SMILER COLBY
Real Name: "Smiler" Colby (first name
unrevealed)
Identity/Class: Normal human (Old West Era)
Occupation: Vigilante, drifter;
formerly guard for Wells Fargo
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Sheila (last name unrevealed,
deceased)
Enemies: Stagecoach
Killer
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile in frontier USA,
notably West Wells
First Appearance: Wild Western#31/2 (December,
1953)
Powers/Abilities: Smiler Colby is an
accomplished horse rider and gunfighter. Slim and dour, for a time, he
was very focused on finding
his fiancee's killer.
Height: 6'
(by approximation)
Weight: 165 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Brown
History:
(Wild Western#31/2 (fb)) - An armed guard for Wells Fargo stagecoaches, Smiler Colby had a happy disposition and was in love with an office girl called Sheila; they were engaged to be married. One day, a masked killer stole the payroll box and murdered Sheila to eliminate any witnesses. Colby rushed in and held her as she died; she revealed the killer had a distinctive snake tattoo on his forearm.
(Wild Western#31/2 (fb) - BTS) - Colby's personality
changed; he became grim
and determined to find Sheila's killer. For four years, he followed
clues to a local villain dubbed the Stagecoach Killer whom the local
sheriff at West Wells had failed to stop (because the sheriff was
secretly the masked Stagecoach Killer, following the same modus
operandi of armed
robbery, then shooting the witnesses).
(Wild Western#31/2) - From afar, Colby observed the
Stagecoach Killer in action, but was too late to stop the masked
criminal's murderous escape. Colby rode sullenly into the nearby town
of West Wells. The sheriff formed a posse to go to the scene of the
latest stagecoach robbery; several recognized Colby, but the sheriff
instead tried to raise suspicion against him. The sheriff tried to
bully Colby to leave town, but the grim gunman stayed, haunting the
stagecoach track. Days later, he arrived too late after another
robbery. The sheriff leveled false charges against Colby, but Colby
escaped and hid for days in the countryside. Colby waited for the
sheriff to get overconfident as emerge as the Stagecoach Killer. By
chance, Colby found the Stagecoach Killer and forced him to reveal his
tattooed forearm. Colby shot him in vengeance, then walked away, not
bothering to see who the masked killer was revealed to be. Colby rode
off into the sunset and a quiet existence.
Comments: Created by an uncredited writer, Syd Shores (pencils & inks).
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Smiler Colby has no known connections to:
The sheriff (name unrevealed) of the frontier town of West Wells turned
secretly to murderous robbery as the
Stagecoach Killer. He murdered those he stole from at gunpoint so
that they could not identify him, but wore a handkerchief over his face
plus different tunic and hat to fool any surviving witnesses. He had a
distinctive snake tattoo on his right forearm, but covered it with a glove and long sleeve. Early in his criminal
career, he killed a Wells Fargo office assistant, Sheila, and stole the
payroll. Her fiance, Smiler Colby, swore revenge and tracked the masked
killer
for four years. The Stagecoach Killer continued to plunder from passing
stagecoaches; being sheriff, he knew which stagecoaches were protected
and deflected attention. But the sheriff was overconfident, continuing
his signature crimes, and Colby finally closed in, despite the sheriff trying to level false charges against him. Colby stopped
another stagecoach robbery and, recognizing the tattoo, shot the killer
dead when he tried to draw a gun.
--Wild Western#31/2
images:
(without ads)
Wild Western#31/2, p2, pan4 (main image)
p3, pan4 (headshot)
p3, pan6 (Stagecoach Killer with mask)
p2, pan6 (Stagecoach Killer as sheriff)
Appearances:
Wild Western#31/2 (December, 1953) - uncredited writer, Syd Shores
(pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Last updated: 03/31/19
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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