Ms. Tree - The Cold Dish!

The Hard Case Crime Ms. Tree reprints from Titan Books began at the end. Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty wanted to put their best foot forward and they considered the work for DC in the early 90's the best. But reading those stories revealed a lot of back history that informed this detective series which hugged close to continuity. In Ms. Tree - The Cold Dish we at last get to see the beginnings of the strip, and we get to see the characters appear and develop. 

The series began as a black and white serial in among many other such comics in the pages of the early Indy pioneer Eclipse Magazine. The publisher Dean Mullaney specifically asked Collins for a detective strip and Collins tapped his partner on the Mike Mist Minute Mysteries to take the artistic reins. It's fun to see Terry Beatty's art develop as the series takes on an ever-increasing sense of realism. 

The first Ms. Tree story was "I, for an Eye" and begins with the death of Mike Tree, the hardboiled detective inspired by Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. In fact, the original conceit is that Michael Tree (the heroine) is a doppelganger for Hammer's Velma and and the series is something of a what if Velma actually got hitched to Hammer. Of course, it ends in relative misery and a more than reasonable amount of blood. The series ran for six chapters, and we meet the cast of the book -- Ms. Michael Tree, Effie the secretary, and two operatives named Dan Green (to reflect his experience) and Roger Freemont who is a longtime partner of the deceased Mike Tree. We encounter the first wife of Mike's named Anne and his son named Mike also. (Seems like half the cast is named "Mike".) Needless to say, Ms.Tree does find her husband's killer and takes prompt action. 

The series proved popular and shifted over to color comics with the second yarn titled "Death Do Us Part". The fallout from the first case is beginning to show up. Ms.Tree takes a vacation and ends up in the middle of a double homicide. Turns out it is connected to the Muerta crime family who likely had her husband killed as well. We meet a new fellow named Patrick Rushing who writes crime novels. Tree and Rushing have a small fling, but their romance seems to be constantly interrupted with mayhem and death. We also meet Sgt. Rafe Valer, a former partner of Mike Tree's when he was a cop and a reliable ally for Ms.Tree inside the police force. This one has secrets inside of secrets and while you might see the twist coming, it's still a nice ride. 

"A Cold Dish" is the third and longest Ms.Tree saga to date in the run and of course lends its title to the collection as a whole. Beatty's growth as an artist is more and more evident as the series continues to define its style of barebones comic storytelling. This one begins with a tragedy close to home which again is tied into the Muereta family and the bodies drop with rapidity. Ms.Tree must take on a new responsibility which will in many ways make this series distinctive from others. She becomes a mother of sorts and that creates complications when the threats get very close to home. We meet Mr. Hand, a Brit who helps Ms.Tree protect someone she cares about. There is some great action in this one, story which feels more like a movie than any of the stories to this point. There is some poignant and lasting tragedy, and a bevy of bodies drop before this one is over. 

From the ninth issue of Ms.Tree we get the "Mohawk Mystery". This has Tree team up with Mike Mist and together they try to figure out what happened to a gangster and his loot which disappeared many years before at the snowbound Mohawk Mountain Lodge. This one has that classic whodunnit feel as we meet various suspects and learn details in a race to figure it out before our four-color detectives. It's a nifty little breather after the very heavy epic from the previous issues. 

Also included in this tome are two prose stories by Collins about Ms.Tree. "Red Light" is brief encounter in which a violent pimp gets some rough justice. "The Little Woman" is a story about a married couple who learn tragically that trying to hold on too tightly only leads to suffering. 

These adventures are bit rough around the edges in some places and the art reproduction leaves a bit to be desired. I got the sense most of it was scanned from existing comics and not that much done to clean it up. All in all though, a dandy package and it makes me look forward to the fourth volume which is due out later this autumn titled Deadline. Next week I'll be taking a gander at the only Ms.Tree prose novel titled Deadly Beloved. 

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