Real
Name: Lance Temple
Outlaw Kid
Real
Name: Lance Temple
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Lawyer, ranch hand, former soldier
Affiliations: Silver Age Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt
Enemies: Silver Age Night Riders, Kid Cassidy
Known Relatives: "Hoot" Temple (father, deceased), Inez Temple (Outlaw, descendant)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Wild West, c.1860s-1885
First Appearance: Outlaw Kid #1 (Atlas, September 1954)
Powers/Abilities: The Outlaw Kid is a top gunfighter.
History:
(Outlaw Kid II #10) Lance Temple was a veteran of the civil war who returned
home to live with his father, "Hoot" Temple, working both as a frontier lawyer
and helping on the family ranch. One day, when both generations of Temple
men were out riding together, they were ambushed by outlaws. During the ensuing
fight Hoot was blinded when a keg of dynamite exploded nearby. Afterwards
Lance wanted to hunt down the men who had crippled his parent, but Hoot wouldn't
hear of it. He insisted that violence had blinded him, and that he didn't
want violence causing something worse to happen to Lance. He made Lance swear
to never get involved in violence, which the younger Temple reluctantly agreed
to. Unable to keep his promise, Lance created the masked identity of the
Outlaw Kid so that he could fight for justice without his father learning
of the broken promise.
(Outlaw Kid #1-19, Wild Western #43, Rawhide Kid #46, 148, 150, Western Gunfighters #8-9, Wyatt Earp #24, ga) The Outlaw Kid had a number of adventures over the next few years, occasionally teaming up with other gunslingers such as the Rawhide Kid.
(Outlaw
Kid II #1-30, Blaze of Glory #1-4, bts) Eventually Hoot learned of his son's
deception. The shock of the revelation killed the old man, and led Lance
to suffer a breakdown from the guilt of killing his father. He developed
a split personality. As Lance Temple he hunted the Outlaw Kid for murdering
Hoot, unaware that he was the Kid; as the Outlaw Kid he was confident
and guilt free. In 1885 he joined several other highly-moral gunfighters,
including his old friends Kid Colt and the Two-Gun Kid, in defending the
town of Wonderment against the Night Riders gang; he was killed during the
battle.
Comments: Thanks to Jess Nevins for allowing me to use information from his excellent Golden Age Heroes Directory and his Guide to Golden Age Marvel Characters. Thanks also to Richard Boucher & Darrin Wiltshire @ PR-Publications for permission to use information from their equally brilliant collection of Golden Age Sites, PR Publications. Their knowledge of Golden Age characters far outstrips my own.
CLARIFICATIONS: None.
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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