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[Guardian7]

I just recently downloaded WHAM Comics #1 and finally had a chance to read the Detecto story... oddly enough, The main character is named Jack Strand. Detecto/Jack Strand was created by Albert Tyler [as Al-Bert] (signed) and inker John Belfi (not sure if Al-Bert is the writer or not).

Oddly because another Jack Strand appears years earlier in a strip by that name "Jack Strand" who is caught up in a weird dimensional place that can be accessed by a ring that can transform into a yellow/amber/golden gem and create a doorway into this dimensional space "Psyk's realm" is what I am calling it (Though that is not the offical name). This Strand character was created by Frank Frollo.

I just find it funny that such an unusual name was used twice (the second one being actually named Jack Strand). Odd coincidence I suppose.

G7

[comicsnorth]

There was also a Jack Strand in MLJ's Blue Ribbon Comics #2 in 1939--he really seemed to get around, didn't he?

-comicsnorth

[darkmark]

Not as unusual as it might seem.  Early comics publishers bought their wares from comics "shops" (actually sweatshops of artists and writers), and sometimes these creators would use the same character for more than one publisher.  I recall Lucky Coyne, Bob Phantom, Nemo in Slumberland...Jack Strand may have been one of these.

[narfstar]

Bo the newspaper dog appeared everywhere

[jfglade]

Jim, "Bo the newspaper dog?" Do you have a little more information you could impart?

[kquattro]

...sometimes these creators would use the same character for more than one publisher.  I recall Lucky Coyne, Bob Phantom, Nemo in Slumberland...

The name "Bob Phantom" (a magician in STAR COMICS and an MLJ superhero) was used by several different companies, but the characters were entirely unrelated. Similar to "Dr. Doom" (Fox's SCIENCE COMICS and Marvel) or "John Law" (Quality's SMASH COMICS and Will Eisner*).

You are correct though, darkmark, that characters would follow the comic shop from company to company, comic to comic. Like everybody's favorite, "The Duke of Darkness".

--Ken Q
* Eisner was likely aware of this character as the Eisner/Iger shop was supplying work to Quality at the time and Eisner's own "Espionage" feature ran in some of the same issues of SMASH as Harry Campbell's "John Law". But his JL and the earlier JL were different characters.

[John C]

John Law might not count as much (though if he does, Tarantula from Star-Spangled Comics is also on that list), seeing as  how the term was common slang for the legal system in general.  Finding a John or Johnny Law is like finding an Uncle Sam (also a common character, although only Quality's was ongoing), in many ways.

But yeah, there are many recurring names around the Golden Age.  I'd chalk it up to it being a relatively small community (almost all of the writers, artists, and editors lived and worked in the same parts of Manhattan, and many obviously even shared offices) and an understanding that only the top-notch strips become really well-known.  Today, I think we're just more sensitive to familiar names and probably have a wider scope.  I mean, I doubt readers in the '40s pored over hundreds of comics comparing the strips, whereas that's almost normal behavior, today.

[comicsnorth]

I'm pretty sure all three Jack Strands were by different creators, and it is a less obvious name than say, John Law or Dr. Doom.

That said, I do find it amazing that in some of the titles that had frequent turn over of features that characters originating in Amazing-Man at Centaur didn't wind up in an issue or two of Daring Mystery at Timely.

-comicsnorth

[JonTheScanner]

Jim, "Bo the newspaper dog?" Do you have a little more information you could impart?

There was a newspaper comic strip about a dog named Bo.  CHarlton also published three issues which we have:
http://goldenagecomics.co.uk/index.php?cid=421

[kquattro]

John Law might not count as much (though if he does, Tarantula from Star-Spangled Comics is also on that list), seeing as  how the term was common slang for the legal system in general.

The point I was trying to make in my previous post was that "Bob Phantom" was two distinct characters, not unlike "Dr. Doom" and "John Law". I understand that the latter was a common term for law enforcement and not very original. And yes, there have been many other examples of the same name being used by different characters. I wasn't compiling a comprehensive list, only giving examples.

--Ken Q

[Ed Love]

It should be noted that Harry 'S' Chesler is responsible for some of the early books by the company we now call Centaur. Chesler re-used a lot of names and characters for titles not only for books that he published but for companies that he apparently supplied stories to. While he recycled the names Satan Lady, Dynamic Boy within his own titles, his Dynamic Man is pretty much identical in concept to Timely's. Dan Hastings was at Centaur, Chesler, MLJ and Fawcett. Lucky Coyne at Centaur, Chesler and MLJ though he changed his look and m.o. a bit from his earliest appearances (and "Coyne" was the last name of one of MLJ's founders). His Firebrand also appeared at Harvey while their Nighthawk (and his villain the Green Skull) appeared in a text story at Chesler. Likewise, Chesler had a text story featuring a hero called the Green Ghost which may or may not be the same as Harvey's as that character's sole outing hasn't shown up yet in the files. I don't know if anyone has chronicled the extent of Chesler's involvement with the various companies of the time, such as I don't KNOW that Timely's Dynamic Man came from Chesler's studio, but we do know that Timely's first comic made use of talent from Funnies, Inc, the same studio that supplied many of Centaur's output (another link I wish could have been explored was the influence Will Everett might have had in the creation of the Shark or the Shark might have had in the evolution of Namor at Timely).

[narfstar]

Keep the research and info coming Ed. Post all you know here there are those eager to eat it up

[comicsnorth]

Just out of curiosity, while we know why the name John Law was so popular, does anyone here know where "Jack Strand" came from?  Was it derived from The Strand magazine, or was it the name of someone that all these different creators knew?

-comicsnorth

[Yoc]

That's a good question. 
Why do I have a feeling it's British in origin?

[John C]

Well, there might not be a "real" answer.  When you think about some of the "inbreeding" in the industry, it could just be that someone mentioned a name one day, and it just sounded enough like an action hero.

I guess it's possible that Jack Strand was a public figure of the day, some kind of now-obscure folk hero, or a name-like phrase, but it could as easily have been the guy selling them coffee at a midtown deli or something a mutual friend misspoke at a party.

Quickly messing around with Google, for example, mostly turns up people.