European Western Comic Books ~ I protaganisti (Bill Doolin)

I protagonisti was a western comic series created by Rino Albertarelli and published monthly from 1974 to 1975 by Daim Press. The series presented documented and meticulous biographies of the heroes of the West and was only interrupted by the death of the author.

Each issue contained a monograph of a Western epic character with a comic strip story accompanied by a bibliography containing books consulted by the author in his documentation work. The series ran from September 1974 until June 1975.

The series was commissioned by Sergio Bonelli and Rino Albertarelli who wrote and designed the series for Daim Press in 1973. When Albertarelli died, on September 21, 1974, he was working on the tenth issue and only the first issue had been released on newsstands. The publishing house decided to end the series with the tenth volume, of which Albertarelli had completed only the first 42 tables, so Sergio Toppi was hired to finish the series.

In 1994 the series was reprinted in the series The Protagonists of the West, edited by Hobby & Work. A second reprint was published in 2007 in the series of History of the West by If Editions with the headline “History of the West Presents the Protagonists”. In each issue there are two stories in the chronological order of the original publication.

Now let's talk about a group of bandits who, under the leadership of their leader William "Bill" Doolin (1858 - 1896), made the entire territory of Oklahoma insecure in the years 1895-96.

Doolin was born in 1858 in Johnson County in northwest Arkansas. Son of Michael Doolin and Artemina Beller, Doolin left home in 1881 to become a cowboy in the Indian Territory, having been employed by the cowherd Oscar Halsell, a native of Texas. During this time, Doolin worked with other cowboys and outlaws, including George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, Charley Pierce, Bill Powder, Dick Broadwell, Bill "Tulsa Jack", Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton and Emmett Dalton. William "Bill" Doolin was a dangerous American bandit, founder of the well-known Wild Bunch - a band of outlaws who specialized in robbing banks, trains and coaches in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas during the 1890s.

Shortly thereafter, Doolin became a member of the Dalton Gang. On October 5, 1892, the Dalton gang made its already mentioned fatal attempt to rob two banks simultaneously, in Coffeyville, Kansas. The attempted robbery was a total failure, resulting in a shoot-out between Coffeyville citizens and lawmen and the outlaws, leaving four of the five dead gang members, with the exception of Emmett Dalton. Historians have indicated that there was a sixth member of the gang in an alley to keep the horses - that they escaped. Emmett Dalton has never revealed his identity, but according to the most popular hypotheses it could have been Bill Doolin.