User:IrrationalBeing/sandbox/Kit Carson (Tex)

Kit Carson is a fictional character in the western genre comic book series Tex, published in Italy by Sergio Bonelli Editore, conceived by Giovanni Luigi Bonelli and graphically realized by Galep. He is one of the protagonist's most frequent Pards (companions). Among the Navajo Native Americans, among whom he lives with Tex, he enjoys great respect and is nicknamed Capelli d'Argento (Silver Hair).

His name is inspired by a famous historical figure of the West, Kit Carson (1809-1868).

There is another comic book character of the same name, created by Rino Albertarelli in 1937.

Biography

He is Tex Willer's most trusted and experienced friend, with whom he has shared so many adventures that Tex will name his son after him, and although he is portrayed as a mature man, he is capable of handling physical confrontations and gunfights; although he is an incurable pessimist, he does not hesitate to follow Tex into the most dangerous situations and go along with his most daring plans. Although he seems to be a grouch, always complaining about everything, he is an extremely courageous man: he himself states that he is not afraid of anything (No. 334), and the only thing he categorically refuses to do is to gamble with Tex.

He is an excellent marksman, very skilled with pistols, although he expresses the most of his abilities with the Winchester rifle. Little is known about his past, and particularly about the period before he met Tex, except that he lived for a time in the town of Bannock, Montana (in issue no. 407: Il passato di Carson); Carson is, arguably, the natural father of Donna, daughter of innkeeper and former singer and dancer Lena Parker. Left in the dark about this relationship is Ray Clemmons (officially Donna's father), and Carson's paternity, if real, would be unknown both to his daughter (Tex nos. 407-408-409), to whom Carson nonetheless reveals that he considers her his goddaughter (no. 465), and to Carson himself. His favorite song, as reiterated by himself and his companions in many episodes, is the ballad "The Girl I Left Behind Me."

By the time he is introduced to Tex, Carson is already a celebrated Texas Ranger; the two of them, and another ranger named Arkansas Joe, get to know each other on the occasion of Tex's enlistment in the same armed corps, who until then had been an outlaw, a recruitment that takes place thanks to the convincing work done by the head of the West Department, Major Herbert Marshall. The scene, immortalized in one of the earliest strip albums, is now featured in issue 1 of the current format (The Red Hand).

Physically Carson is drawn as a well-planted man, born about 1827, as a build he is very similar to Tex despite being about ten years older, thus hypothetically about 180 cm tall by 75 kg in weight, strong and muscular, with high endurance and an exceptional physique.

The stainless friendship between the two is cemented in the album Fuorilegge: in this episode Tex is falsely accused because of the plots set up by his nemesis Mephisto. Carson is the only one who believes in his innocence, so much so that he helps him escape, contributing not only to his rehabilitation but also to his friend's return to the ranks of the Texas Rangers.

Although he remains formally framed among the Rangers with the rank of Major (although in the episode War Cry, n 287, he is called "Colonel"), from that moment on Carson will always be at Tex's side in his missions and together with two other characters, Kit Willer, Tex's son, and Tiger Jack, a native Navajo blood brother of Tex, will form an unbeatable quartet. The importance of the figure of Carson in the economy of the comic is evidenced by the fact that he is, after Tex, the most present co-star in the albums than Kit Willer and Tiger Jack, and as a team hierarchy he is second after Tex.

On one occasion he found himself, along with Kit, on the opposite side of the fence from his friend, and specifically in No. 40 entitled Il ponte tragico. All of this happens by the hypnotic arts of the infernal Mephisto, who first hurls them at the Navajos and then turns them into vicious robbers. Tiger's wounding of Mephisto and the diabolical individual's loss of consciousness as a result of falling on a rock frees the two from the enemy's yoke.

A true gentleman with the ladies, Kit Carson is considered, in spite of his characteristic gray-white hair, mustache, and goatee, an inveterate womanizer. Despite the fact that he is wont to complain about the vagaries of age and the inconveniences to which Tex forces him, he resents being called an "old man," although he sometimes ironically refers to himself as such. He does not particularly like train travel because of the hard seat backs and, if possible, always prefers to travel on horseback.

Carson is also known to have a weakness for steaks "three fingers high" surrounded by "a mountain" of fries and accompanied by a mug of cold beer and sometimes apple pie. Also, according to Tex and companions, he can make excellent coffee ("black and hot").

The nicknames by which the pards are wont to good-naturedly mock him (Tex especially) are "Old Camel" and/or "Old Owl," "Menagramo," and "Old Reprobate." He is wont to use characteristic expressions such as, "Well, I'll be damned!", "Great Putifar!", "By the beard of Jehoshaphat!" or "By the beard of Beelzebub!" in critical situations. He often addresses Tex with the attribute of "Hell's Brimstone" and gives authentic pearls of imaginative expletives, among many we quote, "Horns of a hundred thousand devils!" or "By the beard of dancing Methuselah!"