Reviewed by Tad Davis

Did you ever wonder how the DC comic book empire got its start? How come Batman's book is called DETECTIVE COMICS? I mean Batman's more of a superhero than a detective, right? If you've ever wondered about these things or about the early non-Superman work of Siegel and Schuster (creators of Superman), then pull up a chair, 'cause you've come to the right place.

First a little history. The first "comic books" began to appear in the late 1890s and early 1900s. These were actually just reprints of comic strips from the newspapers. And they were first put into the format we know today in 1933 by the Eastern Color Printing Company in FUNNIES ON PARADE.

With Eastern's huge success reprinting comic strips, it would take a real nut to try to publish new material that was meant to take advantage of this new medium. Enter Major Malcom Wheeler-Nicholson, pulp writer and ex-cavalry officer. In 1935 he started publishing NEW FUN COMICSand NEW COMICS, which later became ADVENTURE COMICS.

The major then had another visionary idea for a book called DETECTIVE COMICS. The idea being an anthology of private-eye stories to capitalize on the popular hard-boiled detective genre of current movies, radio shows and pulp fiction. Unfortunately, Wheeler-Nicholson was broke. He was bought out by Harry Donenfield (who owned the printing plant and would remain president of DC until 1965) and Jack Liebowitz (who had been involved with a distribution company and would continue to work in comics until 1970). Their enterprise was called Detective Comics, Inc. and would later be known as DC comics. Batman was introduced in DETECTIVE COMICS #27. And now Detective Comics has the longest uninterrupted run of any comic book title.

Whew! With that part of the history lesson over, let's talk about the book. The first thing one notices is the cover art. It's a sinister Asian villain (or as Speed Saunders calls them, "real oriental Chinamen"). In this day of the "yellow peril," racism against Asians was rampant and casual, as evidenced by the widespread popularity of the baddest bad guy around, Dr. Fu Manchu. And since Detective Comics couldn't afford to license the real Fu Manchu for another year or two, they tried to imitate him. Many of the villains in the book are anonymous Asians who look the same no matter which artist drew them. The only one with a name is in "Slam Bradley." The evil villain: "Fui Onyui." (Say it out loud.)

The most annoying thing about DC #1 is that several stories are cliffhangers ("to be continued") and they haven't reprinted DC #2. So that should give you a big hint that I really enjoyed this book. Enough to care about what happens.

The art is terrific. In some ways, it reminds me of WPA art (glorifying the common man). I especially like "Speed Saunders" and "Bret Lawton." Both were inked by Creig Flessel (Sandman, the Shining Knight) who shows a real mastery of shadows, shading, contrasts, a variety of line weights and very interesting uses of negative space.

None of the stories is earth-shattering, but they are all solid enough and one is even in verse. Most of the stories revolve around private eyes who are quite cavalier and love to "scrap" with bad guys. Although these detectives freelance, they usually have the entire police department at their beck and call. Of the 10 detective stories here, only "Speed Saunders" and "Slam Bradley" would have much future.

Speed Saunders is a real man's man (despite the fact that his real name is Cyril; peculiar). When he's thrown off the smugglers' boat by the unsavory Cap'n Scum, he remarks, "Oh well, only three miles to shore and I needed a bath anyhow." The most you could say about Speed's actual detective abilities is that he's very determined. If he has to live at the docks for weeks, so be it. If he has to follow around the smugglers' boat and keep finding new ways to sneak on, well that's fine. If he has to interrogate Asian babes in Chinatown, it's all just part of the job. But what Speed really wants is a vacation.

Slam Bradley just likes to beat people up. Lots of people. His is one of two stories in DC #1 from Siegel and Schuster. And he does resemble Clark Kent without the glasses. The very strange thing about this feature is Slam's annoying sidekick, Shorty. He's drawn in a completely different style than the rest of the characters and surroundings. Where everything else is very sincerely drawn (think Prince Valiant meets Dick Tracy) and the genesis of the iconic style that made the Superman books so great, Shorty is of the Katzenjammer Kids style with highly exaggerated features like his big goofy nose.

The relationship between the square-jawed, powerful Slam Bradley and the geeky awkward little Shorty is reminiscent of the relationship of Captain Easy and Wash Tubbs created in the 20s by Roy Crane. And ultimately, similar to the Superman/Clark Kent dichotomy.

This Millennium Edition is a fun history lesson and a good read.

So Highly Recommended that I wanted to go out and buy all the other pre-Batman Detective comics. Alas....