During World War II there was quite rightly a fear of espionage. Spies and spy rings made regular appearances in comic books, normally being smashed to oblivion by a superhero. After the end of the war and the defeat of fascism it looked as if there was no further mileage left for spies. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
Very soon a new ideological enemy appeared on the horizon. Communism, and its home the Soviet Union were perceived as the new threat to the American way of life. The foremost proponent of this was Senator Joseph McCarthy. Soon, 'McCarthyism' was sweeping the States. There appeared to be a red under every bed.
The anti-communist fear increased with the founding of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese intervention in the Korean War. This paranoia provided a fertile ground for comic book creators, as can be evidenced by the titles beneath.
As a parting note, one interesting character in the spy genre is T-Man. A U.S. Treasury agent seems to be a rather unlikely occupation for a comic book hero, but he proved to be remarkably popular.
We have 39 titles and 1,476 issues in our 'Spy / Espionage Category' for you to enjoy.
Spy / Espionage Comics, Books and Radio Shows
| Adventures by Morse |
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| Available: | 52 Shows |
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| Broadcasting History |
| Shows: | 52 |
| From: | Jan 1944 |
| To: | Dec 1944 |
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| Categories: | Adventure | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | Adventures by Morse is a syndicated adventure series produced, written and directed by Carlton E. Morse in the mid-1940s, shortly after NBC canceled his I Love a Mystery series. Morse produced 52 episodes of the program, each 30 minutes long.
Captain Bart ... |
| The Adventures of the Falcon |
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| Available: | 88 Shows |
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| Broadcasting History |
| From: | Apr 1943 |
| To: | Nov 1954 |
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| Categories: | Spy / Espionage | Crime |
| Description: | This hard boiled spy drama began as an RKO Radio Pictures theatrical serial in the 1940s, went on radio in 1943, and then came to TV around ten years later in a Syndicated series produced for distribution by NBC Films; the series was about an American agent ... |
| Buck Ryan |
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| Section: | Newspaper Comic Strips |
| Categories: | Detective | Crime | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | Buck Ryan was a UK newspaper adventure comic strip created by Jack Monk and the writer Don Freeman. It ran in the Daily Mirror from 22 March 1937 to July 1962.
Buck Ryan, the strip's main character, is a young British private investigator who fights crime. ... |
| Cloak and Dagger |
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| Available: | 22 Shows |
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| Broadcasting History |
| Shows: | 22 |
| From: | May 1950 |
| To: | Oct 1950 |
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| Categories: | War / Armed Forces | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | Cloak and Dagger opened over the NBC network on May 7, 1950. It had a short run through the Summer on Sundays, changing to Fridays after its Summer run. The last show aired October 22, 1950.
The series told fictional stories of OSS agents during World War II who took ... |
| Danger |
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| Available: | 3 Books |
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| Publishing History |
| Issues: | 3 |
| From: | Jun 1955 |
| To: | Oct 1955 |
| Seq: | 12 - 14 |
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| Publisher: | Charlton |
| Categories: | Adventure | Spy / Espionage |
| Fu Manchu |
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| Categories: | Crime | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | Dr. Fu Manchu is a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century. The character was also featured extensively in cinema, television, radio, comic strips and comic books for over 90 years, ... |
| Iron Jaw Archives |
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| Section: | Comic Book Compilations |
| Categories: | Crime | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | Iron Jaw first appeared in Boy Comics #03 (April 1942) published by Lev Gleason. He made a further 21 times appearances.
An incident during WWI left a German soldier by the name of Von Schmidt horribly disfigured and doctors were forced to replace his jaw with ... |
| L'Agent IXE-13 |
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| Available: | 699 Books |
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| Publishing History |
| Issues: | 934 |
| From: | 1947 |
| To: | 1967 |
| Seq: | 1 - 934 |
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| Non-English: | French Language Books |
| Categories: | Adventure | Crime | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | L'Agent IXE-13, the ace of spies, is Jean Thibault. Despite battling nazis, and commies in thrilling and exciting adventures, the Canadian Bond somehow also finds time for romance.
The stories were written by Pierre Saurel and illustrated by André ... |
| Mister X |
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| Available: | 10 Books |
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| Publishing History |
| From: | 1949 |
| To: | 1951 |
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| Non-English: | French Language Books |
| Categories: | Superhero | Spy / Espionage | Adventure | Crime |
| Description: | French superhero series. First published in portrait format and the 2nd. series in landscape. Late 1940's - early 1950's.
Writer: André Roger
Artist: André Bohan |
| Myra North, Special Nurse |
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| Available: | 4 Books |
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| Publishing History |
| From: | Feb 1936 |
| To: | Aug 1941 |
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| Section: | Newspaper Comic Strips |
| Categories: | Adventure | Crime | Spy / Espionage | Leading Ladies |
| Description: | Myra North, Special Nurse was written by Ray Thompson and drawn by Charles Coll. The strip, which was distributed by the Newspaper Enterprise Association, debuted on February 10, 1936. A Sunday page was then added December 6, 1936. Thompson and Coll continued ... |
| Sarge Steel |
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| Available: | 8 Books |
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| Publishing History |
| Issues: | 8 |
| From: | Dec 1964 |
| To: | Apr 1966 |
| Seq: | 1 - 8 |
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| Publisher: | Charlton |
| Categories: | Adventure | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | While Sarge Steel is owned and trademarked to DC the original issues did not carry a copyright notice so by law they are public domain. |
| T-Man |
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| Categories: | Crime | Spy / Espionage |
| Description: | T-Man was first published in September 1951, by Quality Comics, the run continued until the company folded in 1956. It has the claim to fame of probably being the only comic book that ever featured a U.S. Treasury agent as its hero. T-Man was also a classic ... |
