Adventures of the Dover Boys - an Archie Comics One-Shot (1950)

As a huge collector of children's mystery series, while I may not collect ALL of the series that were put out back in the day, I still recognize the names of many of those series - particularly those published by Edward Stratemeyer and his Stratemeyer Syndicate.  One of the earliest series he published was The Rover Boys, written under the pseudonym of Arthur M Winfield.  The series was published from 1899 to 1926 and originally featured the three Rover brothers - Tom, Sam, and Dick.  And the whole reason I mention this historical information is to give you some background on why I ordered from Amazon this reprint comic from UP History and Hobby (whose website, www.goldenagereprints.com is no longer viable, as a quick search brought up a message that indicates the owner of the website failed to pay invoices for the domain use, and thus, it was suspended).  Oh, and what would that reprint comic be, you ask?

Adventures of the Dover Boys #1, published in 1950 by the same company who was publishing Archie Comics and all of their related titles.

A few interesting things to note about this particular comic.  The story itself is actually 30 pages of story and art, with very few ads (being pretty much the last two pages of the comic, as well as the inside and outside of the back cover).  The story is broken up into six chapters, each chapter varying in length from 4 to 6 pages - and each chapter ends with a cliffhanger note, as well as a third-of-a-page advertisement for a various Archie comic title (such as Archie, Wilber, Super Duck, Suzie, etc.) - only the first and last chapters have no ad at the end.  The comic is also not numbered, per se; rather, with no issue number on the cover, the publishing information located at the bottom of the first page merely labels this as "Adventures of the Dover Boys, 1st edition, published by Close-Up, Inc., 420 DeSoto Ave., St. Louis, Mo."  No future issues were specifically planned, although the last panel of the comic, after the story ends, gives out the call: "Adventure-lovers! Would you like to see more breath-taking stories about the Dover Boys? If so, drop us a postcard right away and cast your vote...and we will get right to work on another jam-packed yarn of deep mystery and intrigue!" Thus, we can only be left to guess that not enough readers wrote in to request further adventures, as no second issue of the comic was ever published.  There is no specific credit given to the creators of the comic, although research reveals that Harry Lucey provided the art for the book (nothing I could find revealed the author of the story).  Unlike today, many comics in the past did not feature credit boxes, listing the writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, etc., so trying to locate the creators for offbeat titles like this is not so easy.

Anyway...getting back to the comic story and the characters.  The inside front cover gives readers the necessary information they need to know about the Dover Boys and their supporting cast so that whey they are dropped into the story on page one, they don't have to worry about tons of exposition to bring them up to speed. The Dover Boys are Dan and Tim Dover (instead of Tom and Dick Rover...), who are 18 and 17, respectively, with dark brown and blond hair, respectively (similar to Frank and Joe Hardy). Their parents disappeared on an expedition, so they are living with and being raised by their Uncle Bill Dover and his wife, Martha.  Silas Croombs is the town miser, and his son, Claude, is a thorn in the Dover Boys' side.  And with this information, readers are ready to read the first comic adventure of the Dover Boys, "The Dover Boys and the Treasure of Death."

The mystery centers around an ancient Inca treasure for which their Uncle Bill was searching.  He came back to obtain more funding, and Silas Coombs pretends to be interested in sponsoring the trip (but in reality, was simply tricking Bill into drawing the map for him so he could find the treasure for himself!). As with your typical children's series book, each chapter ends with a cliffhanger, and this comic is no exception - as Uncle Bill is attacked by a shadowy figure and the small part of the Inca treasure he had brought home is stolen! Needless to say, the Dover Boys are soon on a trip to Peru to continue their uncle's search for the lost treasure. Their plane is nearly shot out of the sky, they and their guide are attacked by tribesmen, the daughter of a university professor in the jungle searching for the treasure is kidnapped and readied for sacrifice, the boys are captured and must face down the Indian chief, and they race against time to avoid being killed in an exploding volcano! All the while, they must avoid and stay ahead of Claude Coombs and his cohort in crime, Mike Foster.  Unlike your standard children's mystery, however, the comic is not afraid to show some of the characters being killed (I won't spoil the fun by revealing which ones); but, otherwise, it is a very clean-cut, fun-filled adventure that reads very much like a fast-paced mystery that might have been put forth by the Stratemeyer Syndicate or one of its competitors.

The art is not too bad - with backgrounds that are fairly simplistic and not overly detailed, and colors that are vibrant while the Dover Boys are in their hometown, but which darken when they head into the jungles of Peru. Some of today's comic readers might find the characters a bit roughly drawn, but for me, I liked the standard art of having people look like people (unlike some of today's comics, where the artist's "style" renders people who look far from human at times).  The artist had a pretty good handle on expressions, such as Tim's shock on page 5 when his Uncle is stabbed, or the boys' glee when they are told they can head down to Peru on page 9 - although I think Tim's shock/surprise on the middle panel of page 18 is probably the best in the entire issue!

An interesting side note - while searching for some information on this comic online, I discovered that this comic is not the only version of "The Dover Boys" out there.  Apparently, WB's Merrie Melodies cartoons did their own "Dover Boys" take on The Rover Boys series back in 1942 with a cartoon short called The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall. The title of the cartoon is interesting, as a lot of series books back in the early 1900s had double titles like this, so it gives it an even strong feel of one of the children's mysteries of that era.  The cartoon was closer to The Rover Boys books, as it featured three brothers: Tom, Dick, and Larry, who attend Pimento University.

I wish the demand had been enough for Archie comics to do a follow up, or even several follow-ups, to this one adventure of the Dover Boys.  Having my two favorite things (comic books and children's mystery) come together like this is always a true joy for me!

RATING:  10 craters of a live volcano out of 10 for everything that makes a children's mystery book exciting, only in comic book form!