Duke Douglas!

Comic Media was a short-lived publisher from the early 50's, and they put out some handsome material in their brief existence. Their go-to artist appears to have been the painfully underrated Don Heck who of course went on a decade later to be a mainstay at Marvel during its early days. Boardman Books gathered up the Duke Douglas stories in a slim volume first published in 2015. It is this book which I read for the reviews below. 

(Not in this collection.)

Danger was one of the company's flagship titles and begins its run in 1953 with a wide range of manly men engaged in a variety of sweaty activities as evidenced by this debut cover by Heck. These are, as the banner announces, stories about "Men Without Fear". Don Heck returns for the next couple of issues with some covers that promise some wild and intriguing adventures indeed.

But then with the sixth issue a new regular feature was introduced, drawn by Heck. Not named on the cover this is Duke Douglas, a dapper secret agent who appears by the many montages he is featured in on this cover and others to be engaged in all sorts of clandestine adventure. But in fact, Douglas does not appear inside the comic but only on the cover. It must've been quite odd for a reader attracted by the Heck artwork to find nothing inside to correspond. 

Duke Douglas debuts inside the seventh issue of Danger in a story entitled "Khyber Incident" in which he attempts to forestall the "Reds" from stirring up trouble in the mountains of Asia. The lead story is drawn by Don Heck. A second story titled "Escape to Death" sees our hero try to rescue a diplomat who might have been betrayed by the one he loves most.  This story was drawn by Pete Morisi. No writer is indicated for either tale in this issue. 

Ken Fitch is credited as the writer of "Crash in the Alps" drawn by Don Heck for the eighth issue of Danger. (This is the only time any writer is identified on a Duke Douglas story.) In this one Duke is trying to retrieve plates which would result in counterfeit money which could well cripple the fragile European economy. "Kill! Kill! Kill!" is drawn by Pete Morisi, We see Duke kill and kill again to rescue a damsel in distress from the very heart of the Kremlin. Did Duke kill Stalin? The story suggests he might have. 

With the ninth issue Duke's name finally rates a cover and the action here goes more for mood rather than action. "Ransom in Oil" was drawn by Don Heck and has Duke battling Red spies to gain contracts with rich Arab leaders. That Duke rescues a sheik's daughter only helps his case. "Racket Man" is a text piece in which an unnamed protagonist presumed to be Duke is loaned out to the FBI to help capture a man who has made off with a million bucks and fled to Brazil. "Intrigue" drawn by Heck has Douglas go into a long-term deep cover to uncover a Red plot, but he must toy with the emotions of a young woman to help his mission, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend who is drafted to fight in Korea. "Dedication" is a one-page text story in which Duke uncovers a grisly murder scheme. 

"Trouble in Morocco" has Duke join the Foreign Legion to discover why things are not going as planned. The death toll is high in this story drawn by Don Heck. "Trial by Fire" is drawn by Bill Discount and sees Duke seeking the secret of a man who seemingly died in a deadly car crash. Frankly the hero in this one doesn't resemble Duke all that much, but each artist seems to have his own take on our spy hero. "Oil" is a Duke one-page text tale in which he solves the murder of a Pentagon official and uncovers a Red spy. 

"Accomplice in Murder" in the final Comic Media issue of Danger puts Duke in a ticklish position where he must cover up a murder in order to uncover a deeper plot. The story is the final Duke Douglas comic story and is drawn by Don Heck. "Choker" is a one-page text tale in which Duke spots a hidden clue revealing that murder has been done. 

Duke holds down Danger until 1954 when it completes its Comic Media run, the company having given up the ghost. You can almost imagine him firing his gun into the fourth wall at the creditors. Charlton Comics was in a position to swoop in and gathers up much of Comic Media's material and titles, though Duke Douglas and Don Heck alike are gone from the covers when they relaunched the title in 1955. The series runs a mere three issues before a dramatic transformation takes place.

If you would like to savor some of those vintage Danger adventures, then check out this link. 

Rip Off

Hank Pym Day!

Larry Lieber was a powerful creator during Marvel's formative years. Brother of the famous Stan Lee, Lieber was the go-to writer for many of Marvel's earliest efforts when Stan was too busy. Consequently, he is now credited with creating some of Marvel's heroes such as Henry "Hank" Pym the Ant-Man. Lieber went on to draw as well, especially western features such as the Rawhide Kid which he both wrote and drew for several years. Lieber left Marvel for a time when he was tapped as an editor for the brief but bright Atlas-Seaboard line. 

Doctor Henry "Hank" Pym is the most flawed of heroes. One of the earliest heroes in the Marvel Universe, only preceded by the Fantastic Four and the Hulk in the Silver Age, Pym in his role as Ant-Man was always it seemed trying to find a better way to express his clear desire to be of help and to make himself useful.

Early on he fell in love with his partner Janet Van Dyne who became the Wasp and ever after the need in his mind to look big in her eyes proved a fundamental weakness in him.

He became Giant-Man, then after a brief retirement he returned as Goliath and then later when his mind snapped he took on the role of Yellowjacket. In that last role he married his love, but the pairing was ill-fated. 

Their marriage was a ragged one to be sure as Pym continued to alter his heroic pose, even at times eschewing it completely. Eventually his lack of self-worth drove him to abuse his wife and she quite wisely left him.

But still the journey to become a hero worthy of that name continued for Hank Pym. Of the myriad looks that Hank Pym has adopted over the decades, I have to say my absolute favorite is when he first returned to the Assemblers as "Goliath". One of the original Marvel superheroes, Pym began of course as Ant-Man before switching to the somewhat more imposing Giant-Man. He changed up his costume often enough even then. But then he and Winsome Wasp retired briefly from the Avengers only to return some months later all revved up for a new somewhat glitzier run.

The gold and blue he wore was attractive and distinctive among costumed heroes. The design is sleek and modern and eshcews too many goo-gaws. The use of goggles was an inspiration, giving the character a weird but oddly practical look. It rock solid costume, one of Marvel's very best. The look debuted in Avengers #28 and Jack Kirby offers up our first glimpse of the more imposing giant superhero. Goliath will be featured on most all the Avengers covers for the next few years, the first few drawn by Kirby.

Then it became the task of underrated artist Don Heck to illustrate the new hero. And he does a magnificent job. Goliath is a hero inside Heck's wheelhouse as Heck's jaunty lines work well on the simple costume. Avengers covers showcase the new hero to great effect. I recently had the opportunity to see some of the original work Heck did on this run and his inks on his own pencils are simply beautiful. I own one piece of art from this era, and I'd wish I'd had enough bucks to bring this one home as well.

After some months Goliath recedes a bit into the background of the covers, joining his fellow assemblers.

Gil Kane steps in for an issue and offers up a look at Goliath in a decidedly weak position here.

Then came John Buscema to the Assemblers while Don Heck drew the first Avengers annual adventure.

Buscema's arrival marked the end of the focus on Goliath as new Avengers scribe Roy Thomas decided that Hank Pym needed some more angles to his profile. He returned him to his roots, reactivating his Ant-Man persona.

We get one last look at the awesome blue and gold costume, with the added antennae in this powerful drawing of the assemblers by Buscema.

When next he'd appear Goliath would lose the blue and gold and replace it with a somewhat more drab red and blue, making him alas less distinctive and more like other heroes. Soon after that Goliath would be replaced by Yellowjacket.

But for a few years at least Hank Pym was a star, a true "big man on campus".

Then in a startling turn of events he trashed his Goliath identity and became The Yellowjacket. Hank was mildly mad at the time and used the brash personality of the Yellowjacket to win the hand of Janet and the two were finally wed. 

Hank did at one time become Ant-Man for a brief time in the pages of Marvel Feature, but it wasn't long before he'd returned to being Yellowjacket. 

One thing that I have always found fascinating is how many of Pym's identities have been handed off or perhaps purloined by other characters over the years. First of course Hawkeye became the second Goliath with Hank's blessings.

Later still Bill Foster, a longtime associate of Pym's became the third Goliath, this time with the added "Black" to the name. Foster took on another of Pym's identities some years later when he became the second Giant-Man.

Without doubt the most successful hand off was when Scott Lang stumbled onto the Ant-Man identity and then kept it with Pym's permission of sorts.

Many years later we even got a new Yellowjacket, though she was of a quasi-villainous nature for a bit.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some later ones, but frankly I haven't been paying much attention in the last decade or so. For me the power of Pym though still resonates.

The Trial of Yellowjacket is one of the most notorious storylines in the long history of comics. Featuring the downfall of a founding member of the Mighty Avengers, this saga seemed to follow on relentlessly from one of the most debated scenes in comics history. For Jim Shooter's reflection on how it was that Hank Pym came to be comics poster boy for wife beaters see this link.

Whatever the truth of that situation, this story was intended to document the collapse of a fundamentally good man when confronted with his own percieved relative uselessness to those around him. That frustration leading to one bad decision after another until his colleagues are left with only bad choices. Happily this collection not only tells the story of that fall from grace, but showcases how the completely humbled Hank Pym gathered himself and eventually re-entered the ranks of the pantheon of Assembers.

Below is a cover gallery for this sprawling storyline which ran from late 1981 into 1983. The Avengers battled many a foe during this time, not always focused specifically on the drama of Hank Pym, but always that personal tragedy develops through most of these tales if not directly then in terms of a similar theme, not something I realized when these first hit the stands way back when. Artistically it was a somewhat chaotic period for the team, but the storytelling was most memorable. 

Rip Off