A History of Crime-fighting Comic Strips and Books

by Kathryn Carroll

When, in 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle introduced his observant and cunning private detective, Sherlock Holmes, to the world, not only literature was transformed, but the relatively new art of comics as well. Almost immediately parodies of Sherlock Holmes appeared in daily and Sunday newspaper comics, but the most successful was Charles A. (Gus) Mager's Sherlocko the Detective , which debuted in 1910. Sherlocko the Monk and his sidekick Watso were more ape-like than human, but that didn't stop Doyle from bringing a lawsuit against Mager and his strip in 1913.

The character was too good to let go, however, and Mager began another detective strip. This time his protagonist was named for a detective in a popular 1866 play by Tom Taylor. Hawkshaw the Detective debuted in the New York World on February 23, 1913 . While less simian than Sherlocko had been, Hawkshaw was clearly recognizable as Sherlocko's kin; Watso became the often bumbling Colonel and together they took on The Professor and his dastardly deeds.

Hawkshaw the Detective lasted as a regular full-page newspaper strip until 1922 and from 1924 until the late 1940s as a topper to The Captain and the Kids by Rudolf Dirk. A 1924 attempt by Mager to bring back Sherlocko in a less parodying role, was again foiled by Arthur Conan Doyle's lawyers.

After World War II the comics pages were changing and toppers, small strips that accompanied full-page ones, lost favor, ending the reign of Hawkshaw.

A completely new type of detective and one perhaps more suited to the atmosphere of the 1930s appeared with the evolution of adventure series. Up to this time, daily newspaper strips were humorous, one-shot affairs, but the adventure strips continued their narrative from one day to the next. The popularity of these strips ushered in such classics as Terry and the Pirates , Wash Tubbs and, of course, Dick Tracy .

Chester Gould developed Dick Tracy, originally named Plainclothes Tracy, as an antidote to the public's reverence of such mobsters as Al Capone. Tracy , used honesty, brawn and violence to get his man, and readers loved it. Beginning on October 4, 1931 , Tracy meted out brutal justice to such legendary characters as Flattop, The Mole and BB Eyes. Gould introduced another innovation with his use of chiaroscuro. The heavy dark shading contrasted with white space clearly delineated good from evil.

The success of Dick Tracy encouraged knock-offs, such as Norman Marsh's Dan Dunn , which appeared in 1933 and Will Gould's Red Berry, which debuted in 1934. King Features even hired Dashiell Hammett to write scripts for a strip titled Secret Agent X-9. Hammett was known to readers for his character Sam Spade, among others. While the quality of Hammett's work was compelling, the syndicate seemed not to know whether it wanted X-9 to be a secret agent, a tough cop or a combination of both. The lead character never had his own identity nor did the agency he worked for. After four story lines, Hammett left the series to pursue opportunities in Hollywood . The strip continued, but never with the popularity of Dick Tracy .

Another type of hero was on the horizon, just waiting for the right editor. Since the early 1930s, two teenagers, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, had made the rounds of the newspaper syndicates trying to sell their idea for Superman. Time and again the strip was rejected by editors whose disbelief in Superman's powers blinded them to the strip's potential. Finally in 1938 when DC Comics (which originated as Detective Comics ) was looking for material to fill a new comic book anthology, Shuster and Siegel tasted success. Editor Sheldon Mayer immediately bought the strip and made it the lead in the #1 issue of Action Comics.

Superman was an immediate hit, ushering in the age of superheroes as well as rescuing the struggling comic book industry. Up to this time comic books were mostly compilations and reprints of newspaper comics. With the rise of the superhero, comic books took on an identity of their own and became the new rage, selling out at newsstands all over the country.

Superheroes like Batman, Captain Marvel, The Flash, The Green Lantern, Aquaman and many others fought every type of crook and criminal, and when the U.S. entered WW II, they fought the Nazis as well. Women superheroes broke into this bastion of male daring-do with Invisible Scarlet O'Neill, who could become invisible with the press of her wrist, Wonder Woman and more.

But even these super men and women couldn't defeat the cyclical nature of comics, and by the end of the war, sales were ebbing. It didn't take long for publishers to find a replacement, however. In 1942 a small publisher, Lev Gleason, brought out a comic book titled Crime Does Not Pay . Despite limited newsstand space, it was a steady seller but would soon explode in popularity and become another trend-setter.

Belying its title, it seemed that crime paid very well. Crime Does Not Pay was gory from its front cover up to the last panel when the criminal finally got what was coming to him—or her. If you think today's entertainment is violent, you might find its predecessor in the depictions of ax murders, torture, beatings and whatever other gruesome methods of killing you can imagine. Harkening back to the days of Al Capone, readers seemed to relish these “true crime” atrocities and luxuriate in the criminal's success even as they savored his violent demise in the end.

Again knock-offs flooded the market. Titles such as Crime Can't Win, True Western Crime, Crimes by Women, Crime & Punishment and more revived the comic book industry but soon drew the attention and the ire of shocked parents and even the U.S. Senate.

By the early 1950s, numerous articles in magazines such as Parents, Readers Digest, and the Saturday Review of Literature decried the negative influence these and other titles—a growing list that featured horror, shock, terror and sex—had on young people. In 1954 Fredric Wertham published The Seduction of the Innocent , a book that tolled the death knell for the comic book as it was known.

A Senate Subcommittee for the Investigation of Juvenile Delinquency resulted in the Comics Code Authority. Words such as “crime,” “horror,” “terror” and unsavory images now became the outlaws. Many publications folded, but as you might imagine another wave was on the horizon.

This particular wave had crashed ashore once before, but this time with a bit of a twist. The Superhero was back. This time, though, their capes and masks hid a secret—these dynamic duos, trios and even foursomes didn't really want to be super or heroes. If it hadn't been for an extraordinary turn of fate, these men and women wouldn't have been caught dead in multicolored skin-tight lycra costumes and running down criminals.

Readers identified with these reluctant heroes who struggled with a career path thrust upon them while successfully fighting crime and making the world a better place. Characters like the Flash, the Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman reappeared to join new ones named the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, the X-Men and others.

The revival of these characters in the 1960s has had a lasting effect on comic books and entertainment in general. Recent movies such as The Fantastic Four, The Incredibles, Spiderman and the soon to be released Superman reveal the public's continuing interest in the comic book form and its dedication to fighting crime. Bad guys are still being brought to justice in daily newspaper strips as well. Dick Tracy still looks as hard-nosed as he did 75 years ago and still gets his man

And if you think we've come so far from Sherlocko the Monk and his ape-like appearance, you may want to consider the 1950s Detective Chimp , with its leading character Bobo the chimpanzee, who avenges the death of his trainer by catching his murderer and goes on to become a valued member of the Oscaloosa County, Florida, police force. Or perhaps Sam Simian who, along with Angel O'Day, runs a detective agency where he is the brains and she is the brawn in Angel and the Ape, which first appeared in 1968.

Today, such a diversity of comics exists that it's easy for anyone to find a character or series they can immerse themselves in. If you haven't read a comic book since you were a kid, check out your local newsstand or comic book store and rediscover the fun in these graphic masterpieces.

If you'd like to read more about the history of newspaper comics and comic strips, check out these books and websites:

Books:

The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, edited by Bill Blackbeard and Martin Williams. Co-published by the Smithsonian Institution Press and Harry N. Abrams, 1977.

100 Years of American Newspaper Comics: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, by Maurice Horn. Gramercy Books, 1996.

The Art of the Comic Strip, by Shirley Glubok, Macmillan, 1979.

Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics, by Grant Geissman. (Harper Design, and imprint of HarperCollins, 2005.

The Great Women Superheroes, by Trina Robbins (Kitchen Sink Press, 1996).

Marvel Universe, by Peter Sanderson, Harry Abrams, 1996.

DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Super Heroes, by Les Daniels, Little Brown, 1995.

The Comic Book: The One Essential Guide for Comic Book Fans Everywhere, by Paul Sassienie, Chartwell Books, 1994.

Websites:

Don Markstein's Toonopedia: A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge; www.toonopedia.com . An excellent resource of the history of comics and cartoons with in-depth write-ups for hundreds of comic, their authors and the companies that publish them.

Comic Art and Graffix Gallery; www.comic-art.com . A superb site that includes the history of comics, artists' biographies, marketplaces, how-to tips for collectors and more.