On many occasions during the Nineteenth Century, the heroes of the Old West found cause to ally themselves with one another. Most of these encounters were one-on-one, but several crises brought groups of these gunslingers together. Only once did they appear to have assembled under any name: during a battle with Extant during the "Zero Hour," the band of heroes called themselves the Rough Bunch. Before that, however, fate and cosmic crisis drew them together several times.

In November of 1872, Tomahawk's brother-in-law, Wise Owl became corrupt and harnessed the power of the time-lost Swamp Thing (Alec Holland). He enslaved El Diablo and drew the attention of other heroes, including: the newly-married Johnny Thunder and Madame .44; Bat Lash, who'd won control over the nearly mindless 400-year old Super-Chief from Buffalo Bill, in a high-stakes card game; and Black Bison. At the same time, the elderly Hawk (son of Tomahawk) and Firehair met Jonah Hex on their own search for the Swamp Thing. Hawk possessed the "Claw of Elk Hound," which he knew from prophesy would free the Swamp Thing. Super-Chief was able to release Alec and Wise Owl was killed. Behind the scenes, Jason Blood had hired the heroes to pursue Wise Owl. Before the Claw was used to send Swamp Thing on through time, the group posed for a photo (on November 7, 1872), which was later printed in Hawk's book Hawk, Son of Tomahawk. (Swamp Thing #85) Note: The long-term radiation from his meteorite gave Super-Chief a severe mental impairment, in addition to granting his immortality. Physically, he could no longer move or remain conscious, except when taking full action during his "hour of great power."

Rip Hunter began a quest to destroy Vandal Savage and his Illuminati — a conspiracy for world domination — by going back in time. To this end, Hunter's associate, Jeff was sent back to September, 1874 in Oaxaca, Mexico. There, Jonah Hex, Bat Lash, and Scalphunter had been hired by the Illuminati to protect the Mexican leader, Porfiro Diaz. The heroes befriended Jeff and brought him with them to Diaz' dinner that evening. Among the guests were Spanish ambassador Enrique Valdez, French banker Alphonse de Rothschild, and future US President, Rutherford B. Hayes. During the dinner, Valdez drew a gun on Diaz and was shot in turn by Hex. Jeff decided that Diaz' conspiracy was too great an evil and set about assassinating the tyrant. Hex stopped him just as Jeff activated his time-transporter and returned to the Twentieth Century. (Time Masters #3)

In 1878, Bat Lash, Scalphunter, Cinnamon and Jonah Hex met four time-tossed members of the Twentieth Century Justice League of America: Zatanna, Flash, Green Lantern and the Elongated Man. The Leaguers had lost their memories when they were sent back in by the Lord of Time. The Lord's goal was to harness a mass of anti-matter which struck Earth in that year. The heroes met up in Desecration, Arizona and discovered the Lord's robot gunfighters. The robots lured the heroes to the north to the Grand Canyon where Green Lantern discovered the anti-matter mass heading towards the planet. The JLA destroyed the meteor and were returned home by Superman. The Western heroes finished off the robots and moved on along. (Justice League of America #198-199) NOTE: This happened shortly after a meeting between Scalphunter and Bat Lash. (Weird Western #64)

The largest assembly of heroes happened in 1879, when the 20th Century villain, Extant, took his battle across time. Once again, heroes from the future appeared (Warrior, Supergirl, Steel & Batgirl). But the heroes of the Old West had already mobilized against this threat. They called themselves the Rough Bunch and battled Extant's time-zombies. This group included Nighthawk, Bat Lash, Scalphunter, Johnny Thunder, El Diablo, Madame .44, Cinnamon, Matt Savage, Pow-Wow Smith and Strongbow. (Guy Gardner, Warrior #24)

The great cosmic Crisis drew these heroes together again in 1879. Bat Lash, Scalphunter, Nighthawk, Jonah Hex and Johnny Thunder discovered one of the Monitor's vibrational towers and encountered the tower's protectors: a group from the 20th century. Hex recognized Green Lantern (John Stewart), and soon the anti-matter wave was upon them. (Crisis #3) NOTE: In this story, Nighthawk perished. In post-Crisis continuity, he dies at the hand of Matilda Dunney.

Soon thereafter, all time periods merged and the surviving heroes were summoned to the 20th century by the Monitor, who had managed to forestall the cataclysm. (Crisis #4) Another group of heroes was drawn from across the timestream and led by Firebrand to stop the launch of a death ray at Cape Canaveral. Her team included Westerners Don Caballero, the Trigger Twins, and the Roving Ranger in addition to the Black Pirate, Miss Liberty, the Viking Prince, the Golden Gladiator, the Silent Knight and Valda, and the Iron Maiden. They came to clash with a group of Native Americans that included Strongbow, Super-Chief and Arak. When Firebrand saved Super-Chief's life, the two groups banded together against the Anti-Monitor's troops. (All-Star Squadron #54-55)

List of Characters

None of the following heroes is known to have survived to the current day...

Appearances + References

» FEATURED APPEARANCES:

Groups only:

• All-Star Squadron #54-55
• Crisis on Infinite Earths #3
• Guy Gardner: Warrior #24
• Swamp Thing v.2 #85
• Time Masters #3

» SERIES:

• Western Comics, 85 issues (1948-61)
• Tomahawk, 140 issues (1950-72)
• All-Star Western v.1, #58-119 (1951-61)
• All-Star Western v.2, #1-11 (1970-72) becomes …
• Weird Western Tales, #12-70 (1972-80)
• Johnny Thunder, 3 all-reprint issues (1973)
• Jonah Hex, 92 issues (1977-85)
• Hex, 18 issues (1985-87)
• Jonah Hex v.2, 70 issues (2006-11)

» SEE ALSO:

• Nighthawk & Cinnamon