Freedom Agent a/k/a John Steele, Secret Agent - a Gold Key comic

Back in 1963 and 1964, Gold Key comics put out two comic books starring an American spy by the name of John Steele - a secret agent who initially went by the name "Freedom Agent."  Both comics had stories written by Paul S. Newman and drawn by Giovanni Ticci and Alberto Giolitti.  They both featured beautifully painted scenes on the covers, which scenes also appeared on the back cover without any title, logo, or taglines.  Now, these comics should not be confused with the other "John Steel" (without the additional "e" at the end of his last name), who was a British spy and whose stories appeared in issues of Thriller Picture Library in the early to mid-1960s.  Gold Key's John Steele is an all-American spy who is fighting the enemies of the United States, whether it be behind the Iron Curtain or high in the mountains of the Himalayas.

The first issue to be published was titled Freedom Agent, with a cover date of April 1963.  The indicia at the bottom of page one indicates this is issue 1 and states it is "[p]ublished quarterly by K.K. Publications, Inc."  I find it odd they would give a publication schedule for the book, when it was a single issue that had no subsequent issues published (at least, not under the name Freedom Agent).  Not sure if more issues were planned, but they were scrapped when this book did not sell well, or if that language was simply used in the indicia for all of Gold Key's comics, regardless of whether it was a one-short or a series.  In any event, this first issue contains two stories - "The Giant Makers," a 15-page tale about a scientist behind the Iron Curtain who has developed a serum that can increase the size of animals; and "Escape From the Top of the World," an 11-page tale about a mysterious 'fireball' that crashed into the Himalayas that could be a dangerous weapon.  In-between these two stories is a 4-pager titled "Behind Enemy Lines: The Heavy Water Raid," which tells the World War II efforts to prevent the Germans from developing any atomic weapons.  I'm not sure of the purpose of the 4-page historical account, unless it was to give readers a dose of reality between the action stories of John Steele.

The first story is highly fantastical, since it is pure science fiction to think that a serum can be developed that would change the size of animals and humans.  But Steele is sent into an unnamed area behind the Iron Curtain to retrieve the scientist who created the formula, and he ends up becoming a guinea pig for the experiment - causing him to grow into a giant!  Of course, this gives him the needed strength to overcome the soldier and help the scientist escape; yet, the scientist is killed by a crashing helicopter, but lives long enough to give Steele an antidote before dying, taking the formula for the serum with him.

The second story is a bit more grounded, as Steele is sent to Tibet to discover what the mysterious 'fireball' is.  He has to sneak into the country and utilize disguises to get close to the object, which turns out to be a small space satellite.  Steele manages to take out the guidance and radio systems before he is nearly caught, and he has to claw his way to the top of one of the mountains (at 18,000 feet up!) in order to be rescued by an American plane.

The second comic Gold Key published was the self-titled John Steele, Secret Agent, which came out in December 1964.  Interestingly, neither the indicia nor the cover give an issue number for the comic, nor a date, and the indicia merely says this comic is "[p]ublished by K.K. Publications, Inc." without indicating the frequency.  Perhaps by this point, more than a year after the other issue hit the comic racks, the publisher realized it was better to leave out the publication frequency in order to avoid any problems if no further issues were published.  Like its predecessor, this comic features two Steele tales - "The Unseen Foe," a 14-page story about invisible saboteurs; and "Double for Danger," a 13-page story about impersonating a dictator to prevent a dangerous alliance.  The comic also features another 4-page "Behind Enemy Lines" historical account, this time titled "Blow Up the Bridge," which details the mission to destroy a rail bridge to prevent supplies from reaching Germany during the war.

As with the first comic, the first story in this issue is a bit sci-fi in nature.  Steele finds himself sent on a mission to uncover how enemy agents are creating havoc and stealing top secret information without anyone seeing them - not even on camera!  Steele, of course, uncovers a plot to displace American agents from England by the use of enemy spies dressed in specially treated material that makes them "invisible" except under infared light!  The story sounds like something right out of a James Bond film.

The second story is definitely more realistic, as Steele dons the disguise to take the place of a dictator of a small country, to keep them from allying themselves with China.  He must fool the dictator's brother, who seems very involved in the scheme to ally with China, and when Steele's cover is nearly blown, it leads to an explosive escape in which the brother is forced to gun down the dictator - but was it Steele or his own brother that he kills?  It's actually a pretty great little tale, fast-moving  and an adventure that would actually make for a great plot of a movie.

From what I can gather online, all four stories were written by Paul Newman (not the actor!), and the art was by Giovanni Ticci and Alberto Giolitti.  Although uncredited in the issues themselves, the art is consistent throughout all four stories, making me believe the same artists worked on them all.  The art is nice - nothing super-spectacular, and far from detailed (many panels have blank backgrounds), but there is no strange style to it, making it an easy read.  The action sequences are a bit stiff at times, but over all, I would say the art fit the stories fairly well.  And with only 11 to 15 pages to work with, Newman's stores move along quickly, with little space for deep characterization.  Thus, we learn literally nothing about Steele's past or about any of the supporting characters other than what is necessary to fit the story.  And, with only two comic books featuring this daring spy, we are destined to never know anything more about him...

The cover art is beautiful, and I'm glad Gold Key publishing the full, clean paintings on the back of each issue - unobstructed by the title, the Gold Key symbol in the upper left-hand corner, or the taglines on each issue.  They would make great poster art - I just wish I knew who did the art.

Not anything spectacular, the if you enjoy spy or adventure stories, then these two John Steele comics would likely give you a good read.

RATING:  7 giant chickens, rabbits, and mice (oh, my!) out of 10 for taking not one chance, but two, on a non-costumed, non-super-powered hero.