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 A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

from 1933 to 1943.

Publication history

Comic book

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. 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"Dan Dunn
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. from the original on April 14, 2012. with ''Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48'' measuring either 9½ × 12 inches or 10 × 13 inches (sources differ), with black-and-white newsprint pages and a three-color cardboard cover.''Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48''
at the Grand Comics Database. It sold for 10 cents. In addition to Detective Dan, also in 1933, the publisher also published ''The Adventures of Detective Ace King'' and ''Bob Scully, The Two-Fisted Hick'', however, these characters did not have continuity. 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. ''Dan Dunn'' strips were reprinted in comic books, through publisher Eastern Color's '' Famous Funnies'',

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

' '' The Funnies'' and '' Red Ryder Comics'', and

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was an American company founded in 1907 in Racine, Wisconsin, best known for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also ...

's ''Crackajack Funnies'' from 1935 to 1943.

Comic strip and other media

On September 25, 1933, Publishers Syndicate began distributing ''Dan Dunn'' as a

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

that eventually peaked at 135 newspapers. The Sunday color page began on October 1, 1933. Marsh both drew and wrote ''Dan Dunn'' from 1933 to 42. One critic describes the artwork as the weaker aspect, calling it "arid", with a chronic, wintry aspect", "cavernous spaces" and "huddled, stiff-jointed postures". Assistants included Jack Ryan c. 1937, Ed Moore c. 1937–38, and Dick Fletcher. The ''Dan Dunn'' Sunday page ran a topper strip, ''Dan Dunn's Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory'', from March 4 to July 22, 1934. 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). Saunders and Andriola subsequently replaced ''Dan Dunn'' with a new detective strip, '' Kerry Drake'', in 1943. Starting in 1934, Dan Dunn appeared in seven Big Little Books: # ''Dan Dunn, Secret Operative 48: Crime Never Pays'' (1934) # ''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 Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...

that lasted for two issues. In 1944, ''Dan Dunn, Secret Operative #48'' was produced as a 15-minute syndicated radio program which ran for a total of 78 episodes. It was produced by Kasper-Gordon, Inc.

Reprints

In 2017,

The Library of American Comics Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic United States, American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007. History Background Dean Mullaney ...

reprinted one year of the strip (1933) in their '' LoAC Essentials'' line of books.

Analysis

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. The strip's successor writer, Allen Saunders, believed the comic rivaled ''Dick Tracy'' in pioneering themes and techniques of the American detective comic. 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

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

''Dick Tracy and American Culture'' by Garyn G. Roberts

''Dan Dunn'' radio episodes
1933 comics debuts 1940s American radio programs 1943 comics endings 1944 radio programme debuts Dunn, Dan American radio dramas Comics adapted into radio series Dunn, Dan Crime comics Detective comics Fictional American detectives Dunn, Dan Dunn, Dan Dunn, Dan