A short-lived (only five issues!) but significant anthology, Detective Picture Stories was the first-ever comic book to devote itself entirely to detective stories, featuring an assortment of police officers, government agents, amateur sleuths and, yes, private eyes, although the characters’ actual occupations are often vague — typical of the era. Still, this early crime mag beat DC’s Detective Comics to the punch by over a year.
It was published by The Comics Magazine Company, which started up in 1936 with Funny Picture Stories, with Detective Picture Stories following shortly after. The company changed its name to Ultem the next year, however, and by 1938 was going by Centaur. Ultimately the company put out less than 200 comic books.
There’s a shoddy, slap dash feel to it all, however, and the entire short run is poorly and sloppily edited, with the artwork and writing varying from relatively accomplished to crude and even amateurish. Each of the five issues boasts both black & white and full-color pages, as if even the publishers couldn’t make up their minds.
Besides an illustrated prose story and a Table of Contents on page one of each issue, Detective Picture Stories offered tales starring such forgotten crimefighters as Egan of the Homicide Squad, Eddie Brannigan, The Police Patrol, Inspector Craig, and Thurston Hunt. It also hosted a handful of private eyes stories, featuring equally forgotten characters such as:
- Spurlock & Watkins by J.A. Patterson
A Sherlock Holmes ripoff, the pair actually made it into two stories, “Murder in the Blue Room” (issue #1) and “Murder at Midnight” (issue #2). - The Master Mind by George Merkle
A consulting detective also known as “Warren,” he appeared in “The Master Mind” (issue #2). - Speed Rush by Phil Richards & Milt Wilcox
“The Hard-boiled Ace of Private Sleuths” starred in “a new type of Sherlock Holmes story.” It’s called “Diamond of Doom” (issue #2). - Clem Bowers by Victor J. Dowling
Hard to pin down Clem’s actual profession. In one story, “Wings of Crime” (issue #1) he seems to be an “outside investigator,” but in “The Case of the Lizard” (issue #2), he seems to be a cop. - Kane & Abel by John Wilson & John Ewing
Billed as “private dicks of the worst order,” “Kane & Abel” (issue #4) was meant for laughs… I think. - Hammer Donovan by Will Eisner
Not quite an eye, but an ex-cop recalled to the department with “no legal limitations ” to take out a murderous gangland in “Muss ’em Up” (issue #4). Pretty good artwork from Eisner, soon to be the creator of The Spirit, and easily one of the better stories Detective Picture Stories ever ran..
Only a costumed vigilante, The Clock, who was mentioned (but not pictured) on the first issue’s cover, lasted past DSP‘s expiry date, eventually appearing in new adventures in Quality Comics years later.
Detective Picture Stories featured the creative talents of William Allison, Wallace Kirk, Ed Moore Jr., George Brenner, Capt. C. W. Scott, Joseph E. Buresch, Bert Christman, Arthur Pinajian and Dennis Yuknis, among others, and was significant for publishing early work by Will Eisner (billed as Bill Eisner on the cover of the fourth issue, although inside he’s more formally listed as William Eisner) and Batman creator (or co-creator, for all you Finger fans) Bob Kane‘s first detective/adventure story art in issue five.
Eventually, many of the stories from Detective Picture Stories (along with those from Funny Picture Stories) were reprinted in Keen Detective Funnies, which lasted 24 issues, and was put out by Centaur. At some point, Keen Detective Funnies started running original stories, which may be what caused the cancellation of DPS.
- DETECTIVE PICTURE COMICS
(1936-37, Comics Magazine Company)
5 issues- (December 1936, #1) | Buy this book
- (January 1937, #2)
- (February 1937, #3)
- (March 1937, #4)
- (April 1937, #5) | Buy this book
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Further investigation is pending.
