History
The Gunhawks[]
Reno Jones was a slave on the Cassidy plantation (Georgia), and played with "Kid" Cassidy (son of the plantation's owner) when they were children, though they grew apart as they got older.[1] During the American Civil War, the Cassidy plantation was attacked, Reno's love Rachel was kidnapped by Union soldiers and Cassidy Snr. was killed. Cassidy returned from the war to see the destruction. Jones and Cassidy left the house in search of Rachel, returning to their old friendship. They formed the gunfighter team named Gunhawks and searched for Rachel, having many adventures.As they came to the west, they decided to take up buffalo hunting to earn money. In the process, they befriended an old buffalo hunter called Jed. Jed taught Reno how to fire a buffalo gun of his own design. Reno and Cassidy helped Jed in his fight with outlaw Dawson and his gang, with Reno killing him.In the body of the outlaw they found a locket of Rachel.[2]
Reno and Cassidy caught the last member of the gang, and learned that Dawson had sold Rachel to a plantation near River City.Here, Kid Cassidy planned to get them inside the plantation by turning Reno in to the jail at River City, claiming he was a murderer. Then Cassidy learned that Colonel Johnson's plantation was paying for black people to use as slaves, so he pretended to join up, and broke Reno out of the prison. In the plantation, Reno led the slaves in an uprising and Colonel Johnson was killed. Cassidy learned that Rachel had been taken in an indian raid. The former slaves wanted Reno to stay and lead them, but he decided to continue his search for Rachel.[3] Reno and Cassidy then travelled to the Cheyenne village at Medicine Creek,where they took prisoners by Captain Warren Worth of the U.S. Cavalry, under suspicion of selling rifles to the Cheyenne. In reality, Warren wanted to exterminate the Cheyenned village. When the cavalry descended upon the village to massacre it, Reno broke free to try and warn the people, but the cavalry was faster. After wiping out the village, they brought Reno and the surviving Cheyenne to a jail in Fort Mitchell. There, Reno learned from the Cheyenne that Rachel had been living in the village, but was possibly killed during the massacre.[4]
Warren set Reno free on the condition that he left the territory immediately, but Reno went to find Kid Cassidy, who had fallen prisoner of the Cheyenne chief Grey Fox (inhabitant of the massacred town). Jones was also captured by a Cheyenne scouting party and brought to Grey Fox's camp, where he saw Cassidy in a pen, fighting a grizzly bear. Reno leaped into the pen to save Cassidy, and slew the grizzly with a knife, despite having his hands tied.[5] Grey Fox'ally Reverend Graves arrived, and asked Grey Fox to turn Reno over to him to help him build a new church. Grey Fox did so, and Reno was forced to join Graves' wagon. Along the way, he witnessed Graves meeting with the U.S. Cavalry, who he directed to Grey Fox's camp, intending them to wipe each other out. Jones managed to overpower Graves and took a horse back to the Cheyenned camp, where he warned Grey Fox. He then ran into Cassidy, and give him to a horse.Then Reverend Graves appeared again. When Graves took a shot at Reno, Cassidy fired back and killed him. As he died, Graves told Reno that had hoped he could have been his friend. Reno gave him a proper burial. In the Cheyenne camp, the GUnhawks found that the US cavalry was victorious, but Reno was shocked to see Grey Fox fleeing with Rachel. Reno was about to pursue them, when Cassidy struck him from behind, knowing that Rachel didn't wanted Reno known what happened to her.[6]
Reno had a confrontation with Kid Cassidy after the misunderstanding, ending in a gunfight with him. He fired off a wild shot, not wanting to hurt his friend, but at the same time, a rifle shot from Grey Fox killed Cassidy by mistake, and Reno thought he had had been the killer. Captain Worth accused Reno of the murder, and Reno decided to flee. He tried to return and bury Cassidy, but Grey Fox ambushed him, attempting to kill him so Rachel would forget about him, but Reno slew Grey Fox in fight.However Reno didn't learned Rachel location.. [7] Jones still continued to track Rachel's trail to Cayuse, New Mexico, without much success.There Reno pretended to be a fool so that the local outlaws would him compete in a competition. Reno wound up winning the bronc busting, which made him an enemy of San Francisco Slade, a local rodeo expert. Slade hired a man named Durango to kill him. Durango called Reno a coward to make him draw, but Reno wound up shooting him first. Slade then claimed Reno had shot him in cold blood, and Reno was sent to jail. Slade then claimed all of Reno's money when he was disqualified. He came to boast to Reno in jail, and Reno punched him through the bars. As he sat in his cell, Reno looked out his window and saw Rachel in a wagon just leaving town, and realized that he had just missed her again.[8] Is unknown if Reno meet Rachel again or how he escaped from the jail and began a new life.
Years later Jones retold his story to his son as such: "...as we grew older he [Cassidy] didn't pay me any more mind than he did any of the other house slaves. And then the War broke out. The Ol' Massa [Mr.Cassidy] died during the War and when his son come back home, there wasn't much left but the house. No good reason for him to stay. Me neither. We did ride out together. Some of our memories of being boys together resurfaced. For awhile, it was all right. But Cassidy got meaner as we went and more bitter until he drew on me one night and I shot him down." [1]
Assault on Wonderment[]
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Reno Jones as the Ghost Rider
Ten years later Reno had married a woman named Mary, settling down in Wonderment, Montana to raise their son Cass.[1] Reno had heard that Clay Riley was going to set the masked Nightriders gang on the town in order to drive out the inhabitants. Reno then was contacted by the adventurer Marcel Fournier and with his help, he gathered a group of heroes and outlaw legends to defend the town including the Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Caleb Hammer, Gunhawk, Kid Colt, Outlaw Kid, and Red Wolf.[9] Believed killed in an early skirmish, Reno secretly became the Phantom Rider and in the final battle slew Clay Riley and faced off against Kid Cassidy, who was now the leader of the Nightriders, each recognizing the other, before Reno slew his former friend.[10]
Later, after aiding the Apache Kid and Eustace Grimes in rescuing a number of Apache children, the Rawhide Kid suggested that they bring the children to Wonderment and to look up Reno.[11]
Afterlife[]
Jones's ultimate fate is unknown but, during the War of the Realms in modern day, his spirit was called by the Demon Rider, the Sorcerer Supreme from the 1800s. The Demon Rider had been summoned by Thor's sister Laussa for protection while evading the forces of the Queen of Cinders. To this end, the Demon Rider called the ghosts of Reno Jones and other heroes their time. The spirits encountered Laussa's protectors, her "Babysitters Club," in the Wild West-themed amusement park Six Gun Territory. A fight broke out since the spirits couldn't properly communicate their intention, until Druid's magic allowed him to understand that Laussa was the reason for their presence.[12] After the Demon Rider made herself present and clarified that the undead warriors intended to pledge their allegiance to Laussa, they all rode out of the town to take part in the War of the Realm's final battle.[13]Attributes
Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
- The backstory and adventures of Reno Jones were retconned in the miniseries Blaze of Glory, meaning that his early appearances in the volume Gunhawks are product of embellishments of the dime novels produced of Reno Jones's real adventures, not telling an accurate picture. The part that is directly called into question is the fact that Reno had fought under the Confederacy banner as a soldier. (since that in reality the Confederacy never had black soldiers) The other parts of the Gunhawks' adventures are implied to have happened in some way or another, with the only change that the relation of Reno with Cassidy began in shakier grounds and deteriorated with the time, with Cassidy seemly dying in a saloon instead of native village as in the original Gunhawk Volume.
See Also
- 14 appearance(s) of Reno Jones (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Reno Jones (Earth-616)
- 18 image(s) of Reno Jones (Earth-616)
- 4 quotation(s) by or about Reno Jones (Earth-616)