Wonderful Warriors of the Wild West

Both Earths One and Two had generations of heroic individuals prior to the advent of superheroes. Among these were several similar cosmic twins with remarkable parallels.

Jonah Hex and Jeff Graham were two confederate soldiers during the Civil War who moved west when their side of the conflict lost. Finding a measure of redemption in this new frontier, each man found different paths to heroism. In Jeff's case, as the Roving Ranger, he had been sent by Major Hawks to enforce law in the territory of Texas. Therein, Graham gained widespread acclaim and fame as well as a fine reputation. For Jonah, after his face was scarred by vengeful native Americans for a crime he didn't commit, he then sought refuge in the life of a bounty hunter while saving innocents in the process... though he remained friendless. Sure, he would have affiliations with some other crime fighters of the day, and even found a wife which came with a brief period of happiness before he lost it all and returned to his old life. Hex and Graham eventually found themselves in future eras, both encountering superheroes of the 20th century. Jonah ended up in the 21st century version of Earth-One's Seattle, Washington... brought them by a criminal seeking a historic gunshooter. As was his tendency, Hex caused more trouble than his kidnapper had intended, and eventually he returned to his native 1875. Graham was brought to the 1980's thanks to a Crisis on Infinite Earths wave to fight Native Americans at Earth-Two's Cape Canaveral, then returned to 1875 where he... unlike his counterpart... retired to a peaceful life.

Meanwhile, one of Jonah Hex's oldest and most dogged adversaries was the criminal gang leader known as El Papagayo, the infamous Parrot of Earth-One's old west. The man who would become the Don Cabellero of Earth-Two was just as daring, hiding his true history and secret motivations, while still providing a dashing legend for all the countryside to be enamored over. Each loved their flamboyantly colored costumes and gals that clamored for their attention, although one was good and the other evil.

Next was John Tane, a Mesa City shopkeeper who obeyed his mother's dying wish not to pursue a career like his father in law  enforcement, much to his dad's contempt. In his disguise as Johnny Thunder, he was the man his dad had envisioned... as protector of their community. He first battled then allied and finally married his nemesis Madame .44 aka photographer Jeannine Walker, who sought to avenge her father. Tane mirrored another disguided do-gooder in El Castigo of Earth-Two at the same time.

El Castigo (aka Don Fernando Suarez) was the original Whip of the village known as Seguro.  His legend would inspire a successor decades later in Rodney Elwood Gaynor, a wealthy businessman in the town of Seguro in southwest United States, adopting the alias of that legendary lawman, Gaynor as the Whip sought to bring social justice to the oppressed people there, aided by his girlfriend Marissa Dillon.

Back on Earth-One, El Diablo was spawned from Lazarus Lane, a bank teller once cowardly who in a moment of vindication was left in a coma only to revived as a masked marauder.

In the old west, one sheriff was necessary but two was usually what it took to enforce law. And so, the Trigger Twins of Wayne and Walt on Earth-Two and Pow-Wow Smith aka Ohiyesa from Earth-One protected their communities in matching attire with their twins. Yes, Pow-Wow's brother was Horse Hunter who remained with their native tribe. A latter Pow-Wow protected the modern day west, while Buck Marshall did likewise... both in the pages of the same comic.

Then there were two native American warriors who also gained fame for their acts of valor, although one was only an adopted Indian when in actuality he was a caucasian who's birth name was Brian Savage. Raised by the natives of the old west as Ke-Woh-No-Tah, his more fame identity was as Earth-One's Scalphunter. Earlier on Earth-Two, Strong Bow was an actual native who matched this legend with one of his own, protecting his land on the eve of white man's invasion of it. Both were stylish in their animal skin garb which they were clad in. Neither fit in to any one society.

There would be other heroes and heroines of the old west, including Earth-One's Bat-Lash who found a counterpart in the Johnny Lash aka the second Whip of Earth-Two. While Bartholomew Lash was known to frequent various gambling establishments that ended up getting him in trouble, his heart was always in the right place when innocents' lives were on the line. As for Johnny Lash, he was a prairie schooner along with his parent whom he saw murdered by bandits disguised as Native Americans. Seeking vengeance for them as an early age, this made Johnny more focused and noble than Bat Lash.

Another notable cowboy was Nighthawk of Earth-One. Originally, Hannibal Hawkes was a traveling repairman who donned the disguise of Nighthawk to battle threats to the various communities he visited. He eventually perished after he adventure during the Crisis on Infinite Earths when he met up with other old western heroes like Jonah Hex, Scalphunter, Bat Lash and Johnny Thunder. 

His counterpart on Earth-Two was a decades older man names Major Hawks. Hawks was the lead commander of the Texas Rangers, and on several occasions he sent the famed Roving Ranger, Jeff Graham, on cases throughout the Texas territory during his tenure.

Others who occupied the old west were Kate Manser aka Cinnamon and Katherine Kit Colby, vengeful women who sought to exercise justice as dully authorize officers of law after their sheriff fathers had both perished. 

Then there was Bill Polk the Wyoming Kid and Chuck Dawson a Wyoming rancher, each of whom had adventures as well in their neck of the woods. Both worlds likewise had more famous cowpokes who were legendary with brandishing their weapon of choice, both for good and for ill.

The aforementioned Jeanne Walker Tane aka Madame .44 had life that remarkably paralleled that of the 20th century heroine of Earth-Two known as Black Canary. Secretly florist Dinah Drake, she was groomed to be a policewoman, but was rejected from the police force which broke her father's heart. Seeking to strike out against injustice in some form, Dinah devised the criminal veneer of the masked Black Canary. In her first handful of capers, she like Jeanne encountered a Johnny Thunder, revealed her true good nature to him. Years later, Dinah's daughter assumed both the mantle and the memories of her mother, and this second Black Canary accompanied Earth-Two's Johnny Thunder back to the same 19th century era that Madame .44 and Johnny Thunder lived and operated in on Earth-One!