Dell Comics we’re part of the Dell Publishing Group. They are famous for their extensive range of pulp magazines, paperbacks and comics. The comic side of the business was massive and they were huge rivals to DC and Marvel. Indeed, in 1953 they claimed to be the worlds largest purveyor of comics with 26 million copies being sold each month. The comic book arm lasted from 1929 to 1973 and encompassed a whole range of original stories and licensed products from television and movies. One licensed title was taken from Brett Halliday’s private eye series of paperbacks, Mike Shayne (a lot of Mike Shayne covers have been posted on the Book Covers thread) and the first one is a very good and close adaptation of the second novel in the series.
MIKE SHAYNE PRIVATE EYE #1 - November-January 1962
To be continued…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
..... aaaand round we go again. It's a good thing that Sir M and I (and others, undeclared) have been following this from the start cos someone starting here is just gonna be be confused.
The frequent change of artists confuses even me (not that difficult, admittedly) - it took me a moment to realise that the guy at the start was Cole, our main character.
None of the above is meant to imply that I'm not loving this!
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 30,903Chief of Staff
You do wonder why they change artists 🤔 not that that has any detrimental effect on the story…which is just twisted and wonderful 🤭
This Elvis fan loved that story, and thanks for showing it to us here. Chrisno1, are you reading this? You're an Elvis fan too.
I enjoyed the little details, and including Orion was an inspired touch. That's a story in itself, and I don't want to sidetrack though it is thematically appropriate, so just say the word if it's okay to go into it here.
In the last panel above is an image of a masked Elvis. That represents a singer known as "Orion" who mysteriously came to prominence after Elvis died (allegedly). Orion did concerts, made albums, etc, and the whole point was that his voice was remarkably similar to Presley's. Really, very similar. The marketing never gave anything away and did its best to imply, without actually saying so, that this was indeed Elvis (who had presumably faked his death but couldn't resist continuing to sing). The concerts were well attended, and the records sold reasonably well.
However (and you knew there was going to be a "however" or a "but") the man behind Orion was called Jimmy Ellis. He had found no success (or very little, anyway) under his own name and was only too happy to have his hair dyed and styled like Elvis, to wear the appropriate outfits, and most importantly to wear the mask concealing his true identity. He was delighted to sing to bigger crowds than he had ever enjoyed before, and to see his records sell. At first, anyway. After a while he began to resent that nobody was actually cheering him, just cheering Elvis's image and a reasonable likeness of his voice. He had increasingly loud arguments with his management about coming out as himself, dropping the whole "Orion" thing, and just being Jimmy Ellis. His management were totally against this. JImmy hadn't sold much under his own name previously, Orion was a success. People paid to see and hear Orion knowing or at least strongly suspecting that it wasn't Elvis but willing to suspend their disbelief and enjoy the fantasy. I can just hear Hawk and Lee laughing in the corner, @CoolHandBond, can't you?
It all came to a head when during one of the shows which Jimmy had become increasingly reluctant to do (although I'm sure his bank manager was pleased) he ripped off the mask, announced that his name was Jimmy not Elvis, and that he hoped the audience would enjoy hearing him sing anyway.
They did not. Same man, same voice, same songs, no audience. After a few years, he put on the mask again but never achieved the same level of success.
In a way, Orion is Schrodinger's Cat. While he has the mask on, he might be Elvis or he might not. When the mask is off (or the cat's box is opened) the mystery is over. The mystery was what people were paying for, not the music. The music was the same whether Jimmy was singing as himself or as Orion, but with Orion there was that extra frisson of is he or isn't he.
Comments
Good story. IIRC, Charlton had some superhero titles that were the basis of the Watchmen characters but that's all I know.
I’m not too sure of the history behind the Watchmen series - I did enjoy the comic book, haven’t seen the movie.
Another Charlton comic…
STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES #1 - October 1967
I liked that one, it has strong echoes of "The Day The Earth Stood Still".
Comic Media weren’t around for long but they did introduce detective Johnny Dynamite and a rather good horror title entitled, umm…Horrific.
They produced 11 titles from 1950-1954 before folding - the aforementioned Charlton Comics bought their assets.
HORRIFIC #5 - May 1953
Good one. Never heard of "Horrific".
More to enjoy here 😁 thanks
Here’s the first Johnny Dynamite story from Comic Media…
DYNAMITE #3 - September 1953
Nice noir novella. Always a plus when the detective tells us the story in first person.
Dell Comics we’re part of the Dell Publishing Group. They are famous for their extensive range of pulp magazines, paperbacks and comics. The comic side of the business was massive and they were huge rivals to DC and Marvel. Indeed, in 1953 they claimed to be the worlds largest purveyor of comics with 26 million copies being sold each month. The comic book arm lasted from 1929 to 1973 and encompassed a whole range of original stories and licensed products from television and movies. One licensed title was taken from Brett Halliday’s private eye series of paperbacks, Mike Shayne (a lot of Mike Shayne covers have been posted on the Book Covers thread) and the first one is a very good and close adaptation of the second novel in the series.
MIKE SHAYNE PRIVATE EYE #1 - November-January 1962
To be continued…
Enjoyed that, looking forward to the next part.
MIKE SHAYNE PRIVATE EYE #1 - November-January 1962 - Part 2
To be concluded…
I'm enjoying this; never read any of the Mike Shayne books but did see one of the films cos it was based on a Chandler novel.
MIKE SHAYNE PRIVATE EYE #1 - November-January 1962 - Part 3
THE END
Not bad at all, thanks for that. A bit like a gentler (by comparison) version of Mike Hammer.
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH is back very soon…and UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: THE INVISIBLE MAN
Yeah 👏🏻
Can't wait, seriously!
This story contains language and scenes that may cause distress - please do not continue if you are easily offended.
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH Chapter 23 Things Get Worse
To be continued…
..... aaaand round we go again. It's a good thing that Sir M and I (and others, undeclared) have been following this from the start cos someone starting here is just gonna be be confused.
The frequent change of artists confuses even me (not that difficult, admittedly) - it took me a moment to realise that the guy at the start was Cole, our main character.
None of the above is meant to imply that I'm not loving this!
You do wonder why they change artists 🤔 not that that has any detrimental effect on the story…which is just twisted and wonderful 🤭
The artist is Martin Simmonds who has painted a good deal of the series. Glad you’re enjoying it, gents.
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH Chapter 23 Things Get Worse
More in the next issue - but the conclusion of the Elvis side story is up next…
It may be my too-busy imagination, but the story seems to be simplifying. Of course, the next episode will probably prove that wrong!
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH Chapter 3 Elvis
This Elvis fan loved that story, and thanks for showing it to us here. Chrisno1, are you reading this? You're an Elvis fan too.
I enjoyed the little details, and including Orion was an inspired touch. That's a story in itself, and I don't want to sidetrack though it is thematically appropriate, so just say the word if it's okay to go into it here.
I’m more than happy for any contributions to this thread, however tenuous they may be.
All right then ....
In the last panel above is an image of a masked Elvis. That represents a singer known as "Orion" who mysteriously came to prominence after Elvis died (allegedly). Orion did concerts, made albums, etc, and the whole point was that his voice was remarkably similar to Presley's. Really, very similar. The marketing never gave anything away and did its best to imply, without actually saying so, that this was indeed Elvis (who had presumably faked his death but couldn't resist continuing to sing). The concerts were well attended, and the records sold reasonably well.
However (and you knew there was going to be a "however" or a "but") the man behind Orion was called Jimmy Ellis. He had found no success (or very little, anyway) under his own name and was only too happy to have his hair dyed and styled like Elvis, to wear the appropriate outfits, and most importantly to wear the mask concealing his true identity. He was delighted to sing to bigger crowds than he had ever enjoyed before, and to see his records sell. At first, anyway. After a while he began to resent that nobody was actually cheering him, just cheering Elvis's image and a reasonable likeness of his voice. He had increasingly loud arguments with his management about coming out as himself, dropping the whole "Orion" thing, and just being Jimmy Ellis. His management were totally against this. JImmy hadn't sold much under his own name previously, Orion was a success. People paid to see and hear Orion knowing or at least strongly suspecting that it wasn't Elvis but willing to suspend their disbelief and enjoy the fantasy. I can just hear Hawk and Lee laughing in the corner, @CoolHandBond, can't you?
It all came to a head when during one of the shows which Jimmy had become increasingly reluctant to do (although I'm sure his bank manager was pleased) he ripped off the mask, announced that his name was Jimmy not Elvis, and that he hoped the audience would enjoy hearing him sing anyway.
They did not. Same man, same voice, same songs, no audience. After a few years, he put on the mask again but never achieved the same level of success.
In a way, Orion is Schrodinger's Cat. While he has the mask on, he might be Elvis or he might not. When the mask is off (or the cat's box is opened) the mystery is over. The mystery was what people were paying for, not the music. The music was the same whether Jimmy was singing as himself or as Orion, but with Orion there was that extra frisson of is he or isn't he.
Thank you @Barbel for that very interesting post. I had no knowledge of Orion and that last panel now has extra meaning!
Hawk and Lee laughing in the corner? Absolutely!
This DoT story never fails to entertain…I’m loving every last panel…😁
@Barbel thank you for the extra info…I hadn’t heard that about Orion before…