons and paved the way for Clint Eastwood’s
eventual stardom. RAWHIDE was about the various exploits of cowboys herding 3,000 head of cattle
across huge swaths of the old western frontier. The cowboys, also known as drovers, would encounter
bandits, rustlers, and various adventures resulting from the towns they encountered along the way.
Both the weather and the conditions on the ground, dry deserts and high mountains, were also
sources of challenge. Driving three thousand head of cattle is hard and dangerous work. It was Gil
Favor's and Rowdy Yates' responsibility, along with Wishbone the cook, to see both the cattle and the
cowboys made it to their destination safely.
Many popular television shows in the 1950’s and sixties were licensed for comic book adaptations,
particularly westerns and the company that published many of these adaptations was Dell Comics.
RAWHIDE appeared in six issues of Dell’s FOUR COLOR COLMICS series, specifically in issues #1028,
1097, 1160, 1202, 1261 and 1269. RAWHIDE was then featured in a one shot issue in 1962 and then in a
two issue series in 1963. The series boasts some excellent artists including Russ Manning and Dan
Spiegle. Saddle up and get ready to go rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ with RAWHIDE!
This book was compiled with the best images currently available. That stated, these comics are over
sixty years old. The best efforts have been made to make the pages as enjoyable as possible but not
every panel is perfect and some allowances for the age of the books need to be considered when
judging the overall contents.