Duke Douglas!

Comic Media was a short-lived publisher from the early 50's, and they put out some handsome material in their brief existence. Their go-to artist appears to have been the painfully underrated Don Heck who of course went on a decade later to be a mainstay at Marvel during its early days. Boardman Books gathered up the Duke Douglas stories in a slim volume first published in 2015. It is this book which I read for the reviews below. 

(Not in this collection.)

Danger was one of the company's flagship titles and begins its run in 1953 with a wide range of manly men engaged in a variety of sweaty activities as evidenced by this debut cover by Heck. These are, as the banner announces, stories about "Men Without Fear". Don Heck returns for the next couple of issues with some covers that promise some wild and intriguing adventures indeed.

But then with the sixth issue a new regular feature was introduced, drawn by Heck. Not named on the cover this is Duke Douglas, a dapper secret agent who appears by the many montages he is featured in on this cover and others to be engaged in all sorts of clandestine adventure. But in fact, Douglas does not appear inside the comic but only on the cover. It must've been quite odd for a reader attracted by the Heck artwork to find nothing inside to correspond. 

Duke Douglas debuts inside the seventh issue of Danger in a story entitled "Khyber Incident" in which he attempts to forestall the "Reds" from stirring up trouble in the mountains of Asia. The lead story is drawn by Don Heck. A second story titled "Escape to Death" sees our hero try to rescue a diplomat who might have been betrayed by the one he loves most.  This story was drawn by Pete Morisi. No writer is indicated for either tale in this issue. 

Ken Fitch is credited as the writer of "Crash in the Alps" drawn by Don Heck for the eighth issue of Danger. (This is the only time any writer is identified on a Duke Douglas story.) In this one Duke is trying to retrieve plates which would result in counterfeit money which could well cripple the fragile European economy. "Kill! Kill! Kill!" is drawn by Pete Morisi, We see Duke kill and kill again to rescue a damsel in distress from the very heart of the Kremlin. Did Duke kill Stalin? The story suggests he might have. 

With the ninth issue Duke's name finally rates a cover and the action here goes more for mood rather than action. "Ransom in Oil" was drawn by Don Heck and has Duke battling Red spies to gain contracts with rich Arab leaders. That Duke rescues a sheik's daughter only helps his case. "Racket Man" is a text piece in which an unnamed protagonist presumed to be Duke is loaned out to the FBI to help capture a man who has made off with a million bucks and fled to Brazil. "Intrigue" drawn by Heck has Douglas go into a long-term deep cover to uncover a Red plot, but he must toy with the emotions of a young woman to help his mission, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend who is drafted to fight in Korea. "Dedication" is a one-page text story in which Duke uncovers a grisly murder scheme. 

"Trouble in Morocco" has Duke join the Foreign Legion to discover why things are not going as planned. The death toll is high in this story drawn by Don Heck. "Trial by Fire" is drawn by Bill Discount and sees Duke seeking the secret of a man who seemingly died in a deadly car crash. Frankly the hero in this one doesn't resemble Duke all that much, but each artist seems to have his own take on our spy hero. "Oil" is a Duke one-page text tale in which he solves the murder of a Pentagon official and uncovers a Red spy. 

"Accomplice in Murder" in the final Comic Media issue of Danger puts Duke in a ticklish position where he must cover up a murder in order to uncover a deeper plot. The story is the final Duke Douglas comic story and is drawn by Don Heck. "Choker" is a one-page text tale in which Duke spots a hidden clue revealing that murder has been done. 

Duke holds down Danger until 1954 when it completes its Comic Media run, the company having given up the ghost. You can almost imagine him firing his gun into the fourth wall at the creditors. Charlton Comics was in a position to swoop in and gathers up much of Comic Media's material and titles, though Duke Douglas and Don Heck alike are gone from the covers when they relaunched the title in 1955. The series runs a mere three issues before a dramatic transformation takes place.

If you would like to savor some of those vintage Danger adventures, then check out this link. 

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Johnny Dynamite - Wild Man Of Chicago!

As Max Allan Collins explains in the expansive introduction to this Yoe Book collection of Johnny Dynamite, the story begins with Mickey Spillane. Spillane wrote comics from the very beginning of the genre. But he made his reputation in 1950's with the novel I The Jury which introduced rough and tough Mike Hammer. 

Versions of Hammer had appeared in comics before as Mike Danger and Mike Lancer. But the essence of the Mike Hammer character was arguably best captured by Johnny Dynamite from Comics Media in their series Dynamite. While there is no doubt what inspired the character, the question of who created Johnny Dynamite is an open one. 

(Announcement of the character in Dynamite #2)

It might have been an editor at Comic Media, or writer Ken Fitch, or perhaps it was artist Pete Morisi, better known to the world as P.A.M. There is no question however that it is the work of Morisi, using a style evolved from that of George Tuska, which causes the character to resonate still in a modern comics arena. There's something absolutely stylish and compelling about Morisi's work.

It's in the third issue of Dynamite that we first meet "The Wild Man from Chicago", who in three heavily written tales confronts the mobsters and molls of that inhabit his morally challenged world. Johnny still has two good eyes when we first meet him, designed to resemble John Garfield. 

One of the more distinctive aspects of the character is that he is more than capable of shooting and killing a woman. Generally, "heroes" eschew such behavior, but for Johnny it's almost a defining quality.

One woman he's eager to kill is the dame who took out his eye. In the very first story of the second issue, he gets shot in the face and loses a "lamp" as he puts it. It's not surprise he eventually finds the woman pays her back. But Johnny also tries to help women who come to him for such things, but he's not all that successful as more than few fall victim to mobsters, either being killed outright or falling under the spell of hard drugs. In the second issue also, the text diminishes somewhat and while we still get the classic first-person perspective so prevalent for noir, the artwork does more of the lifting in the narrative. 

In the fifth issue we get a story narrated by Hennessy the cop who Dynamite calls often after he's plugged a few mugs. It's a tale of a mobster trying to go straight and failing. We also get a two-page text story about Johnny by Fitch which not only satisfies the post office, but also showcases the hard-nosed hero in the format from which he sprang. Morisi's artwork gets more refined as he continues to present these tales. 

In the sixth issue Morisi takes over the writing as well as the art for the series. Or at least he now gets credit for the work, it's hard to know to what extent he was already doing this. Most hard-boiled dicks have a sexy secretary and Johnny Dynamite is no exception. She's named Judy Kane and one of the two stories in the seventh issue of Dynamite deals with her kidnapping. The second story is a brutal tale which ends with Johnny meeting a woman he actually trusts enough to cover her crime. 

Morisi is really in the swing of things in the next issue which is one longer story. This helps out nicely as the compression of three tales was damaging to the drama. Two was pretty good, but one is even better, and allows for the cinematic feel to develop. There are call girls and stole diamonds in this yarn which sees Johnny consummates his "Vendetta". 

There's no doubt these are brutal stories. The phrase "Exciting Adult Reading" is perfect for the kind of no-holds violence which bristles on these well-honed pages. Love this red cover, it really pops. The first story gives us a glimpse of Johnny's past when he was a boxer called "Kid  Dynamite". This manager and friend gets caught up in crime when his beloved wife is killed, and he vows to gather mob might to get his revenge. We then get a one-page text story. This is followed by a second tale that has Dynamite get involved with yet another gorgeous but dangerous dame. 

The ninth issue of Dynamite is the final one from Comic Media. It's a got a great cover and the best Johnny Dynamite story yet. He goes up against the Mafia and it's a beautifully rendered and paced tale of deceptions and secrets. This one was the most like a film noir film, with the narration beautifully aligned with the imagery. 

The leftover material produced by Morisi for Comic Media finds its way over to the folks at Derby Connecticut where the Charlton Comics operation was located. The first two issues of the renamed Johnny Dynamite series (it continues the originally number) have one Pete Morisi story in each of the first two issues. They also feature less impressive Morisi covers. The two stories take Johnny overseas, first to Germany where he confronts an old nemesis from World War II, and then to Vietnam to assist with the fight against the Commies. 

(Cover by Dick Giordano and Vince Alascia)

The series wraps up with issue twelve with stories written most likely by Mickey Spillane friend Joe Gill and art supplied by the rock steady Bill Molno. 

The collection closes out with a story from the Ms. Tree series by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty titled "Whatever Happened to Johnny Dynamite". We learn that Johnny and his secretary Judy Kane were both instrumental in sending a particularly deadly mob boss to prison and have been in witness protection for many years. Now to save them both, Mike Mist is called upon to join forces with Ms. Tree. The original stories from the Comic Media series would be reprinted as back-up features in many of the subsequent Ms. Tree issues for Renegade Press. 

(Officer Pete Morisi aka P.A.M.)

If you would like to read the original stories from Comic Media by Pete Morisi and others check out this dynamite link. 

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The Boone Trace!

Daniel Boone is a culturally significant figure in my home state of Kentucky, a key part of the history of the earliest European settlements in the region. And in the 50's because of the Disney movies starring Davy Crockett, the coonskin cap wearing hero (he never did in real life by the way). Between them, Boone and Crockett had many different comics from many different companies. Charlton too had a Daniel Boone comic book and a Davy Crockett comic. The Daniel Boone trace is a long and oddly surprising one, even for Charlton.

Comic Media was a short-lived comics company which tries to put out comics in most of the popular genres of the time - horror, crime, romance, and westerns. Their western outing was a comic titled rather dramatically Death Valley. With a debut cover by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, the comic was kicked off to a rousing start in 1953.

With the very next issue the workhorse of the company Don Heck took over the cover duties and supplied the art for all of the remaining issues.

The series ended in 1954 with the sixth issue as did sadly the company itself.

A year later in 1955 though, Charlton put out its own Death Valley comic picking up right where Comic Media left off. The issue kept the numbering intact and even sport a Heck cover.

Charlton produced two more issues in the run before the comic Death Valley lived up to its title at long last.

The genre stayed pretty much the same, but the title was changed to Frontier Scout Dan'l Boone and issue ten was his first.

With issue thirteen (lucky that) the comic ended its run at last in 1956.

But a nearly a decade later in 1965 a fourteenth and final issue at long last produce which was all reprints from various previous issues of the run. Note that "Dan'l" is now "Daniel" in the title. This comic sported a vivid and strong Dick Giordano and Sal Trapani cover with Daniel Boone in a crouched stance ready to fend off the enemy.

That cover is an almost exact reworking of the debut cover of Davy Crockett from 1955 by an enigmatic artist who signed his name "Roppe".

As with many of Charlton's comics, the trace ends but only after a very winding path indeed. 

To go and read the earliest issues of Comic Media's Death Valley go here. For the earliest issues of Frontier Scout Dan'l Boone check this out.

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The Danger Road!

Comic Media was a short-lived publisher from the early 50's and they put out some handsome material in their brief existence. Their go-to artist appears to have been the painfully underrated Don Heck who of course went on a decade later to be a mainstay at Marvel.

Danger was one of the company's flagship titles and begins its run in 1953 with a wide range of manly men engaged in a variety of sweaty activities as evidenced by this debut cover by Heck. These are, as the banner announces, stories about "Men Without Fear".

Pete Morisi, better known a decade later for his Thunderbolt title for Charlton, also was a regular artist for the fledgling company and his cover for the second issue is quite handsome.

Morisi is back for the third issue, offering up an even more entrancing image.

Don Heck returns for the next couple of issues with some covers that promise some wild and intriguing adventures indeed.

But then with the sixth issue a new regular feature was introduced, drawn by Heck. Not named on the cover this is Duke Douglas, a dapper secret agent who appears by the many montages he is featured in on this cover and others to be engaged in all sorts of clandestine adventure.

With the ninth issue Duke's name finally rates a cover and the action here goes more for mood rather than action.

Duke holds down the comic until 1954 when it completes its Comic Media run, the company having given up the ghost. You can almost imagine him firing his gun into the fourth wall at the creditors.

Charlton Comics was in a position to swoop in and gathers up much of Comic Media's material and titles, though Duke Douglas and Don Heck alike are gone from the covers when they relaunched the title in 1955.

The series runs a mere three issues before a dramatic transformation takes place.

The comic shifts not only titles but genres as espionage gives way to western action and Jim Bowie takes over the star spot as well as the title in 1956.

But after only three issues, Bowie too bows out and a new star gallops in.

With the twentieth issue of the run the title is changes in 1957 to Rocky Lane's Black Jack, and a comic which once featured manly men without fear now stars another species entirely, a brave horse.

But it's a successful horse and the Black Jack lasts until the thirtieth issue when the comes to an end in 1959.

If you would like to savor some of those vintage Danger adventures with Don Heck still very much in his lush Milt Caniff mode, then check out this link. 

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