https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=23694Space Detective 1
The Future, hell, the present, ain't what it used to be!
Cover shows 'The Aristocratic Rod Hathaway.' in an office, smoking a pipe, writing on paper with a pen, as is his secretary, [on her knees at his feet. - well, this is Wally Wood!] and surrounded by hard-cover books.
The 2022 version of this comic would have the roles reversed, no books, no pipe and a wall-size screen. Just sayin'!
Space Detective. [Story #1] The lettering style and the preponderance of words, give this an
EC feel. I think this book came out of the same studio that did a lot of the EC work. Maybe this was planned for EC, but used here.
This is a confused mish-mash. The set-up is the cliche of the rich aristocrat who is secretly a superhero [The Avenger], here called 'a crime-figher'. And the story title says he is a detective.
Did they have a copyright problem with the other
Avenger comic, so called the book, 'Space Detective?'
It's a fun story, great to feast your eyes on, but nothing special.
The villain, of course, is green, has an ugly face and "Spock' ears.
The Opium Smugglers of Venus.Nice to see the story tie-in with a character met in the first story.
'His clothes were impregnated with lead.' How can he walk?
Oh! it's the same villian. And he gets away again.
Trail to the Asteroid Hideout. So, we have three stand alone stories which are also chapters of a longer story.
Maag is a busy boy. He's a pirate, a drug smuggler and a bank robber.
The writer? Walter Gibson.
https://www.lybrary.com/walter-gibson-m-718.htmlIn 1931 Gibson was approached by the pulp fiction magazine publishers Street and Smith, who wanted a writer to produce a pulp magazine series called "The Shadow", based on the character of a popular "Detective Radio Drama". Gibson delivered under the pen name Maxwell Grant (devised from his friendship with two stage magicians, Max Holden and U. F. Grant). It was such a success that he wrote some 283 shadow novels. Through all this time he maintained an estimated 1 Million words a year annual output.
Don't get the impression that because I look with a critical eye, that I don't like this book. I appreciate the art and craft that went into it. However, I really do get this impresssion that it was an idea for a continuing series that was rejected at some stage,hence only four issues.
If you are reading this and looking for a PD character to revive, look no further.
Lucky Dale, Girl Detective.Might have been better to call it, Lucky Dale, Action Girl. She doesn't do much detecting, but she works independently, rescues herself and the captain and finds the 'MacGuffin' with-out any help. A great female role model.
https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/MacGuffin In fiction, a "MacGuffin" ? sometimes spelt "McGuffin" or "Macguffin" ? is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist (and sometimes the antagonist) is willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to pursue, often with little or no narrative explanation as to why it is considered so desirable. A MacGuffin, therefore, functions merely as "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, a potential threat, a mysterious but highly desired item or object, or simply something that is entirely unexplained.
And I like
Warren Kremer's art. Reminds me a little of Gene Colan here.
The review of the next book down the track a little.
Cheers!
r
Author
Topic: Reading Group #269 Rod Hathaway, Space Detective (Read 2996 times)
