Origin
Kid Cassidy, or Richard Cassidy as his real name was, was a young boy living on the plantation of his father in the Southern states of America just before the Civil War broke out. Unlike most plantation owners, Richard’s father had no slaves, but had (black) people working for him for honest wages. Richard even befriended one of the young workers, Reno Jones, whom became like a brother to him. When the Civil War broke out, Richard joined the Southern forces to defend his father’s plantation and workers. When he returned, he found out that the Western forces had killed his father and most employees. He luckily found Reno, whom had also joined the Southern forces. When he learned of the kidnapping of their mutual friend, Rachel Brown, the two planned to return her and formed a team known as The Gunhawks.
Creation
Kid Cassidy was created by Gary Friedrich and Syd Shores and first appeared in The Gunhawks issue 1 (1972).
Major Story Arcs
The Gunhawks
Both Kid Cassidy and Reno jounred through the West for a number of months in their search of Rachel. However, Cassidy and Reno’s friendship began to sour during their journey. It was when they where both searching for the girl that their disagreement ended up with a gun fight. A furious Reno had drawn on Cassidy, telling him to draw too. All this time, Cassidy did not believe his friend would should him and therefore did nothing. And Cassidy was right, because Reno never meant to actually shoot Cassidy. Therefore, Reno shot his gun far away from where Cassidy stood, but seemingly the bullet did hit Cassidy. Unbeknown to both of them, there had been a native-American a few meters away from the camp whom had actually shot Kid Cassidy at the same time that Reno shot his bullet. Reno was filled with disbelief and remorse, believing his friend had died by his hand. He was seemingly burried by Reno and left to rest.
But the story did not end there. While Cassidy was believed dead, he actually survived. While recovering, Cassidy started to grow bitter and resentful towards Reno Jones and people with a colored skin. In the end he even joined a band of outlaws that called themselves the Nightriders. These Nightriders were Klu Klux Klan members and mercenaries for hire.
Blaze of Glory
Many years later, Cassidy was on a mission to destroy the town of Wonderment, a town full of ex-slaves. The town hoever was heavily guarded by a band of Western heroes, among them Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid and Cassidy’s old partner, Reno. When they came into town it soon became clear that it would become a brutal battle.
Kid Cassidy fought alongside his Klu Klux Klan teammates but soon found they where outmatched. Not by people, but by quality of shooting.
While fighting one of his opponents, Cassidy learned his old partner Reno was among the heroes who defended the town. He tried to kill Reno but was caught of guard by an explosion. Reno then grabbed Cassidy and chocked him with his bare hands. Many of the old Marvel Western heroes died that day, Cassidy was among them.