| Tumbleweed Jones | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Tumbleweed Jones was a heroic cowboy from the Lost Valley known for his very friendly nature and very odd sense of hospitality, having served as the very first recurring ally to Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen and the very first comic relief character in The Adventures of Superman radio series.
Tumbleweed Jones was the top ranch-hand and trusted right-hand man of the wealthy but friendly oil tycoon and native brave, Comanche Joe (a close old friend of Perry White), with Tumbleweed helping to manage the cattle and workers on Joe's ranch and keeping out rustlers and other criminal types out of their property while serving up the finest fudge brownies in the valley and offering them to anyone he came across, seemingly always carrying a plentiful supply of fudge brownies for just about every occasion. Tumbleweed Jones was also an honorary member of the native tribe of the Lost Valley under the leadership of the elderly Silver Fox, the father of Comanche Joe, and like his comrades, Tumbleweed didn't believe in using firearms unless necessary, instead preferring the use of the trusty bow and arrow which he boasted that he was just as fast with as any gunslinger, even claiming that had the best marksman skills in the world.
After Comanche Joe began having problems on his ranch that proved too unusual for the police to handle, he called on his old friend and college mate Perry White for assistance in figuring out the cause of the disturbances, prompting Mr. White to send Clark and Jimmy out into the Lost Valley to uncover the mystery of the curse of the Howling Coyote and how its howls were causing disaster and death. When Clark and Jimmy arrived, Comanche Joe introduced them to Tumbleweed Jones, with the trio quickly becoming fast friends over a plate of Tumbleweed's famous fudge, with Tumbleweed even going on to teach Clark and Jimmy the ways of ranching and the history of Lost Valley. During this time, Tumbleweed became something of a mentor to Jimmy and even began treating him as his own, teaching him how to ride and fire a bow and arrow and convincing Comanche Joe to let Jimmy become an honorary member of Silver Fox's tribe, with Jimmy being given the name "Laughing Squirrel", an experience which the fatherless Jimmy greatly enjoyed.
Things took a turn for the worse though when the perpetrators behind the Howling Coyote "curse" attempted to murder Clark, Jimmy and Tumbleweed for getting too close to uncovering their plot, leading to Jimmy to suffer a near-fatal accident while on horseback. Tumbleweed went to great lengths to take Jimmy to a doctor even when a severe blizzard hit that led to the death of Tumbleweed's trusted horse and nearly to the death of himself and Jimmy as they passed out in the snow, but thanks to the sudden arrival of Superman, he was able to covertly take Tumbleweed and Jimmy to a nearby clinic. But upon arriving, the already unconscious Jimmy was already in a near death state and the doctor believed he would have no chance of recovery without an emergency blood transfusion. Tumbleweed begged the doctor to save the boy as he began to pass out, but all seemed grim until Superman, unable to standby any longer, revealed himself and offered to give part of his own blood to Jimmy, shocking the doctor. At first the transfusion proved difficult due to Superman's impenetrable skin, but after Superman pierced his own skin with his fingers, they were able to give Jimmy a kryptonian blood transfusion, and although this did not grant the boy any permanent superhuman feats, its amazing regenerative properties allowed Jimmy's body to rapidly recover, amazing the doctor. Superman then had the doctor swear to secrecy about the existence of Superman, telling him the world was not yet ready for him.
A grateful Tumbleweed awoke the next day grateful to find Jimmy alive while vaguely remembering the mysterious red caped hero. Tumbleweed though became determined to capture the crooks behind Jimmy's attempted murder, and after regrouping with Clark Kent and Comanche Joe, the trio were able to root out the culprits, traitorous ranch hands looking to use Silver Fox's tale of the Howling Coyote to scare the natives into selling the ranch, with Tumbleweed Jones and Comanche Joe eventually chasing the perpetrator into a nearby cave where they engaged in a life and death shootout with arrows and bullets flying inside the cavern walls. As all seemed grim, a quick shot from Tumbleweed and a bit of protection from Superman allowed the trio to bring the crooks to justice and restore order to Comanche Joe's ranch.
With their adventure over, a grateful Clark and Jimmy said their goodbyes to Tumbleweed and Joe but told them they would meet again, promising to visit each other and keep in touch, and they would do just that, especially Tumbleweed, who would eventually travel to Metropolis for a time and go on several adventures with Clark and Jimmy.
After many years of faithful service and friendship, Tumbleweed was given his own section of farmland by his good friend and now former employer Comanche Joe to raise cattle on, a small parcel from Comanche Joe's vast land, and as fortune would have it, Tumbleweed wound up striking oil on his property, becoming a fortunate small-time oil tycoon himself like his friend Joe, allowing Tumbleweed to set up his own oil drilling operation, a fact which while fortunate, brought a lot more troubles for Tumbleweed who was happier simply raising beef, especially since a crooked oil association had been harassing him and threatening both him and Comanche Joe if they didn't submit to their demands. This forced Tumbleweed to call on his old friends Clark and Jimmy for help.
Tragically though, things took a turn for the worse when one of the association's men tried to hold Joe hostage but ended up shooting him, leading to the sad death of Tumbleweed's mentor and to the ownership of his new land being contested as Joe didn't have a chance to file the proper paperwork transferring full ownership to Tumbleweed. Fortunately, thanks to some amateur detective work from Clark and Jimmy and some mournful ex-members of the oil association, they were able to bring down the head of the association, the president of the Lost Valley bank, and avenge Joe's death, leading to Silver Fox's tribe giving full ownership of the given parcel of land promised by Joe to Tumbleweed in gratitude, and Tumbleweed would go onto give jobs to the reformed members of the dissolved oil association.
Appearances[]
- "The Howling Coyote"
- "The Black Pearl of Osiris"
- "The Crooked Oil Association"
- "The Silver Arrow"
- Briefly mentioned in several other stories
Sources[]
Tollin, Anthony. Superman with Batman and Robin on Radio. Booklet. Radio Spirits Inc, 1999.