The First Top Hat in the West was a light-hearted Western adventure strip which began in the issue of D.C. Thomson's Wizard dated 20th January 1973. It was the story of census-taker Sebastian Soames, a top-hatted and gentrified government official sent to the Wild West by the government to take the names and addresses of children in order to register them for the new schools that were to be built.
A surprisingly resourceful and determined individual, Sebastian was none the less no match for the roughnecks who inhabited the frontier towns he visited, but luckily he 'won' the services of tough but genial gunslinger Mono Mike in a raffle (Mike was raffling himself in order to pay off his debts and escape a necktie party). The good-hearted brute became his assistant and bodyguard as they roamed around thwarting the schemes of crooked sheriffs and mine owners while pursuing their endless mission: literally, kicking ass and taking names!
