Number 3 by Fawcett Publications, Inc.

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Image of Gabby and friend from inside of front cover

Comic number:	No. 3
Publishing info:	February, 1949 by Fawcett Publications, Inc.
Comic's name:	Gabby Hayes Western
Info:	Hester calls Gabby by his real name, George Hayes, in 'Disaster in the Drawing Room' and
	'The Whittlin' Contest'
Stories:	'On the Warpath'
	'Disaster in the Drawing Room'
	'The Black Raven Bandit'
	'The Whittlin' Contest'
	'The Counterfeit Strongman'
	Gabby is the star in each of the above.
	Ten-question general trivia quiz.
	Six-panel funny comic titled 'Rubbernose Randolph in "Fool's Paradise"'
	Five-panel funny comic titled 'Old Slick "In Deep Water"'
	Two-page "Buck Desmond" Story by Dick Kraus titled 'Prairie Grave'
	Five-panel funny comic titled 'Boxcar Benny in "Secret of Success"'
	Four-page comic titled 'Musketeers of the West in Dawson's Revenge'
	49 pages , 39 of whch are Gabby Hayes stories
Gabby's image:	Characteristics common to all four stories
	The image of Gabby has long, pure white hair in all four tales.
	Gabby has a single-gun holster on his right side, like in the movies.
	Gabby's right pant leg is missing the characteristic patch.
	Gabby's wearing green jeans.
	Gabby's wearing the characteristic leather vest like in the movies.
	Gabby's image in 'On the Warpath' and 'The Black Raven Bandit' is the same as in Fawcett #1 in
	stories 'Public Outlaw No.1' & 'Plays the Dude'.
	Like Gabby in the movies, his eyes are mere slits in most of the drawings, but he has a scary,
	Grinch-like grin in some panels. See images in page for Fawcett #1.
	Also, his hat is more tattered in that tale than in the other tales in this comic.
	I think both of these stroies had the same illustrator as Gabby's nose 'just isn't right'.....doesn't have
	the characteristic large nostrils
	Gabby's image in 'Disaster in the Drawing Room' and 'The Counterfeit Strongman' is different from the
	others in this comic and in the first two Fawcett comics.
	Gabby's hair is much short and is combed straight back.
	Gabby's nose has the characteristic large nostrils
	The image is more like George Hayes than Gabby Hayes.
	Gabby never wears his hat in this story.
	Gabby's image in 'The Whittlin' Contest' is similar to that in stories 'Behind Bars' and 'Stampede to Doom'
	in Fawcett #1.
	Appears to be the same illustrator for all of these stories as there's a band around the crown of his hat
	in all stories which is lacking in 'Public Outlaw No.1'
	The top of Gabby's hat is rounded.
	In some panels, Gabby's grin shows that he has two lower teeth in front.
	Gabby's nose has the characteristic large nostrils
Ads in USA
version:	No ads in this issue
Gabbyisms:
	Foolishment
	Locoed
	Blamedest
	Dadblame
	Injun
	Dingbust it
	Locoed loonyticks
	.Goldarndest trap I ever seed
	Jehoshaphat
	Astarin' yuh in the face
	I'd admire to tote your carcass 'round the floor. Let's trip the light fanatic.
	One leetle favor
	Consarned crook
	Idjit
	Gol dang it
	Sufferin' snakefish
	Simoleons---dollars
	Snivelin' coyotes
	Ripsnorter
	I'll be swizzled
	Dadburned tribe
Characters in	Gabby---foreman of the Bar O Ranch
all stories
	Fred Larson---Gabby's ranch assistant & male friend of Ellie's
	Slim Daggle---the rather incompetent sheriff of Dry Gulch
	Ellie Hempstead---rich and pretty owner of the Bar O ranch
	Hester Hempstead---Ellie's aunt
	Bodkins---Sheriff Slim's wimpy assistant
	Corker---Gabby's talented horse that can side step and always kneels to help Gabby mount/dismount
Characters	Gabby as Chief Hair-On-Face
unique to this
comic:	Kitapoo Indians
	Circle Legs---An Indian
	Denny & Benny----Two sharpsters (should be 'sharpers', meaning dishonest people)
	Mrs. Clyde Stiffneck---Member of high society
	Annie Laurie---Gabby's 'love' when he was a youngun
	The Prairie Hens social club
	Hugh Scurvy---Bad guy
	'Slick' Tracer---Bad guy

'On the Warpath'

Hard times have fallen on the Kitapoo Indian tribe.

The Kitapoos hope for the arrival of their legendary chief, Chief Hair-On-Face, to lead them to riches.

Coincidentally, Gabby arrives at the Kitapoo village.

The Kitapoos are elated as Gabby and his horse, Corker, fulfill the three signs of the legend:

Hairy man on hairy horse

Horse that walks to the side and kneels (Corker is the only horse in the world that can step to a side or kneel for

his master to mount)

Great weapon that doesn't work (resulting from Gabby's gun having become stuck in his holster)

The tribe transforms Gabby into a Kitapoo chief, complete with headdress and leather shirt & pants.

Gabby, tired of all of the attention, wants to leave camp but is placed under guard to prevent him from leaving.

Two crooks, Denny and Benny, come to the village wanting permission to pan for gold in the creek.

Wanting to get rid of the two bothersome characters, Gabby gives them permission.

Eventually, Gabby makes a break for it on Corker but is pursued by the tribe who are bent on killing him for his betrayal.

Unintentionally, Gabby arrives at the crook's camp.

The crooks, thinking that the chief in on to them, start shooting at Gabby.

Gabby hides in a gully from the Kitapoos and from the crooks.

Making his way along the bully, Gabby finds a shack inside of which is a large collection of gold bars.

An accompanying note from Benny to Denny indicates that the gold was on a barge coming from the Black Hills

which was sunk by Indians.

Suddenly, Denny and Benny appear.

Gabby grabs and fires a gun which causes the shack to collapse, saving him from the two crooks.

A chunk of wood flies into Gabby's mouth making it impossible for him to speak.

The Kitapoos capture Gabby and place him on a spit.

The smoke causes Gabby to cough out the chunk of wood allowing him tell the tribe that they're rich.

After a great feast, Gabby bids adieu to the tribe exclaiming, "Sometimes I reckon there's nothin' I can't do!"

'Disaster in the Drawing Room'

Hester Hempstead is elated when she finds that she's being considered for membership in the exclusive social

club, The Prairie Hens, by Mrs. Stiffneck, wife of the railroad president.

Hester tells Gabby he'll be her escort at Mrs. Stiffneck's upcoming tea dance or he'll no longer get her scrumptious vittles.

Not being able to live without Hester's cullinary delights, Gabby agrees.

Mrs. Stiffneck reveals that she used to live in the West as a child and wondered what happend to her girlhood sweetheart.

Gabby makes so many social blunders at the tea dance that he's ordered to go home and Hester is told to

forget about being a member of The Prairie Hens.

Gabby realizes that he's seen Mrs. Stiffneck before and finds some old love letters from her to him when she was

young.

Using this as blackmail, Gabby pursuades Mrs Stiffneck (the former Annie Laurie) to invite Hester to write an

invitation to Hester to join The Prairie Hens.

Gabby's reward---a feast of Hester's delights.

'The Black Raven Bandit'

'The Raven' has robbed another ranch, escaping by way of a balloon loaded with water for use as he crosses the desert.

Sheriff Slim Daggle decides he'll do some 'figgerin' into who had a balloon made.

Gabby hatches a different plan.

He loads a wagon with barrels full of water so he can pursue the balloon across the desert.

'The Raven' outwits Gabby by emptying the barrels and, then, robbing him.

Gabby on Corker and Bodkins driving the wagon pursue the balloon.

After discovering that the water barrels are empty, Bodkins heads back to town as Gabby hides.

'The Raven' falls for Gabby's ruse.

After a short delay, Gabby follows the balloon.

The Sheriff's 'figgerin' pays off when he discovers that Hugh Scurvy had the balloon made.

Gabby and Sheriff Daggle simulataneously arrive at Hugh's hideout.

Sheriff Daggle tries to assist Gabby, who's delirious from the heat and lack of water, which allows both of them

to be captured by Hugh.

Gabby, seeing a mirage of a lemonade lake, dives into Hugh allowing the Sheriff to capture the desperado.

'The Whittlin' Contest'

Gabby makes a nuisance of himself by whittling everything in sight in preparation for a whittling contest with

a silver saddle for the winner.

After many mishaps, Gabby whittles 'an old desert rat, the funniest hooman bein' eyes ever did light on' and

wins the contest with the judge declaring it 'the best self-portrait done by whittling that I ever saw'.

Gabby doesn't know whether to be happy for winning the saddle or angry about the whittling being called

a self-portrait.

'The Counterfeit Strongman'

Ranch foreman Gabby Hayes and his assistant Fred Larson investigate why the water in thestream on the

Bar 0 ranch tastes bad.

They discover that 'Slick' Tracer is dumping waste acid into the water upstream.

Gabby and Fred are captured and made to work in Tracer's workshop making forged identification papers.

The forged documents are used by crooks to rob banks, have criminals released from jail, etc.

Gabby weakens the chains used to hold him.

Gabby convinces the crooks that he's a strong man by breaking out of his chains.

Fred empties a shipping case and cuts part way through a supporting beam in the workshop.

Gabby uses these to trick the outlaws into thinking he's the strongest man in the world.

One outlaw tries to chloroform Gabby but the bottle breaks as Gabby flies out of the window after losing

his balance.

The chloroform renders the outlaws semi-unconcious.

Gabby returns and finishes off all of the outlaws, except one that escapes, with a couple punches.

The escaped outlaw returns with an armed Tracer.

Gabby slaps Corker to get him out of harms way.

However, Corker is trained to fall down when slapped.

Tracer, thinking that Gabby really is the strongest man in the world, gives up allowing Fred and Gabby to

take the whole gang to the hoosegow.