Fighting Texan

First Appearance: Wild Western #17 (August 1951).
Appearances: Wild Western #17.
Years Active: 1870s.

"Tex" (no last name is ever provided) is, with his sidekick Mesquite, a "special investigator...for the Express Co," a shipping company. In the Fighting Texan's only appearance he and Mesquite, who dresses and looks like a Western gambler or distrustworthy Western doctor or lawyer, investigate the robbery of gold bullion from the "Express Co. Messenger."

Both Tex and Mesquite are good trackers, good with their fists, and (of course) capable and accurate gunmen.

Note: I'm interested in the Fighting Texan's job. Acting as a private investigator for a shipping company is not what the stereotypical cowboy did, either in the pulps or in the Atlas comics. (Or in DC's or EC's, for that matter.) I think it's a shame that the Fighting Texan never appeared again, because I'd have liked to have seen what the writers did with him.