Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer: The Comic Strip, Vol 2

I've got so many books that I had forgotten that I even owned this. I've been reading a lot of mystery noir lately and I was going through a forgotten corner of my comic book collection where I unearthed this read. So I was already in the mood to finally read it. How long has it been in my collection? I couldn't say other than I've not had it longer than 2007 when I started collecting again after over a decade pause.

From 1985, this collection from Ken Pierce, Inc., reprints the final half of the short-lived Mike Hammer comic strip that ran in nationally syndicated newspapers from 1953-54. Written by the master himself, Mickey Spillane, these stories are as gritty and violent as his novels. Take the wrap around cover image of a partially undressed girl being tied up, gagged and tortured with a lit cigarette being held to the bottom of her foot. It was so salacious at the time, several major newspapers dropped the strip immediately, spelling the end of the strip that ran 6 dailies along with a separate Sunday supplement story.

The cancellation didn't really bother Mickey Spillane all that much. He was getting tired of the grind of coming up with stories that would last about 6 weeks on average. The author wanted to focus on just novels once again. But for artist Ed Robbins, he took the cancellation very hard, causing a rift between the artist and Spillane.

Novelist Max Allan Collins interviewed Robbins for years and the two developed a friendship. Collins' forward to this book details that relationship along with an overview of the Mike Hammer strip and the events behind it's demise. Unfortunately, Ed Robbins died before this book could be published. Though I am happy to report, not before being able to patch things up with writer Spillane.

The stories are quite good. But they are not quite my taste. I prefer Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe stories. But I'd rather read something by Mickey Spillane than anything Dashell Hammett wrote any day of the week. 

The stories inside involves private eye Mike Hammer being targeted by an unknown assailant when the NYPD erroneously claims that the detective saw who killed a man he found dying in the streets. Mike and trusty secretary Velda then help a naive young couple who are swindled by a pair of loan sharks. Hammer also falls for a girl (the same one being tortured on the cover), who is trying to help her brother flee from gangsters that thinks he stole a jackpot's worth of dough from them. Lastly, Mike gets a paying customer for once; a dying old man who's desperate to reunite with his prodigal son one last time.

I think the most striking thing about this book was how different Mike Hammer looks in the strip compared to the detective I grew up watching on TV. I'm used to envisioning actor Stacy Keach in my head with his gray business suit and equally gray fedora with slicked back hair and mustache. That's because that's exactly what the actor looked like on the CBS TV series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer in the 1980s. Here, Hammer is short and stocky, with a buzz cut, a nose that has obviously been broken many times, and wearing really shabby looking clothes. Obviously, this is what Mike Hammer is supposed to look like as I highly doubt Mickey Spillane would have let Ed Robbins draw his signature character any other way. But it's a stark contrast from what I grew up watching.

I was satisfied enough to not need to search out volume 1. I enjoyed what I read here. But not enough to keep it. So I felt like I was nonplussed with needing to read further. That is until I found out that one of the stories contained in volume 1 is a Christmas Mike Hammer adventure. Well, let's put that on my holiday comic wish list.

Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in!!!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Mysteries #2 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Ms. Tree was created by crime novelist Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty. She made her debut in 1981 in the pages of Eclipse Comics' anthology series Eclipse. The idea behind the creation of Ms. Tree was inspired by mystery novelist Mickey Spillane and his character Velda, the spitfire secretary of private eye Mike Hammer. According to Collins "What if Velda and Mike Hammer eventually got married, and on their honeymoon he was murdered?- that's Ms. Tree!

A play on the word 'mystery', Ms. Tree is a widow who takes over her husband's detective agency after his murder. In her first story titled 'I, for an Eye', the private investigator captures the murderer; uncovering ties to the Muerta Crime Family in the process.

This begins a private war between Tree and the Muertas that will unfold for years throughout the pages of her first solo title Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Mysteries. Eventually Tree's stepson fell in love and married one of the daughters of the Muerta Family's matrons. The Muerta declared Ms. Tree as 'family' and the feud was quashed before eventually going legit. In this 1983 issue, Tree is ambushed by a highly skilled hit-man, who is also a master of disguise, and is wanted for the murder of the daughter of one of the Muerta brothers. Recovering from her assault, Ms. Tree takes on the case as things have just gotten personal and if she can bring down the mobster who ordered the hit on her hubby; all the better!

Ms. Tree's publication history is just about as complicated as her family tree. After issue #3, the title was shortened to simply Ms. Tree. Eclipse stopped publication after issue #14. Eclipse publisher Dean Mullaney, the book was cancelled due to low sales. However Collins has gone on record defending the book's popularity; instead claiming that once his contract with Eclipse was up, he got a better offer to publisher the continuing adventures of Ms. Tree with Cerebus publisher Aardvark-Vanaheim. 

The legacy numbering for Ms. Tree continued with issue #15 at Aardvark-Vanaheim. When married co-publishers Dave Sim and Deni Loubert divorced in 1984, Loubert formed her own house, Renegade. Ms. Tree, along with titles such as Flaming Carrot and normalman, were retained under the new company as Sims departed with his intellectual properties. Three issues of Ms. Tree were co-published as Aardvark-Vanaheim/Renegade as the company restructured. 

Ms. Tree made it to issue #50, just as Renegade was going defunct in 1989. However, Ms. Tree wouldn't languish in comic book purgatory for long. In 1990, she found a new home as DC Comics. No longer a monthly series, the detective would pop up about every 3 months in the pages of Ms. Tree Quarterly. The title ended with issue #10 in 1993.

It would be almost 25 years before the world saw the return of Ms. Michael Tree, which is not only the first name of her deceased beloved, but her actual birth name as well. Collins wrote a few short stories about the character around the time she was being published by DC. In 2007, Collins collaborated with the imprint Hard Case Crime to produce the full length novel Deadly Beloved. Terry Beatty even got in the act, painting the book's cover. Sister publisher Titan Comics would eventually reissue the entire Ms. Tree comic portfolio with the Eclipse run, all the way through her tenure at DC Comics in a 6-volume compendium. 

Along with the continuing Ms. Tree story, this issue introduces a new vigilante hero called the Scythe. Created by Dean Mullaney, the Scythe is a private investigator named Roger Loring by day. A contract killer called the Button Man is killing detectives who are snooping around a criminal playground called Patterson's Dancehall. Figuring that the mysterious killer cannot assassinate someone they don't know, 'Rog' dons a cowl and wields a whip with a silver hook at the end. 

Frank Miller contributes a 2-page center spread pin-up devoted to famous detective Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe.

Collins and Beatty also contributed to a one-page interactive whodunnit called 'The Mike Mist Minute Mist-eries.

Completing this review completes Task #22 (With an Original Cover Price of $1.00) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Mr. Monster's True Crime #2

There's a pretty well known copy of the pre-code version of True Crime Comics. Illustrated by Jack Cole, the image has a young lady with a gun ducking behind a gangster who is shot by a policeman. The hail of bullets spells out the word 'RAT' on the criminal's chest. While this issue doesn't feature that iconic art work, the story that image is based on is in this book!

Mr. Monster's True Crime #2 completes Michael T. Gilbert's tribute to Jack Cole's work on the late 1940s crime comic originally published by Magazine Village. A part of the Mr. Monster Super-Duper series of tributes to comics published before 1955 and the establishment of the comics code, this is the last issue featuring to the more grown-up crime works of the Plastic Man creator. 

Though all 3 of the stories contained in this issue claim to be based on true stories of deceit and murder, there's more sensationalism that facts behind the scenes. The opening story is the one I mentioned earlier in this review. It tells of one Bennie Dickson and how he turned to a life of crime, wooing a 17-year old girl into his sordid world of bank robbery and murder. 

We then head to the Great White North where a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is murdered by a bootlegger and in retaliation, his brethren prove that the Mounties always get their man!

Finally, readers are introduced to the man whose addled visage does grace the cover of this issue. James Kent is an escaped convict whom the publishers promised a reward of $100 for his apprehension. The story features narration that over exaggerates the criminal's paranoia at looking over his shoulder at every turn in a manner similar to what EC Comics will soon be issuing in its crime books. I understand why Gilbert used the cover image he did for this issue. I just don't understand why he didn't include the opening story in Mr. Monster's True Crime #1 since that issue used the RAT image!

If you're looking for Michael T. Gilbert's most popular character, Mr. Monster, you'll only see him on the opening page. Otherwise, this might be a Mr. Monster special, but it's really all about Jack Cole. 

Be sure not to miss the informative article by noted crime author Max Allan Collins who gives a fantastic account of Cole's limited run on the original True Crime series of which this two-part special is based on.

A lot of excitement and a must for fans of post World War II comics that are unable to afford the originals. But for me, I really wish that there was more Mr. Monster to be had!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars. 

Batman: Second Chances

Jason Todd. 

The second sidekick of the Dark Knight. One of the most controversial characters in comic book history. He's like the celery of DC Comics as you either love him or hate him... and most despise him!

I decided to give Jason Todd another look with the purchase of this collection of stories from the late 80s. Featuring writing by Max Allan Collins, Jim Starlin and Jo Duffy, Batman: Second Chances covers the retooled origin of the character that was sorely missing from his 1983 debut. And this is where I think a lot of readers hated Jason Todd. 

See, Jason just kinda got thrust on readers as being the new Robin in Batman #368 after having basically appeared in a couple of cameos nearly a year prior. Jason Todd was replacing Dick Grayson, whose role on the 1960s Batman TV series made the young ward a household name. Never mind the fact that Dick Grayson had moved on from being Batman's partner years before. Here's a kid replacing a legend. A youth who is a little cocky, a bit brash, and kinda rude taking over the role of America's favorite teen sidekick without so much as a thank you and it ticked fans off. 

I think DC Comics kinda realized that fans were unhappy with Jason Todd. So after Frank Miller's Batman: Year One storyline retooled the origins of Bruce Wayne for a more modern audience, Max Allan Collins sets his sights on giving Jason Todd a formal introduction into the Batman Family while giving readers the must desired reason for the fallout between the Caped Crusader and Dick Grayson. 

Though the title was never officialled renamed, editors rebranded the Caped Crusader's solo title as Batman: The New Adventures. Here we learn that during one of Batman's annual visits to Crime Alley, the area of Gotham in which Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered, someone had the brass balls to steal the tires off of the Batmobile. The thief is none other than the orphan street rat, Jason Todd. 

Not even old enough to drive and this kid steals from the Batman! This kind of bravado impresses Batman. Working out a deal, Batman gets Jason set up with a halfway house. However, the program ends up being a front for organized crime a la Fagin and his pickpockets in Oliver Twist. Only much more violent. When that placement falls through, Bruce Wayne takes in Jason Todd and a new Boy Wonder is shortly christened. 

Despite a new origin and a blessing from Dick Grayson to Jason as being his heir appearant, time was short for the new Robin. By mid-1988, Jason's fate was left up to readers to call a 1-900 number to decide if the Joker would kill the new Boy Wonder in an explosion or merely mangle him a little. More readers called in to kill Jason Todd, beating out those who wanted to save him by less than 100 votes. I remember my house voted. But I don't remember if my dad was one of Jason's executioners or saviors. I know I wanted Robin to die. But my father often would do the opposite of what I wanted in his own Joker-like sadistic way...

Did Jason Todd really deserve all that hatred? Based on the stories in this book: no. Max Allan Collins and Jim Starlin do a decent job making him an agreeable sort of fellow. I'm guessing it's the Jason Todd from 1983-86 that got on reader's nerves and sent the lad into an early grave.

And sure- Jason Todd is back alive. It wouldn't be comic books if the characters didn't return from the beyond once and a while. This Jason who goes around as the ultra-violent Red Hood, is a fan favorite among many. Readers love how as the Red Hood, Jason Todd will cross lines that the rest of the Batman Family refuse to even toe. But me, I am a purist. I prefer Jason as a carefree kid, trying to make the best of a new life, even though on the other side of the comic book page, unknown readers were making plans to kill him. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.