Wyatt Earp #12

While Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an actual city policeman in Wichita, Kansas, in the early 1900s, an amazingly popular but largely fictional biography on his life elevated his story to one of legend. Since Stuart Lake’s bestseller, Earp has become one of western fiction’s most popular law enforcers.  Charlton Comics’ Wyatt Earp series began in 1956 and ran for 61 issues. While the stories of the frontier marshal were entirely fictional, issues from the second year of the comic’s circulation used a few known events from Earp’s life in the plot.  Most famously, Earp took part in the gunfight at the OK Corral of 1881. Referred to as the most famed gunfight in history, the showdown took place for 30 seconds in Tombstone in the Arizona Territory. At the standoff, Wyatt Earp, along with his brothers (Virgil and Morgan) and Doc Holliday, shot and killed notorious outlaws Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury.  While the OK Corral shooting seems legendary enough, Earp participated in dozens of gunfights and duels. Unlike his ally Doc Holliday and his brothers, Earp was never wounded by gunfire and captured more outlaws than any other deputy of his time.