Fantagraphics Roy Crane's Captain Easy Soldier of Fortune Volume One 1933-1935 gives a delightful and sometimes hair-raising glimpse at the original adventure comic strip. This brilliantly colored comic strip began with Roy Crane's Washington Tubbs II which became Wash Tubbs a very successful daily in which its titular hero went from an Archie-prototype to something of a strip filled with globe-trotting high romance. Eventually Wash meets Captain Easy, a man's man who sought adventure first and asked questions later. When it came time to make a Sunday page, Crane eventually turned his attention full time to Captain Easy and it is that strip which fills up this debut tome. There are five distinct stories in this volume, each titled and that's how I'll deal with them.
Gunghsi
From July 7, 1933 until January 14 1934 we follow Captain Easy, then a pilot for the Chinese government, into the lost province of Gungshi. Easy volunteers with gusto and soon flies his little biplane aross the Himalayas where he finds an exotic land filled with warring bandits, self-absorbed rulers and more than a few very delectable dames. He fights against the Mogul of the land and later for him when both are captured by despicable bandits.
The Slave Girl
This story runs from January 21 1934 until August 19 1934. Having become rich Easy buys a beautiful slave girl to keep her from the clutches of a contemptable lout and the pair of them head to her homeland which itself has become under attack. Easy is quick of temper, quick of wit and more than willing to unleash a submachine gun on his enemies. This is a not comic strip that blinks at dealing death, though it does it with a brightly colored zest. Easy meets a fellow Ameican named "Ramblin' Jack" who proves an uncertain ally.
The Sunken City
From August 26 1934 to April 4 1935 Captain Easy becomes something of an aquatic hero. Leaving behind the primitives for a time he relaxes in throes of modern society but tingling at the back of his mind is a city partly beneath the sea he'd glimpsed as his plane had crossed the mountains. Eager to seek wealth he hires an English named Pippy and the two fly into adventure. They find not only treasures but more danger above and below the waves than they can handle, and Easy almost becomes the groom at a most gruesome wedding.
Pirates
April 14 1935 to July 7 1935 offers up a tale of how Easy and Pippy try to survive encounters with a mob of pirates who have joined forces to raid a wealthy island nation. Among the survivors they find is a beautiful princess. To save Pippy Easy is forced to surrender his golden treasure and we learn yet again that this man who seeks danger at every turn is still and all a loyal ally.
The Princess
This volume closes out with this story which ran from July 14 1935 until December 1 1935. It's much different from the ones before in that the exotic settings around the Himalayas and thereabouts have been abandoned as Easy and Pippy head back to London. But Easy sees a beautiful woman he falls madly in love with and before you know it he's fighting duels and heading to the land of Nikkateena. His enemy in this one is one Count Heyloff who is a bully and scoundrel of the first order. Easy and Pippy get involved in actual warfare this time as hostilities break out between Nikkateena and Woopsydasia. It's war manufactured to sell weapons. By the end Easy is a hero but finds the attention too much to handle and hits the rails.
It's all mighty splendid stuff, and reads swiftly. Crane's style is spare and filled with bright colors that explode from the page. It's a wonderful blend of serious and funny which is at once attractive and compelling. Easy inspired Joe Shuster no doubt and that's why Slam Bradley and Superman both resemble Crane's solider of fortune. I'm looking forward to more.
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