Short Lived Comic Series #26 - Ellery Queen Detective (Dell Comics)

Anyone who is a fan of mysteries will immediately recognize the name of Ellery Queen.  You may not know exactly who he is, but you know that name is associated with solving crimes.  That is pretty much where I stood when I came across these comics in a sale bin at a local comic convention a couple of years back.  The dealer had three issues of the comic, and when I looked it up online, I discovered these were the only three issues that Dell Comics published, so I picked them up.  Yeah, it's taken me a while, but I finally got around the reading them, and surprisingly, they were quite enjoyable!

Ellery Queen Detective is a series of three comics published in Dell's Four Color line of comics, based upon the fictional mystery writer who helps his police detective father solve murders  Created way back in 1929 by Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, Queen appeared in quite a large number of novels, as well as on radio and television and in a number of films.  Queen actually appeared in a four-issue comic series published by Superior Comics back in 1949, as well as a two-issue series by Ziff Davis in 1952.  The three comics I picked up were published in 1961 and 1962 by Dell Publishing Company.  I hate the fact that comics back in the day did not often credit the creators (writers or artists!), so I have no idea who wrote the stories, who drew them, or who provided the beautifully painted covers.  Each issue contains two stories, although the second issue does have a two-page mini-mystery in-between the two main tales.

The first issue (no. 1165, Mar.-May 1961) contains "The Mummy's Curse" and "The Underwater Clue."  In the first mystery, Ellery must figure out who killed the night watchman at a museum where a new mummy's sarcophagus has been brought in by ship for display.  Strange accidents are happening, which several professors believe may be part of the mummy's curse should anyone attempt to find the jewels said to be hidden with the mummy.  What I found to be fun about reading this story is that just before the big reveal, the last panel on the page before asks readers, "All the clues are in ... can you name the watchman's murder?"  Then, the next page provides readers with Ellery's revelation as to the killer's identity.  And, as the caption said, all of the clues were visible within the story, if you knew what to look for!  Thus, heading into that second story, I kept a keen eye open as I followed Ellery along the path to uncover the killer of a fishing supply store owner and a boatman.  And, sure enough, the story provided the clues, and when it came time for the revelation, I was prepared (or at least, I thought I was) - this story provided a little surprise there at the end.

So, having enjoyed that first issue, my own "detective" skills were itching to solve another crime, so I immediately delved into the second issue, featuring "The Witch's Victim" and "The Missing Man."  While advertised in that order on the cover, the stories were actually reversed inside.  The first story finds Ellery searching for a man who has gone missing, believed to have stolen $200,000 worth of diamonds!  For me, this was one of the easier ones to figure out, and I managed to be right!  And in the second story, a superstitious man is scared of the coven of witches, who he believes are determined to see him dead.  And eventually, he is murdered.  The killer in this story is relatively easy to spot as well (it seems the more you read these stories, the easier it becomes to spot the clues!).  And this issue features a surprise two-page mini-mystery in the center of the book - "A False Alibi."  It's a quick one, and there is really only one clue that gives away the identity of the jewelry thief - but if you're careful, you'll spot it!

The third, and sadly final, issue features more supernatural-themed stories with "The Voodoo Victim" and "The Curse of Kane" (gotta love the alliteration!).  In the first tale, Ellery and his father head to Haiti to find a gun smuggler and end up having to disprove a voodoo hoax and find a murderer!  This one proved a bit more difficult to figure out, although there was one element of the story that was pretty easy to figure out (even if it didn't help me identify the killer).  The second story, though, was one of the most interesting of the series - a family of fortune hunters, all waiting for their father to die to get their hands on his money.  But, the wrong person is killed, and Ellery must figure out who did it!  While it was not difficult to spot the killer, it was a rather intriguing story. 

I have to give the writer(s) credit, whoever they were, because it can't be easy to tell a well-plotted mystery in just 14 to 16 pages, but whoever wrote these tales managed to do it beautifully.  Each story could easily have been an episode of the television series, and each story did, indeed, show the readers the clues along the way - you just had to be skilled enough to spot them!  And while the artist remains unnamed in the comics, the art does remind me a lot of Dan Spiegel, whose comic book art I remember from the old Crossfire series published by Eclipse back in the '80s.  I did discover that he did quite a bit of work for Dell back in the day; however, one online source indicates Mike Sekowsky may have done the interior art for these stories.

In any event, it is the covers that I truly have to admire.  It appears from what I can find online, George Wilson provided the painted cover art, and a magnificent job he did.  The covers, all painted in mostly dark colors to set the mood, have a definite action scene from one of the stories inside, and the characters truly come to life.  Wilson appears to have been a rather prolific cover artist for Dell, Gold Key, and even Classics Illustrated.  I wonder what ever became of the original art used for these covers...

It's rather a shame there were only three issue of Ellery Queen Detective.  The stories were fun, the art was great, and the character was definitely one worth reading.  In fact, I'm curious now about the television series, which a friend of mine says followed this same format of asking the viewers if they had caught all the clues and could identify the killer.  I may have to see if I can dig up some of those old episodes...

RATING:  10 poisoned fruit bowls out of 10 for combining murder mysteries with comic books to create some truly great stories to read (and solve!)