Cheyenne

Cheyenne Bodie was a former frontier scout who for reasons never given had given up that profession and taken to drifting with apparently no reason, goals or ambitions.

Working mainly as temporary help on various ranches, cattle drives or wagon trains he also seemed to work for the government at odd times off and on, either as a special investigator for the Office of Indian Affairs, and sometimes as a federal marshal. 

Known to be an expert in the ways of the Cheyenne tribe it was never stated how he gained this knowledge, or if he might be part Cheyenne himself or had just lived among them.

Played by Clint Walker starting in 1955 the show, like all the other Western themed TV shows in the 50’s soon showed up first in Four Color comics and then in a series of it’s own.

The Series Cheyenne is significant in that it was the first hour long series featuring the same character each week, and it was the first series made by a major motion picture studio.

I was also the first series to use a theme that in the years after the premier of Cheyenne would be used again and again becoming a major cliché of the media, from The Fugitive, to the Incredible Hulk, who knows how many more. That is the stranger with no seeming connections to anyone who wanders into an area, helps out those who need help, and then wanders on.

Judging by the way the character  lived he could also be said to perhaps be the first slacker.

Of the many Dell comics based on TV Westerns Cheyenne was one of the more successful one.

Series theme lyrics

Cheyenne, Cheyenne where will you be camping tonight?
Loney man, Cheyenne, will your heart stay free and light?
Dream Cheyenne of a girl you may never love
Move along, Cheyenne like the restless cloud up above.

The wind that blows, that comes and goes, has been your only home.
But will the while will one day see and you'll no longer roam.

Move along, Cheyenne the next pasture's always so green.
Driftin' on, Cheyenne don't forget the things you have seen,
And when you settle down where will it be Cheyenne. Cheyenne!