Dan Dunn Secret Operative 48

by Marsh, Norman; Mullaney, Dean; Canwell, Bruce; Turner, Lorraine

• ISBN13: 9781631408557
• ISBN10: 1631408550
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2017-04-25
• Publisher: Idea & Design Works Llc

Summary

Considered the first comic book with original material ever produced, 1933’s "Detective Dan, Secret Op. 48" was a landmark. It only lasted one issue before morphing into the Dan Dunn newspaper strip. A blatant copy of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy (Norman Marsh had been an art assistant to Gould), Dan Dunn was a rough and tumble Secret Service agent who exacted violent retribution on any criminal who dared cross his path. This book reprints the entire first year of daily comics.

LOAC Essentials reprints, one year at a time, the daily newspaper strips that are essential to comics history, in a format that preserves, as closely as possible, the original reader experience. By reproducing the strips one per page in an oblong format, it allows us to have the experience of reading the comics one day at a time. Each volume contains seminal strips that are unique creations in their right and also contributed to the advancement of the medium, along with panel-by-panel annotations.

Author Biography

Norman Marsh was the creator of the newspaper comic "Dan Dunn," originally named "Detective Dan," which appeared in 1933 in the LA Times, following his debut in his own comic book series, which lasted only a single issue. The comic had a three-color, cardboard cover, with black and white interior. It had 36 pages, sold for 10 cents, with 10" x 13" dimensions. Dan was a Dick Tracy clone who would go on to appear in other comics, among them "The Adventures of Detective Ace King," released in 1933 by the same publisher. It ran for ten years, until Norman Marsh was drafted for the military in 1942. On his return to civilian life, Marsh went to King Features Syndicate and created "Hunter Keene," a crackerjack detective with a strong resemblance to "Dan Dunn." The strip lasted for only a year (April 1946 to April 1947) and was followed by Marsh's most successful strip, "Danny Hale," which ran until 1962.

Norman eventually became an activist against comic syndication in the United States, and has always worked hard to get his strips published. Norman Marsh's early characters have influenced such comics as "Dick Tracy" and "Superman."