[nzumel]

While clearing out my bookshelves yesterday, I rediscovered an old Dark Horse collection of the complete The Secret Files of Dr. Drew. The feature starred Desmond Drew, an occult investigator, and ran in Rangers Comics from issue 47 (June 1949) to issue 60 (August 1951). The stories were created by Jerry Grandenetti (art), Marilyn Mercer (scripts), and Abe Kanegson (lettering) while they were working for Will Eisner. Eisner supposedly created the character.

In the introduction to the collection, Michael T. Gilbert mentions that Fiction House, who published Rangers, also had another occult investigator named Drew: Drew Murdoch, the protagonist of the The Ghost Gallery feature that ran in Jumbo Comics from issue 42 (August 1942) to issue 167 (March 1953; the last issue).

Gilbert says that when he interviewed Grandenetti in 1991, Grandenetti kept referring to the character he worked as Drew Murdoch, not Desmond Drew. According to Gilbert:

When I reminded him that his hero was actually named Dr. Desmond Drew, he seemed surprised.

Note that Dr. Drew was Grandenetti's first credited work, so you'd think he'd kinda remember it....

Gilbert also mentions having found a piece of original Dr. Drew art, a splash page from Rangers #52 that had the name "Drew Murdoch" whited out and replaced with plain "Dr. Drew". I've put the images from the introduction here: https://multoghost.wordpress.com/confusing-the-two-doctor-drews/, so you can see. The final splash page is on CBP, here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=18839, on page 13.

It makes me curious: did Grandenetti ever work on Ghost Gallery? I've never seen such an assertion on any of his biographies that I've found online. And while I haven't looked through *all* the Ghost Gallery stories here on CBP, the few that I've read don't particularly look like Grandenetti to me (not that my eye is any good...).

[paw broon]

Good stuff nzumel.  Never mind your eye, mine suggests that splash page looks a bit like an Eisner Spirit splash the way it's laid out. And I'm not very good either.
As I've never read any Ghost Gallery, I will have a look now.
I wonder why the dagger was taken out.

[nzumel]

According to my book, Eisner wanted the Dr. Drew feature drawn Spirit-style, and it was, until Kanegson left. Then Grandinetti started drawing it in what I assume is his "natural" style. The switch happens about Rangers #58, I think.

The new style is quite different, but still didn't look like Ghost Gallery to me. But there are a lot of Ghost Gallerys....

Someday I'll have to look through more of them -- I like occult detective fiction, so it's actually right up my alley!

[nzumel]

I noticed that the "post Spirit style" Dr. Drew (starting with Rangers #58, April 1951) looks a lot like Marvel's Dr. Strange (first appearance July 1963, over a dozen year later). Hmmm......