More Western Comic fun..On the Ponderosa

I watched a good amount of Bonanza reruns as a kid. I don’t remember too much about the show other than the actors. Of course, I can picture Lorne Greene, from Battlestar Galactica, playing Ben Cartwright and Michael Landon, from Little House on the Prairie, as Little Joe, but the thing that sticks out the most is how much Pernell Roberts, who played Adam Cartwright, reminded me of my Uncle Paul. Roberts played the oldest of the three Cartwright sons. He was confident and cool with his jet-black hair. When I found this small stack of Bonanza comics, I picked them up wondering if I’d still feel the same about Adam Cartwright in a 12-cent comic book from 1964.

This particular issue has three stories in it: two with the Cartwrights and one featuring Bedrock Barnes, Prospector. Little Joe, Hoss, and Ben all show up in the first story, and the second one focuses mostly on Hoss. All the stories are pretty standard fare; bank robbers, common fantasy western dialog, and “white savior” stories where the heroes have to save some Native Americans from some other murderous, racist, white folks. Unfortunately, Adam is not really used in any of them. He’s there but does not have more than a line or two of dialog in a couple of panels.

I purchased this issue along with three others for a dollar each at a local comic show in 2024. If the comic looks interesting and is not falling apart, golden age books in the cheap bins will get me almost every time. The photo cover is pretty common for a Gold Key comic based on a TV show. In fact, all four issues that I bought have photo covers. This is the only one that Pernell is on, so my hopes of getting to know Adam Cartwright in the comics might not work out too well for me, but I’ve still got a couple of days left for Western Comics Month and three more chances to visit with him on the Ponderosa.

No matter how the other issues turn out though, I loved my Uncle Paul and just looking at these comics brought back fond memories of watching the old TV show and of him.