The Kid himself has been floating in the fringes of Marvel Comics for decades (he wasn't always gay)... and was even featured as a tough, grimy, no-nonsense hero in Marvel's recent Apache Skies western miniseries. Although that version was obviously modernized for today's action movie audience - long hair, trenchcoat, stubble - this version of the Kid could easily run side-by-side with his adventures in the 1950s, thanks to Severin's impeccably classical style. He really is the perfect artist for this sort of thing.

The Kid can come off as a stereotype, but if you place yourself in the timeframe, you could see him as the first of his kind, so to speak. We've all heard a western hero bellow "Ya'll better stop it before I git mad!" The same dialogue coming from the mouth of a gay character takes on an entirely new flavor. Hell, men firing guns already has a certain homoerotic appeal. Take a second look at the series' subtitle, "Slap Leather." There's a fine line between macho and homo, and The Rawhide Kid loves to expose how close they can be.

The Kid's interaction with straight cowpokes is the book's strongest stuff. Everybody is in awe of his gunfighting skills and his legend as a righter of wrongs, but when they meet him, they end up scratching their heads and remarking that he seems a little strange. And in most cases, one of the other cowboys will remark how the Kid "shore dresses nice." It fits perfectly with how Middle America treats homosexual men today... with silent unease.

But don't assume that the Kid is a sissy, because he continually outshoots and outfights anybody willing to take him on. Despite the cliche, he is a strong and able character. It's stupid that I feel I should have to point that out, as if a gay character normally wouldn't be considered strong, but that's the way the stereotype falls, I suppose.

The book's problem is that it plays everything for laughs, which hurts what could be a very serious and multidimensional look at the Gay Cowboy. The Kid's dandy antics counterpointed with the townspeople's apprehensions could provide actual commentary instead of a bad SNL skit. But like I said, it isn't the Kid that's the problem, it's nearly everybody else. The children of the town all talk like adult stand-up comics, spouting sassy dialogue that instantly rings false. The worst moment has been the appearance of the town's Mayor in issue #2, a George W. Bush parody in appearance, action, and name. That sort of predictable comedy destroys the believability of the main storyline and reduces the entire series into a one-note joke.

What's even more of a joke is the righteous morons standing up to denounce the miniseries. As you can imagine, having a gay cowboy book put Marvel Comics on lots of TV news briefs, and every gay-bashing citizens group had to clambor for equal time.

"It is an assault on children because it is sending them the message that homosexuality is an acceptable, normal lifestyle," said Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute. "It is also a perversion of Westerns. All Western heroes have been portrayed as straight shooters — and that just doesn't mean hitting a target with a gun. It's a matter of character."

As if only children read comic books. As if homosexual people can't be of good character. And as if writers aren't allowed to spin old ideas into new directions. Fuckwad. That idiot also said "Why is Marvel glorifying homosexuality when it has taken so many lives and played a role in so many sexually transmitted diseases?" So has the automobile industry. So has Christianity. And why does the Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute have a man for their director?

This miniseries will end up ignored in the long run... and rightly so since it didn't live up to its potential. It should have been a better book and instead it's erring on the side of Mad Magazine. I'd definitely suggest reading it, but closing your eyes during the over-the-top comedy parts.