The Marx Toy Convention happens this weekend at The Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum in Wheeling, and a big part of why I go is because of Johnny West. Johnny was Marx’s cowboy counterpart to GI Joe in the 1960s and 70s, and “JohnnyCon” is a convention-within-a-convention that happens during the Marx Toy Convention. Basically, it’s most of the top Johnny West Collectors in the country all jammed together in one room. It’s amazing fun and it’s something I wouldn’t miss for the world.

Over the years I’ve written plenty about Johnny West. Today I’m bringing you a handy index to the top articles about Johnny West in PopCult. These include posts I’ve made about the convention, about the Marx Toy Museum, and about the revivals and new product that’s come out. Keep in mind that some of these posts are many years old, and some of the older ones have links that may have gone dead or photos that have gone missing. That’s one of the drawbacks of having a blog that lasts more than a decade.

We’ll get to the index right after we re-present a talk by noted Johnny West expert, Scott Stewart (of Stewart’s Attic fame) that gives a concise history of The Marx Toy Company’s star Cowboy…

Okay, we’re going to sort this index in a casual manner, starting with posts that give you some added historical context beyond Scott’s lecture. Links are embedded in the descriptions.

We start with my first big post about Johnny West from almost nine years ago. This post talks about the grand plans of Noah and Terri Coop and CXR, which sadly did not come to fruition.

CXR did manage to create Marshall Johnny West as well as dozens of custom figures, headsculpts and gear, which can no longer be ordered, so don’t bother clicking on the links. (You can still order the Johnny West coloring book from Amazon)

CXR and Marxman toys were the creations of Noah and Terri Coop, and we lost Noah a few years ago. Terri runs periodic sales of the remaining CXR stock over at the Marx Action Figures Collectors Facebook Page (You will have to ask to join).

Tom Heaton, from The Vintage Toyroom, has written several books about Johnny West and his fellow travellers. You can read about them HERE and HERE. In 2014, at JoeLanta, for some reason I was on the Marx Action Figure Panel with Tom and Scott and Buddy Finethy.

James Wozniak, working with Terri Coop and Scott Stewart, helped bring about 50th Anniversary figures of Johnny West and Sam Cobra. He’s gone on to import many more new Marx action figures, made from the original molds. At ToyLanta 2017, James hosted a discussion of how the original Marx molds for Johnny West wound up in Mexico, and how he got in contact with the people who own them so they can make new figures.

Steve Corn is currently in possession of one of the original molds for Thunderbolt, Johnny West’s horse. He’s created several custom horses based on his first run of the molds, and is gearing up for a second go at it soon. We reviewed his horses HERE.

A few years ago, I wrote about my fondness for Johnny West, GI Joe and Captain Action.  When I first visited The now-closed Marx Toy Museum, I posted a huge, five-part photo essay. One part of that was devoted to Johnny West and cowboy toys.

That gives you links to the most extensive PopCult posts about Johnny West. Hope you enjoy them (and please report any dead links in the comments. I’m trying to root those all out).

Come back Thursday for an index to our coverage of the Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum.