JESSE DOUGLAS

Real Name: Jesse Douglas

Identity/Class: Human (Old West era)

Occupation: Bank robber, lawyer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Dave "Blaze" Carson, Peter

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Honest" John Dabney

Base of Operations: Red Dog (see comments)

First Appearance: Blaze Carson#3 (January 1949)

Powers/Abilities: Jesse Douglas was a reasonable shot with pistols, good enough to beat the average man in the street and thus good enough to rob banks, but no match for a seasoned gunslinger like Blaze Carson. He was also an excellent orator.

Height: Unrevealed (see comments)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black

History:
(Blaze Carson#3 (fb) - BTS) - Despite studying law and having the option of a well paying honest career, Jesse Douglas became a wanted bank robber and killer. Garnering a $5000 bounty on his head, he shaved off his goatee and mustache, altered his hairline, adopted the alias of lawyer "Honest" John Dabney, moved to the small frontier town of Red Dog, and ran for sheriff against the incumbent, Blaze Carson. Unlike the taciturn Blaze, "Honest John" was an excellent speechmaker, and so despite Blaze's sterling record, the new candidate soon looked like he would win the election.

(Blaze Carson#3) - Election posters carrying "Honest John's" face went up around town, intriguing Blaze, who was convinced his rival's face looked familiar, but couldn't place where he'd seen it prior to "John's" arrival in town. Spotting Blaze walking around town with a young boy (Blaze's cousin once removed, Pete), "John" tried to endear himself further to the townspeople by being seen talking to the lad, but when he talked condescendingly to Pete, the lad responded by calling him a baboon. As "John's" anger started to overflow, Blaze sensibly ushered the boy away.

    However, when Pete later began defacing Blaze's election posters with his crayons in full view of the public, "John" was happy to capitalize on this, declaring it a judgement against Blaze's efficacy "from the mouth of babes." Irked, Blaze told Pete off, and the boy promised never to draw on Blaze's posters again; instead he vandalized "John's." The enraged candidate chased the lad, who sought shelter with his cousin, who warned "John" to keep his hands off Pete or else Blaze would colt-whip him. "John" angrily showed Blaze what Pete had done, accusing Blaze of employing unfair means to stay in office. Staring in interest at the revised poster, where Pete had added beard, mustache and a cowlick of forehead hair to "John's" visage, Blaze's memories of where he had seen his rival before were stirred. Promising he wouldn't let Pete do it again, Blaze dismissed "John," who stalked off fuming, then realized the risk he was running.

    Heading to the sheriff's office, "John" overheard Blaze uncovering his real identity on a wanted poster and thanking Pete for his unwitting help. Entering the room with his gun drawn, Jesse admitted who he really was but said it would do the sheriff no good; Jesse intended to shoot both of them, confident he could then talk his way out of it with the townsfolk. However, as he moved closer he trod on one of Pete's precious crayons, prompting the enraged lad to throw the entire box at Jesse's face. The momentary distraction was enough for the speedy Blaze to dodge Jesse's shot then draw his own gun and wound Jesse in the shoulder.

    Jesse was arrested, and Pete took great pleasure in drawing prison bars over another of Jesse's election posters.

Comments: Created by uncredited creators; Atlas Tales believes it was penciled by Pierce Rice, and I'm happy to accept that in absence of evidence to the contrary.

   The state that the frontier town Red Dog is in remains unrevealed. Some websites say it is in Texas, which is certainly an option, but it's by no means a certainty. The Texas idea seems to come from Blaze Carson#1, where the sheriff recounts that he had a decade prior been a sheriff in Dodge City, Texas. During this time he owned a gun that once belonged to Billy the Kid (incidentally placing Blaze's stories after 1891, as they have to take place at least a decade after Billy's demise), but believing it to be cursed he had thrown it away into a canyon, only for it to show up in Red Dog ten years later. Given that someone had found the gun, it might be believed that Red Dog has to be in the same state as Dodge City, but this overlooks two important points - firstly, Blaze made a point of putting distance between himself and Dodge, since it held bad memories for him, and second that the gun is said to have ended up in Tucson, where it was purchased as a gift for the new owner Blaze encounters. So the gun had moved to Arizona before falling into the possession of its latest owner, and could easily have been transported even further away from its initial starting point. Placing Red Dog by in-story evidence that hints at geographical locations - plentiful cacti, canyons, desert, gold prospectors, cattle ranchers, a small number of Mexican bandits - only really narrows it down to the southwestern corner of the United States and around half a dozen states - Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Texas.

    This profile was completed 12/23/2020, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Jesse Douglas has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)

Blaze Carson#3, p3, pan6 (main image)
Blaze Carson#3, p5, pan1 (wanted poster with original facial hair displayed)

Appearances:
Blaze Carson#3 (January 1949) - uncredited creators

First Posted: 09/01/2021
Last updated: 08/29/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters