The Rio Kid was introduced to the readers of the Popular in January 1928 - short Western adventure stories written by Charles Hamilton under the alias of Ralph Redway. Instead of schoolboys in Kent or Sussex he successfully wrote of the trials and tribulations of a young cowpuncher in (mainly) Texas who had a heart of gold and cast iron moral code but who was continually on the run branded as an outlaw. Very often the Kid had an implacable Ranger after him, Mule-Kick Hall, which developed into as entertaining and gripping a tussel as between Victor Hugo's Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert. He rode all over Texas on his incredibly intelligent horse with nine lives Side Kicker, even getting out as far as California at one point, but always homing back to where he started by the Rio Frio. And some galoots were always robbing other galoots using his name. Over the years some purist fans of the genre have criticised Hamilton for his lack of Western-realism but for the majority of his readers the stories were a delight, and exactly what they wanted to read about. Plots and moral codes were perfectly transferred and adjusted from Greyfriars and St. Jim's to the Wild West - and baddies could get shot instead of caned. Worthy of especial mention is the marvellous series in Pop 483-490 where the Kid gets to own a gold mine and is perhaps the best series in the entire saga. Without a mediocre story for nearly 3 years weekly from 1928 the very few lapses of taste are mainly attributable retrospectively and (hopefully) forgivable by most people today: the casual racism not recognised as such and taken for granted at the time. But for anyone who can't forgive, best not read the series in Pop 571-576! Thanks to the wondrous efforts of Nandu, Eddie Peart, Brian Sayer and Michael Bailey all of the original short stories are available to read or download on friardale.

I am indebted to Gary for providing the introduction and the following Rio Kid list in chronological order. You can read or download individual stories from the 'Story' column or the complete story from the 'Series' column.

Reprinted To/From