Rick O'Shay is a Western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 created by Stan Lynde

Stan Lynde

Stan Lynde is an American comic artist, painter and novelist. Born in Billings, Montana, he was raised on a sheep ranch near Lodge Grass. He attended the University of Montana in Missoula and now lives in Helena....

 in 1958. It was distributed worldwide through the Chicago Tribune Syndicate

Tribune Media Services

Tribune Media Services is a syndication company owned by the Tribune Company.The company has two divisions, "News and Features" and "Entertainment Products"...

 until publication ended in 1981.
The strip is set in the Western town of Conniption where Rick O'Shay is the deputy sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

, since the town is too small to have a full sheriff. His best friend is gunslinger Hipshot Percussion. Other key characters include gambler Deuces Wylde, dance hall owner Gaye Abandon, doctor Basil Metabolism, gunsmith and Civil War veteran Cap'n Ball, banker Mort Gage and a kid named Quyat Burp.