Number 2388: Sheriff Sal, one helluva gal

The town fathers of Red Dog give Sally Starr the job of sheriff because the town is too peaceful. No man wants the job, they claim. Sally overlooks the implied insult to her sex and snaps up the opportunity. Despite the misgivings of some she does a good job as sheriff. That drives her boyfriend, Flash Gannon (he of the green cowboy hat and bright yellow shirt*), crazy. He wants her to quit and marry him. You get a sense of his feelings for Sheriff Sal by how he pins her badge on in the last panel of page one, shown above, and where he rests his right hand while doing it.

Western Adventures, from Ace, lasted just six issues in 1949, then the book was cancelled, and continued as Western Love Trails for three more issues before being finally retired. Sally and Flash went through all six of Western Adventures, and appeared in the first issue (#7) of Western Love Trails.

I believe the traditional Western comic was done for boys and young men, and includes some female Western fans. Sally’s story is an example for them that women can do the jobs that are traditionally male. The final story in the love comic shows Sally finally giving in to Flash, thereby letting the young women (and men) who read it know that in order to keep her love, Sally has to return to a “typical” female role.

This story, drawn by King Ward, appeared in Western Adventures #1 (1948).

*Two days ago I showed an example of how Quality Comics went for glaring colors in its early forties period...that tradition lives on with some of the colors in this story.