Dan Dunn
Dan Dunn | |
---|---|
Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 (1933), cover art by Norman W. Marsh. | |
Publication information | |
Publisher | Humor Publishing |
First appearance | Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 (1933) |
Created by | Norman W. Marsh |
Dan Dunn is a fictional detective created by Norman W. Marsh. He first appeared in Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48, a proto-comic book from 1933, produced by Humor Publishing. He subsequently appeared in newspaper comic strips from 1933 to 1943.
Publication history
[edit ]Comic book
[edit ]Writer-artist Norman W. Marsh's hardboiled detective Dan Dunn first appeared in Humor Publishing's proto-comic book Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48, copyrighted on May 12, 1933.[1] Comics historian Don Markstein notes that this periodical and the only two others from this publisher were pioneering in that they contained "non-reprinted comics in 1933", though these periodicals were not "in modern comic book format. Theirs were done as tabloids"[2] with Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 measuring either 91⁄2 ×ばつ 12 inches[3] or 10 ×ばつ 13 inches[4] (sources differ), with black-and-white newsprint pages and a three-color cardboard cover.[3] It sold for 10 cents.[4]
The character appeared primarily in the newspaper comic strip Dan Dunn, syndicated by Publishers Syndicate beginning Monday, September 25, 1933, with a Sunday page added soon afterward. The strip, which ran through Sunday, October 3, 1943, eventually would appear in approximately 135 papers.[2] Dan Dunn strips were reprinted in comic books, through publisher Eastern Color's Famous Funnies , Dell Comics' The Funnies and Red Ryder Comics, and Western Publishing's Crackajack Funnies from 1935 to 1943.[5]
Comic strip and other media
[edit ]Dan Dunn | |
---|---|
Author(s) | Norman W. Marsh (1933–1941) Allen Saunders (1942–1943) |
Illustrator(s) | Paul Pinson, Alfred Andriola (1942–1943) |
Current status/schedule | Daily and Sunday; concluded |
Launch date | September 25, 1933 |
End date | Oct 3, 1943 |
Syndicate(s) | Publishers Syndicate |
Genre(s) | adventure |
On September 25, 1933, Publishers Syndicate began distributing Dan Dunn as a comic strip that eventually peaked at 135 newspapers.[2] The Sunday color page began on October 1, 1933.[6] Marsh both drew and wrote Dan Dunn from 1933 to 42.[7] One critic describes the artwork as the weaker aspect, calling it "arid", with a chronic, wintry aspect", "cavernous spaces" and "huddled, stiff-jointed postures".[8] Assistants included Jack Ryan c. 1937, Ed Moore c. 1937–38, and Dick Fletcher.[7]
The Dan Dunn Sunday page ran a topper strip, Dan Dunn's Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, from March 4 to July 22, 1934.[6]
Marsh left the strip in 1942 following a disagreement with Publishers Syndicate. Allen Saunders, the syndicate's comics editor, took over as writer from 1942 to 43, with art first by Paul Pinson (June 1942 - January 1943) and then by Alfred Andriola (January to October 1943).[6] Saunders and Andriola subsequently replaced Dan Dunn with a new detective strip, Kerry Drake , in 1943.[9]
Starting in 1934, Dan Dunn appeared in seven Big Little Books:[10]
- Dan Dunn, Secret Operative 48: Crime Never Pays (1934)[11]
- Dan Dunn on the Trail of Counterfeiters (1936)
- Dan Dunn and the Border Smugglers (1937)
- Dan Dunn and the Crime Masters (1937)
- Dan Dunn on the Trail of Wu Fang (1938)
- Dan Dunn and the Dope Ring (1940)
- Dan Dunn and the Underworld Gorilla (1941)
In 1936, Dan Dunn became the title character of a pulp magazine that lasted for two issues.[12]
In 1944, Dan Dunn, Secret Operative #48 was produced as a 15-minute syndicated radio program which ran for a total of 78 episodes.[13] [14] It was produced by Kasper-Gordon, Inc.[15]
Reprints
[edit ]In 2017, The Library of American Comics reprinted one year of the strip (1933) in their LoAC Essentials line of books.
Analysis
[edit ]Markstein calls the square-jawed Detective Dunn an imitation of Dick Tracy , killing criminals with the same direct resort to violence during the gangster era. Dunn never approached Tracy's popularity.[2] The strip's successor writer, Allen Saunders, believed the comic rivaled Dick Tracy in pioneering themes and techniques of the American detective comic.[9] In the Toho dub of the Lupin III film The Mystery of Mamo , Daisuke Jigen was given the name of Dan Dunn in the character's honor.
References
[edit ]- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series. United States Library of Congress. 1933. p. 351.
- ^ a b c d Dan Dunn at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived 2024年05月25日 at archive.today from the original on April 14, 2012.
- ^ a b Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ a b Coville, James. "Newsstand Period 1922 - 1955". TheComicBooks.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ^ Norman Marsh at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ a b c Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. pp. 118–119. ISBN 9780472117567.
- ^ a b Leiffer, Paul; Ware, Hames (eds.). "Dan Dunn". (entry), The Comic Strip Project: Credits A-D. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016.
- ^ Phelps, Donald (February 1986). "Flat Foot Floogie". Nemo, the Classic Comics Library . No. 17. pp. 33–38.
- ^ a b Saunders, Allen (1983–1986). "Playwright for Paper Actors". Nemo, the Classic Comics Library. No. 4–7, 9, 10, 14, 18, 19.
- ^ Lowery, Larry. "Big Little Books and Better Little Books: 1932-1949". Big Little Books.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ "Dan Dunn, Crime Never Pays". BigLittleBooks.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
- ^ Cottrill, Tim (2005). Bookery's Guide to Pulps & Related Magazines. Fairborn, OH: Bookery Fantasy. p. 74. ASIN B000J1A05U.
- ^ Hickerson, Jay (1992). The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide to All Circulating Shows (2 ed.). Hamden, Connecticut: Privately published. p. 94.
- ^ "Shows of Tomorrows, 5th Annual Edition" (PDF). Radio Daily. New York, N.Y.: Jack Olievate. July 3, 1944. pp. 195, 222. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
- ^ "Radio Daily" (PDF). Vol. 27, No. 43. New York, N.Y. June 1, 1944. p. 7. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
External links
[edit ]- 1933 comics debuts
- 1940s American radio programs
- 1943 comics endings
- 1944 radio programme debuts
- American comics characters
- American radio dramas
- Comics adapted into radio series
- Comics characters introduced in 1933
- Crime comics
- Detective comics
- Fictional American detectives
- Fictional American police detectives
- Characters in pulp fiction
- Male characters in comics