Lucky Coyne

(aka “Kensington Slade,” “Jinx Jordan” and “Rocky Stone”)
Created by the Harry “A” Chesler Feature Syndicate

Yet another of those comic book eyes that slipped through the cracks was the chameleon-like  NEIL “LUCKY” COYNE. In his brief career — he appeared in as many as a couple of dozen cases stretching from about 1937 to 1946, and was something of a shapeshifter — in his brief career, Lucky worked as a police detective, a reporter AND a private eye.

As a cop, Detective Mike McDune was there to lend a hand; as “the Daily World‘s star reporter” he could count on the assistance of “the beautiful Kitty,” (who sometimes wrote a column for the lovelorn) and cub reporter Terry, and as a private eye, he once more worked with Terry, who was now his “two-fisted pal.”

But no matter the job, Coyne stuck to his gimmick. Like Batman’s nemesis Two-Face, Lucky would flip a coin to help him make decisions, heads meaning “Yes” and tails meaning “No.” Mustaches, pipe smoking and occupations might come and go, and hair colour might change (sometimes within the same story) but the coin-flipping remained. But lucky coin or not, Lucky was prepared — he was a big bruiser, a crack shot and a savvy sleuth.

Not that he got any respect. Lucky Coyne was a product of the Harry “A” Chesler syndicate, a sprawling publishing empire and comic book sweatshop studio not exactly known for consistency. Magazine and story titles were changed or recycled, numbering was a joke and art and script credits were more a theory than anything. The syndicate also leased out characters and reprints to numerous other comic publishers, including Centaur, MLJ, Rucker, St.John, and Bell Features Syndicate, all of whom took a whack at Lucky, which explains the lack of any sort of continuity, up to and including his name itself. One story alone, “The Mystery of the Evil Eye,” which originally appeared in Dynamic Comics #1, was subsequently reprinted by Strange Terrors #1, Crime Reporter #2, and Authentic Police Cases #8, and the Lucky stories were redrawn and re-lettered, with Lucky becoming, in various stories, Kensington Slade, Jinx Jordan or Rocky Stone.

In fact, because so many of the stories were untitled, and the publishers were the syndicate and the various publishers were so cavalier about keeping track of things, it’s difficult to say even how many stories Lucky even appeared in, or how many times his stories were regurgitated.

Like I said, no respect.

There’s nothing really outstanding about Lucky, except for the coin-flipping and his ubiquitousness, but he’s a prime example of how generic the comic book detective had become by the 1940s.

COMICS

• FUNNY PICTURE STORIES
  (1936-39, Centaur Publishing)
  9 issues
  • “A Slight Error” (September 1937, #1)
    Art: Creig Flessel
• COCOMALT BIG BOOK OF COMICS
  (1938, Chesler/Dynamic Publications)
  
  • “untitled” (Spring 1938, #1)
    Art: Frank Follo
• LITTLE GIANT COMICS
  (1938, Centaur Publishing)
  • “A Slight Error”(July 1938, #1) (r)
• STAR COMICS
  (1938-39, Centaur Publishing)
  14 issues
  • “Untitled” (#14)
• KEEN DETECTIVE FUNNIES
  (1938-40, Centaur Publishing)
  24 issues
  • “A Slight Error”(June 1939, v2 #6) (r)

• TOP-NOTCH COMICS
  (1939-42, Archie Comics)
  27 issues
  • “Murder Rap” (December 1939, #1)
    Script: Ken Fitch
• AMAZING ADVENTURE FUNNIES
  (1940, Centaur Publishing)
  2 issues
  • “Untitled” (September 1940, #2)
• DYNAMIC COMICS
  (1941-46, Chesler/Dynamic Publications)
  20 issues
  • “The Mystery of the Evil Eye” (October 1941, #1)
  • “Untitled” (December 1941, #2)
    Art: J. Cavallo
  • “Untitled” (February 1942, 3)
  • “Case of the Screaming Idiots” (1943?, #8)
  • “Untitled” (1944, #9)
  • “Pound of Flesh” (July 1944, #10)
  • “Untitled” (September 1944, #11
  • “The Mystery of the Evil Eye” (November 1944, #12)
  • “Untitled” (January 1945, #13)
  • “Loser’s Luck” (April 1945, #14)
    One page text story
  • “Untitled” (July 1945, #15)
• RED SEAL COMICS
  (1945, Chesler/Dynamic Publications)
  11 issues
  • “Murderer!” (October 1945, #14)
  • “Untitled” (January 1946, #15)
  • “Untitled” (July 1946, #17)
  • “Untitled” (October 1946, #18)
  • “Untitled” (August 1947, #20)
  • “Sweepstakes of Death” (October 1947, #21)
• LUCKY COYNE
  (1945, Super Publications Ltd./Rucker [Toronto])
  One issue
  • No Lucky Coyne story in it, despite him being featured on the cover and, oh yes, the magazine bears his name.
• THE WEEKENDER ILLUSTRATED
  (1946, Rucker Publications)
  • “The Mystery of the Evil Eye” (January 1946, v2 #1) (r)
• AUTHENTIC POLICE CASES
  (1948-55, St. John)
  • “untitled” (February 1948, #1)
  • “Murderer!” (June 1948, #3)
• CRIME REPORTER #2
  (1948, St. John’s)
  3 issues
  
  • “Untitled” (August 1948, #1)
    Lucky as “Jinx Jordan”
  • “Untitled” (August 1948, #1)
    Lucky as “Rocky Stone”
  • Untitled” (October 1948, #2)
  • “Untitled” (October 1948, #3)
  • Lucky as “Jinx Jordan”
• STRANGE TERRORS #1
  (1952-53, St. John’s)
  
  • “Haunt of the Howling Beast” (June 1952, #1)
    Redrawn version of  “The Mystery of the Evil Eye,” now featuring P.I. Kensington Slade.
• DARING ADVENTURES
  (1963-64, I. W. Enterprises/Super)
  • “untitled” (1964, #16) (r)
• DANGER
  (1963-64, I. W. Enterprises/Super)
  7 issues
  
  • “Murderer!” (1964, #12) (r)

COLLECTIONS

• A Lucky Coyne Treasury: Gwandanaland Comics #1822 (2018)  | Buy this book
  Collection of stories featuring “The Hard-Fisted Cop-Turned-Private Detective.”

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.