Whitman Mystery Stories - Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter

This is one of the Whitman Authorized Editions that I have been wanting for quite a while.  While I never had the opportunity to read the original comic strip in the newspaper, I do have an edition of the collected dailies and Sunday strips from 1940 - 46 (Brenda Starr Newspaper Strips), as well as the one-issue Dell Comic published back in 1963 (Brenda Starr Comic Book), plus the collected editions of her original comic book series from Four Star Publications and Superior Publishing back in 1947 - 49.  The ones I still don't have are the Charlton Comics series published in 1955.  I have enjoyed reading her adventures, which are outlandish to say the least - this amazingly gorgeous, redheaded reporter that every man loves on sight manages to get in the most unbelievable situations - yet, with her looks and ingenuity, she manages to get herself and those around her out of every scrape and, along the way, scoops the story for her newspaper, the Flash.  So, I was overjoyed when a close friend of mine sent me this book (along with a Sunday color newspaper page featuring Brenda Starr paper doll with outfits!), and I could not wait to sit down and read it.

 

Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter gives credit to the main character's creator, Dale Messick, as the author of the story, as well as the artist for all of the internal illustrations and full color cover.  I think this is only the second Whitman based on a comic strip that I have read, which is actually written and drawn by the creator of the strip (although, there is some question as to whether Messick actually penned the novel or just the plot - more on that later) - the first was a book based on the Boots and Her Buddies comic strip (Boots - Whitman Mystery), the authorship for which was credited to the strip's creator. What I found interesting is that the title page says "An original story based on the Famous Newspaper Strip 'BRENDA STARR'." Thus, I was expecting a brand new story featuring Brenda and her supporting cast. Little did I realize that was not going to be the case.

 

The story begins innocently enough, with Brenda being sent off to the slopes of Colorado (which is funny, since the most recent Zebra Mystery Puzzler that I read was also set on the slopes of Colorado - Murder by the Book) on a mysterious assignment.  She does not know exactly what the story is or what the work will entail - all her editor told her was to go to the newspaper there and ask for Larry Nickels.  When she arrives, she finds the "newspaper" feels more like a posh hotel, and the "employees" seem to do nothing but lounge around and ski all day!  When she asks for Mr. Nickels, she finds he is out on the slopes, and his secretary - Flurry Snow (p. 19 - and, yes, that really is her name!) - informs Brenda that she is to meet him out on the slopes.  Brenda is somewhat nervous, as she is a horrible skier and that fact is proven when she goes out to meet him, but ends up falling backwards down the slope (p. 24).  He rescues her, much to her dismay, and she learns that the "Cloud" (the name of his newspaper) is nothing more than a hobby, and he asked her out there to breathe some real life into his newspaper.  That story turns up pretty quickly, when Nickels points out to her a nearby lodge, described as "a vast, sprawling building with many towers and gables.  Despite its many windows and entrances, it possessed a look of strangeness and complete isolation" (p. 45).  Nickels tells her the lodge is a mystery, because people go in, but not a single soul has ever come out!  Brenda senses a big story, which is only confirmed when Nickels tells her about the man who operates the lodge: "a queer old duck who calls himself 'Professor Squell'" (p. 46).

 

Now, it is at this point, I started to sense something strange as well.  Not about Professor Squell or his lodge, but about the plot itself.  It felt extremely familiar.  So, I pulled out that collection of newspaper strips I had read before, and sure enough, there it was!  The same exact story I was now reading in prose form I had read three-and-a-half years ago when I read those newspaper strips!  Before Brenda Starr had even been published in the newspapers for a year, she was on a plane, dreaming about the blond-haired mystery man who had kissed her on New Year's Eve - exactly as she did on the opening pages of the first chapter of this book.  In fact, the dialogue was lifted straight out of the newspaper strip and used word-for-word in the book.  Now, obviously, a lot of exposition and additional dialogue was added into the book in order to flesh out the story, the characters, and the page count (otherwise, it would have ended up being a very short book, indeed!).  But if you read the book, side-by-side with the newspaper strip panels, you will see that it is literally a full adaptation of the story written and published back in 1941 and not an original tale at all.  Therefore, I'm at a loss to explain why the publisher refers to this as an "original" story based on the comic strip, when it is in actuality an "adaptation" of a story from the comic strip.

 

The story follows Brenda as she watches first Flurry, and then Nickels, go into the strange lodge and never come out.  A reward offered sends quite a few of the men from the village into the house, none of whom ever come out, and before you know it, Brenda is in hot water, being blamed for sending the men to their doom.  So, what else can she do, but go into the lodge?  Meanwhile, reporter Tom Taylor and photographer Pesky head out to rescue Brenda - and thanks to an anonymous warning, Tom knows enough to wear a gas mask before he goes into house, which saves him from the gas that takes control of all who enter - but does NOT save him from the mysterious man who knocks him out from behind.  From here, the story gets even more wild, including a basement laboratory, underground caverns, a room of pirate booty, and an impromptu wedding between Brenda and the "queer" professor who is holding everyone captive under ground.  And while the collection of newspaper strips ends with Brenda, Tom, and Nickels getting out and rescuing everyone, the book goes beyond and jumps into the next storyline involving a missing detective, a mysterious doppelganger, and a secret surprise.  This story moves much quicker than the first and take up only the last few chapters of the book.  Since I did not get to read the newspaper strips for this tale, it was completely new to me.

 

Now, some have speculated that Messick did not actually write the book, but, rather, it was simply ghostwritten as an adaptation of the strips - and since Messick wrote the newspaper strips, she was given credit for writing the book.  Whether this is actually the case or not, I have no idea.  What I do know is that Messick provided brand new illustrations for the book - 19 of them to be exact.  While some of the scenes do seem to mirror those from the strip, there are differences, which provide proof they were not merely reproduced from the art of the strip.  Messick also provides the art for the endpages, which depict the professor's planned wedding to Brenda, with Tom and Nickels standing behind her and Pesky off to the side, down in the caverns. 

 

What is odd about these endpages is that, in my copy at least, the pages are reversed in the back.  In the front, Pesky and the professor are on the left side, with Tom, Brenda, and Nickels on the right (which appears to be the correct positioning, based on the smoke drifting overhead); however, in the back of the book, Tom, Brenda, and Nickels are on the left side, while Pesky and the professor are on the right - supposedly looking at each other, but because of the repositioning of the pages, they are looking away from each other!  I wonder if this production malfunction was only in this one printing, or if all copies of this book have this error.

 

Despite the story not being original, I still enjoyed it - Brenda is a fun character to read, and her antics are always guaranteed to bring a smile, if not a full laugh, to the reader's face.  The gorgeous Messick art is only an added bonus!  Rather a shame they did not adapt more of the stories into book form - would have made a great series.   

 

RATING:  8 hats that resemble flipped over pancakes out of 10 for a fun-filled romp in the snow, under the ground, in an Easter parade, and in the clubs of Washington, D.C. - all in a day's work for Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter!