Origin

Clay Harder was skilled in drawing his guns with both hands, so he was called the "Two-Gun Kid", gaining fame across the West. His early life was marked by tragedy, but there are contradictory accounts about his true origin.

He was the son of rancher Seth Harder. At some point in his infancy, his father was crippled in a gunfight and as a result had made his son promise to never raise a gun against another man to avoid the same fate. Clay would left his home for a time, but when he returned he saw his father being bullied by the troublemaker Bull Yaeger. Yaeger would kill Seth, so Clay would take revenge on him, outdraw him in a duel, beat him in a fist fight and turned him over to the authorities.

Creation

The original Two-Gun Kid, Clay Harder, was Marvel's first reoccurring western character, first appearing in Two-Gun Kid #1 (from 1948). He was an optimistic wandering cowboy that liked to fight injustice and sing in rhymes. His horse was called Cyclone.

He was said to only be a fictitious character in-universe and inspired Matt Hawk to become the Western crime-fighter Two-Gun Kid, but in Outlaw Files #1 (2006) it's revealed that Clay Harder really existed but his adventures were greatly exaggerated in the dime novels produced of him.

Major Story Arcs

Clay's fame would attract gunfighters that wanted to challenge him. Clay was dating Ann Norton, but her father disapproved him. After Ann was almost hurt in a gunfight, Clay left his home and fade into legend.

By a short time, he became the guardian of the young orphan "Rusty Randolph"

In his last adventure, he was badly injured after a gunfight, and it is unknown if he survived or not.