McLane is an ordinary human. However, he is strong and agile and an extremely skilled martial artist, able to easily defeat large crowds of opponents and easily beat professional boxers. He is also extremely resilient, once taking a wooden bar stool to his skull without even being phased by it. Big Red was a traveler, always looking for employment. One day in Canada, he stumbled upon a gathering by crooked Red River lumber company, who were trying to steal potential workers from their honest rival, Great Bend Lumber Co. Infuriated at the work offer, Big Red decks the crook offering him a job, and offers his services to Great Bend. Great Bend president, Mr. Farlow, is happy to employ someone like McLane, who is apparently known for his skill in fighting, even though McLane is, as he says, “not much of a lumberjack”. After leaving the meeting, spies working for Red River plan to kill McLane by dropping a cut tree on him, but Big Red intimidates them by saying that he’ll deal with any rabblerousers with his bare hands – permanently. As the tree is about to fall, Big Red dodges it and defeats all the Red River spies in hand to hand combat. One lumberjack who witnesses the awe-inspiring fight tells Red that he knows where other Red River spies hold their meetings – and together they listen in to a Red River plan to sabotage Great Bend operations which would result in GB losing their lumbering contract. McLane successfully stops the spies from sabotaging a loading rig and bravely jumps onto a runaway logging train, slowing it down to a stop. Desperate after their plans are foiled, Red River spies try to ambush Big Red at a local pub. Even with the advantage of surprise, though, they lose to Big Red’s superior combat skills. However, it turns out the fight was merely a distraction. Logging rafts are blown up with dynamite, injuring, and almost killing, Mr Farlow. Big Red goes after the saboteurs, catching up with them and knocking them out. He delivers them to mounties. He leads the Great Bend men to drive the rafts out, and tells Mr Farlow’s that everything is in control. In issue 3, while wandering the northwoods, McLane stumbles upon a group fighting a lone man. Noticing one of the participants drawing a knife, McLane decks the guy. Other friends of the knife-wielder gang up on him, but Big Red fights them off. Happy for the rescue, the victim of the group introduces himself as Mr. Farr, owner of the woods from which the gang was stealing his timber. Big Red agrees to help him with his situation. McLane sets an ambush for the thieves and waits until nightfall when the gang emerges with a searchlight. Big Red ambushes them and fights them off, and then drops their equipment off a cliff. Farr, impressed, serves him a hearty breakfast, and offers McLane partnership in the company, making it now Farr-McLane Lumber Company. In issue 4, Big Red discovers some logs are missing from log rafts, which causes losses for the Farr-McLane Lumber Co. Big Red decides to investigate by carefully marking the logs so he can recognize them. He suspects strangers by the river fork of stealing the logs via bribes to their night men. When investigating the strangers camps, he finds the marked logs. The gang responds by ganging up on him and trying to kill him, but Big Red defeats them all and forces them to turn themselves in to a local sheriff. After arresting them, Big Red and the sheriff make a horrifying discovery – the gang has brutally murdered one of the sheriff’s deputies by bashing his head in. It turns out that the gang was full of wanted murderers, with a $25,000 reward for their capture (about $450,000 in 2019 money, though perhaps a little less considering the story takes place in Canada – so it’s probably Canadian dollars). Big Red McLane and Tom Farr use the reward to purchase a new tract of timber next to their property. In issue 5, Big Red takes issue with one of his hired men – a city slicker whom McLane considers a “loafer” and “braggart”. This is confirmed when he starts bragging about almost winning a heavyweight championship. Big Red responds by claiming the man’s a phoney. When the hired man tries to retort, he’s quieted by fellow lumberjacks. The next day, the city slicker starts a fight with a man smaller than himself and Big Red tries to bring him in line by decking him. Vengeful, the city slicker sets a trap for Big Red. When McLane is about to fell a tree, the city slicker pushes a young lumberjack under the tree, which crushes him. The new guy calls an inspector, trying to blame Big Red for the accident, lying that he didn’t give any warning. Big Red denies the charges, but the city slicker keeps spreading the rumor. The victim survives and tells Big Red that the new guy pushed him under the tree. An inspector is called and believes the testimony. McLane sets out to find the criminal, who is waiting for him with an axe – but it does no good against the mighty fists of Big Red McLane. Meanwhile, Tom Farr receives a phone call. The man was planted by a gang who tried to wreck their business! A plane filled with mounties arrive and warn Big Red that the new guy planted a bomb in the center of the log trains. Big Red finds the bomb and hurls it into a canyon, saving the day. In issue 6, Big Red and his partner Tom Farr learn about a crooked paper mill, Royal River Mills, that tries to buy out small lumber companies for ridiculously low prices by threatening them with physical force. Soon, Farr and McLane are also made the unfair offer, but they firmly refuse. Later, when returning from work, Big Red spots some people skulking through the bushes, and when he approaches them, they hide their faces and run away towards the river. He assumes they must’ve been homeless, but as he goes back to the office, he finds windows broken and Tom Farr lying in a pool of blood, seemingly dead. Not quite – the doctor says there is a slim chance that he’ll pull through. Enraged, Big Red stalks the perpetrators and finds them bragging about how they’re going to do the same to McLane. He beats them all up and makes one confess that Royal River Mills paid them for the hit. He drags them to the sheriff and then swings by Royal River Mills offices and beats up everyone inside and forces the owner, who is surprised that Big Red is alive, to destroy his own machinery with a sledgehammer. Afterwards, he makes him destroy his own plant using TNT before turning him over to the mounties. It turns out the owner is “Machine Gun” Randall, escaped convict wanted for murder. The story concludes with Tom Farr making a successful recovery.
Description McLane is an ordinary human. However, he is strong and agile and an extremely skilled martial artist, able to easily defeat large crowds of opponents and easily beat professional boxers. He is also extremely resilient, once taking a wooden bar stool to his skull without even being phased by it. Big Red was a traveler, always looking for employment. One day in Canada, he stumbled upon a gathering by crooked Red River lumber company, who were trying to steal potential workers from their honest rival, Great Bend Lumber Co. Infuriated at the work offer, Big Red decks the crook offering him a job, and offers his services to Great Bend. Great Bend president, Mr. Farlow, is happy to employ someone like McLane, who is apparently known for his skill in fighting, even though McLane is, as he says, “not much of a lumberjack”. After leaving the meeting, spies working for Red River plan to kill McLane by dropping a cut tree on him, but Big Red intimidates them by saying that he’ll deal with any rabblerousers with his bare hands – permanently. As the tree is about to fall, Big Red dodges it and defeats all the Red River spies in hand to hand combat. One lumberjack who witnesses the awe-inspiring fight tells Red that he knows where other Red River spies hold their meetings – and together they listen in to a Red River plan to sabotage Great Bend operations which would result in GB losing their lumbering contract. McLane successfully stops the spies from sabotaging a loading rig and bravely jumps onto a runaway logging train, slowing it down to a stop. Desperate after their plans are foiled, Red River spies try to ambush Big Red at a local pub. Even with the advantage of surprise, though, they lose to Big Red’s superior combat skills. However, it turns out the fight was merely a distraction. Logging rafts are blown up with dynamite, injuring, and almost killing, Mr Farlow. Big Red goes after the saboteurs, catching up with them and knocking them out. He delivers them to mounties. He leads the Great Bend men to drive the rafts out, and tells Mr Farlow’s that everything is in control. In issue 3, while wandering the northwoods, McLane stumbles upon a group fighting a lone man. Noticing one of the participants drawing a knife, McLane decks the guy. Other friends of the knife-wielder gang up on him, but Big Red fights them off. Happy for the rescue, the victim of the group introduces himself as Mr. Farr, owner of the woods from which the gang was stealing his timber. Big Red agrees to help him with his situation. McLane sets an ambush for the thieves and waits until nightfall when the gang emerges with a searchlight. Big Red ambushes them and fights them off, and then drops their equipment off a cliff. Farr, impressed, serves him a hearty breakfast, and offers McLane partnership in the company, making it now Farr-McLane Lumber Company. In issue 4, Big Red discovers some logs are missing from log rafts, which causes losses for the Farr-McLane Lumber Co. Big Red decides to investigate by carefully marking the logs so he can recognize them. He suspects strangers by the river fork of stealing the logs via bribes to their night men. When investigating the strangers camps, he finds the marked logs. The gang responds by ganging up on him and trying to kill him, but Big Red defeats them all and forces them to turn themselves in to a local sheriff. After arresting them, Big Red and the sheriff make a horrifying discovery – the gang has brutally murdered one of the sheriff’s deputies by bashing his head in. It turns out that the gang was full of wanted murderers, with a $25,000 reward for their capture (about $450,000 in 2019 money, though perhaps a little less considering the story takes place in Canada – so it’s probably Canadian dollars). Big Red McLane and Tom Farr use the reward to purchase a new tract of timber next to their property. In issue 5, Big Red takes issue with one of his hired men – a city slicker whom McLane considers a “loafer” and “braggart”. This is confirmed when he starts bragging about almost winning a heavyweight championship. Big Red responds by claiming the man’s a phoney. When the hired man tries to retort, he’s quieted by fellow lumberjacks. The next day, the city slicker starts a fight with a man smaller than himself and Big Red tries to bring him in line by decking him. Vengeful, the city slicker sets a trap for Big Red. When McLane is about to fell a tree, the city slicker pushes a young lumberjack under the tree, which crushes him. The new guy calls an inspector, trying to blame Big Red for the accident, lying that he didn’t give any warning. Big Red denies the charges, but the city slicker keeps spreading the rumor. The victim survives and tells Big Red that the new guy pushed him under the tree. An inspector is called and believes the testimony. McLane sets out to find the criminal, who is waiting for him with an axe – but it does no good against the mighty fists of Big Red McLane. Meanwhile, Tom Farr receives a phone call. The man was planted by a gang who tried to wreck their business! A plane filled with mounties arrive and warn Big Red that the new guy planted a bomb in the center of the log trains. Big Red finds the bomb and hurls it into a canyon, saving the day. In issue 6, Big Red and his partner Tom Farr learn about a crooked paper mill, Royal River Mills, that tries to buy out small lumber companies for ridiculously low prices by threatening them with physical force. Soon, Farr and McLane are also made the unfair offer, but they firmly refuse. Later, when returning from work, Big Red spots some people skulking through the bushes, and when he approaches them, they hide their faces and run away towards the river. He assumes they must’ve been homeless, but as he goes back to the office, he finds windows broken and Tom Farr lying in a pool of blood, seemingly dead. Not quite – the doctor says there is a slim chance that he’ll pull through. Enraged, Big Red stalks the perpetrators and finds them bragging about how they’re going to do the same to McLane. He beats them all up and makes one confess that Royal River Mills paid them for the hit. He drags them to the sheriff and then swings by Royal River Mills offices and beats up everyone inside and forces the owner, who is surprised that Big Red is alive, to destroy his own machinery with a sledgehammer. Afterwards, he makes him destroy his own plant using TNT before turning him over to the mounties. It turns out the owner is “Machine Gun” Randall, escaped convict wanted for murder. The story concludes with Tom Farr making a successful recovery.
