''Latigo'' was a

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

written and drawn by

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

Stan Lynde Myron Stanford Lynde (September 23, 1931 – August 6, 2013) was an American comic strip artist, painter and novelist. Biography Born 23 September 1931 in Billings, Montana, he was raised on a sheep ranch near Lodge Grass. He attended the ...

, who also created the ''

Rick O'Shay ''Rick O'Shay'' is a Western comic strip created by Stan Lynde, which debuted as a Sunday strip on April 27, 1958. The daily comic strip began on May 19 of the same year.

'' comic strip. After a dispute over the ownership of ''Rick O'Shay'' with the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, Lynde left and went to

Field Enterprises Field Enterprises, Inc. was a private holding company that operated from the 1940s to the 1980s, founded by Marshall Field III and others, whose main assets were the '' Chicago Sun'' and '' Parade'' magazine. For various periods of time, Field En ...

to launch ''Latigo''. ''Latigo'' began on Sunday, June 24, 1979. The daily strip ended on May 7, 1983, followed by the last Sunday strip a month later, on June 5.

Characters and story

Set in the old West, it told the adventures of Cole Cantrell, aka "Two Trails". His father was a mountain man and his mother a

Crow Indian The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation, the Crow Indian Reservati ...

. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Latigo returned to the West and became a Federal marshal. Comics historian

Don Markstein Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

detailed the strip's background and characters:

Books, reprints, and spinoffs

The ''Latigo'' daily strips have all been reprinted in three volumes from

Cottonwood Publishing Cottonwood Publishing is now a small press publisher residing in Wolfforth, Texas, established 2019. It is owned and operated by author and secondary teacher Jefferson Marshall and his wife Jordan to publish mainly children's fiction. Writings by ...

. ''

Comics Revue ''Comics Revue'' is a bi-monthly small press comic book published by Manuscript Press and edited by Rick Norwood. Don Markstein edited the publication from 1984 to 1987 and 1992 to 1996. As of 2020, it has published more than 350 issues, maki ...

'' is reprinting the ''Latigo'' Sunday strips in color, starting in issue #300 (April 2011). Dean Owen, Western writer, wrote novels starring Latigo with Stan Lynde's permission. They were ''Latigo: Trackdown'', ''Latigo #2: Vengeance Trail'', and ''Latigo #3: Dead Shot''. He also wrote ''Latigo #4: Double Eagle'' on't know if he had Lynde's permission, though

References

American comic strips Comics characters introduced in 1979 Western (genre) comics characters 1979 comics debuts 1983 comics endings Western (genre) comics Western (genre) peace officers {{comic-strip-stub