Since I am here, we will get to the next installment.
With success comes imitators and Bond spawned dozens of them, from Eurospy knockoffs, like Agent 077, played by Ken Clark, in 3 movies (Mission Bloody Mary, Fury in the Orient and Special Mission Lady Champlin), to spoofs like Matt Helm and Derek Flint, to even cartoon characters, like Fred Flintstone (The Man Called Flintstone) and Secret Squirrel. Western, having specialized in licensed comics since their inception, in the 40s (in partnership with Dell and then on their own, as Gold Key and Whitman), was right there to scoop up the rights to do tie in comics. However, they stuck to the tv examples of the genre and went their usual road of photo covers and then interiors from their stable of artists, in a bit more subdued fashion than DC or Marvel. Well usually, but, on a few of these, they ponied up for some artists with experience in action comics.
Our first comic is I Spy, based on the tv series with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby.
The premise of the series was that tennis player Kelly Robinson traveled the globe, playing against wealthy men, in exchange for room and board, while secretly carrying out missions for US government intelligence. His partner is Alexander Scott (Scotty), who acts as his trainer, and is a Rhodes Scholar, who speaks multiple languages. Robinson is the more experienced agent and an athlete, while Scotty is the brains, but quite capable, physically. The show was the first to feature and African-American in a co-leading role and Scotty is never subservient to Kelly. The issue of race was never addressed, which in itself was new. The producer, Sheldon Leonard, who go on to poke fun at race ideas in the Dick Van Dyke Show, where Rob Petrie thinks his baby was switched at the hospital, until he meets the African-American parents of the other newborn (played by Mission Impossible's Greg Morris) and an episode where he accepts an award for Alan Brady, at a banquet from an organization like the NAACP, after he and Laura have gotten black dye all over their hands.
The tv series featured exotic locales and typical Cold War plots, with the first episode revolving around the possible defection of an American athlete, a person of color, to the East.
The Gold Key comic featured stories from prolific writer Paul S Newman and 5 of the 6 issues had art from Al McWilliams. Issue #3 is a typical example. The duo is in Venice where a bomb has destroyed a gondola, Kelly is contacted by the agency's local rep and they meet. he is told he needs to assassinate an old college friend, who is trying to defect and jeopardizes national security. Kelly is reluctant, but begins searching for the man. They give copies of photos to the gondoliers and have them search for information to bring back to them. One says he knows of the man an arranges to meet them, at night, under the Bridge of Sighs, but he turns up dead....
Kelly has a run in with a knife-wielding thug, who gets away. They have suspicions about the mission and check out their contact, who seems legit. They contemplate what to do next, when they are hit by a bright light, reflected from a nearby building. It seems deliberate and they investigate and find Kelly's old friend. he tells them of working in a research lab and being approached by a foreign representative, with an offer of facilities and backing to conduct his research, if he comes to their country (alluded to being behind the Iron Curtain. He is intrigued and they bring in one of their top scientists to try to sway him and the man shows him some of the things they are working on. The American has a photographic memory and he memorizes the details from just observing the plans. The foreign rep chastises the scientist for showing classified projects to the American and consider him now a danger to their security. They try to kidnap him and he escapes from them, in the gondola which was blown up. Kelly and Scotty use his info to find and neutralize the enemy agents.
The story is a bit far fetched, but not a lot different than the series, which mixed humor with the action and drama. Al McWilliams isn't the most flamboyant of artists, with his layouts, but, his storytelling is solid and he establishes the mood of a spy story, set in exotic Venice, quite well. The likenesses are pretty generic, but they usually were in these things, as they didn't necessarily have the rights to use actor likenesses, beyond the photo covers, which were usually promotion photos from the studio.
Next, we have a British import, Danger man, shown on US network tv as The Secret Agent....
The series originated with Ralph Smart, who developed the series for ITV. It was then syndicated globally. The series features secret agent John Drake, who works for NATO, carrying out international missions. Drake rarely uses a gun and depends more on his wits and his fists to outwit enemy agents and carry out his missions. This was in part due to star Patrick McGoohan's insistence that Drake not be a cold blooded killer, like Bond and also to make it an easier sell, without heavy violence. Episodes usually involve Drake carrying out an elaborate con, or racing against time and an enemy to achieve his goal.
In the first issue of the comic, a B-52 Bomber develops engine trouble, somewhere over Africa, it is forced to jettison its payload, a hydrogen bomb, and then crashes, the pilot survives and John Drake is contacted in South Africa (on a diamond smuggling assignment) to head to the area and help locate the device, before enemy agents can get to it. He soon finds himself surrounded by various foreigners who all want to get on a safari to the uninhabited area where the device was dropped. As in the show, Drake isn't above dealing with a female adversary in a direct method....
There is a twist to the story, as one member of the safari is not an enemy agent, but a nuclear physicist who wants to detonate the weapon, in an uninhabited area, to shock the world into destroying such weapons. Drake must stop him and prevent the enemy agents from getting the device.
The issue features art by Bill Ligante and script by Dick Wood. There was a second issue, which came out the following year, suggesting the first hadn't sold terribly well, though Gold Key often had long gaps in these things. They existed to keep Western's printing presses going, while the studios considered them to be promotion for the tv show. The second issue has art by Sal Trippani. Ligante does a decent job with McGoohan's likeness and the plot is pretty good and it makes for an exciting story.
Sadly, Gold Key didn't get the rights to do the (sort of) sequel series to The Secret Agent...The Prisoner. It wasn't exactly a sequel, though it was a sort of thematic sequel. Patrick McGoohan conceived of the series, though George Markstein added his own elements, in development, and both have argued whether Number 6 was intended to be John Drake. Legally, he couldn't be, or else they would have to pay a percentage to Ralph Smart. In McGoohan's mind, he was Every Agent and it didn't matter who he had been, as the Village was more than just East vs West. It was an allegory of bigger issues. However, we will deal with that, later.
Another ITV series that Gold Key did manage to grab was The Avengers. Not the one with The Hulk, Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp and Thor; but, the one with "John Steed, top professional; and, his partner, talented amateur Emma Peel..."
The tv series began in 1961 and was a sort of offshoot of the series, Police Surgeon, starring Ian Hendry. In this new series, Hendry plays Dr David Keel, a physician whose fiance is murdered by a drug trafficking ring. He sets out to Avenge her death and runs into the mysterious government agent, John Steed, who helps him achieve his goal. From then on, they work as partners, on missions. After the first series, a strike put a halt to production and Hendry left the series to pursue movies (with some decent roles, but little major success) and he was replaced a rotation of 3 new partners for Steed, including Dr Martin King (basically Keel in new form), nightclub singer Venus Smith, and anthropologist and polymath Cathy Gale. Gale won over the fans and the producers and Honor Blackman became the new regular co-star, alongside Patrick Macnee. Gale's part, initially, was a hastily re-written David Keel episode and Gales was allowed to be tough and professional, which proved refreshing. She was an equal for Steed. After initially appearing in regular clothes, a fight scene revealed that standard fabrics weren't up to protecting the modesty of the actress, in those situations. Thus was born a leather ensemble, which would stand up to the rigors of fighting, while also looking exotic and stylish (and more than a little kinky). Blackman continued in the role for two series, until 1965. Then, on the strength of Goldfinger, she left the series to pursue films (with Goldfinger being the highlight of a cinematic career, though, again, she had many great roles on stage, tv and film). It was decided to keep the male/female dynamic and a new partner, Emma Peel (inspired by "man appeal," the desire to attract a male audience, with a sexy co-star), joined steed, played by Elizabeth Shepard. However, after filming "The Town of No Return," and half of "The Murder Market," Shepard was released from her contract, as it wasn't working out. A new search turned up young actress Diana Rigg, and a legend was born. Rigg joined as the series was being sold to the US and benefitted from its popularity there, as well as at home. meanwhile, Brian Clemens became the guiding force in the scripts, which took on a more fanciful tone, mixing spy intrigue, sci-fi and elements of comedy and satire, of the Lewis Carroll variety. The series became a massive hit, globally and Rigg stayed until 1968. Then, she left to pursue Bond and other roles and both got to marry James Bond (and die), chase after the Assassination Bureau, portray many noted characters on stage, and then wrap up her career as the delightfully devious Lady Olenna Tyrell, matriarch of House Tyrell.
Our comic adaptation features John Steed and Emma Peel, on the cover titles; but, indicia states "The Avengers #1". The comic features two stories, "The Roman Invasion" and "The Mirage Maker." The opener has Steed and Emma on a country picnic, where they witness the bizarre sight of two Roman soldiers fighting. One is badly injured and they fight off the the other, knocking him unconscious. They race to the nearest hospital to get treatment for the wounded man. The other escapes and Steed goes hunting for him and finds himself in the middle of a film project, about the Romans. It turns out, enemy agents are trying to infiltrate the country, disguised as film actors. Steed pokes around in a
lorica segmentata, the Roman legionnaire's armor, and his trusty bowler hat. Emma later joins to help save Steed from the enemy, as he battles for his life in a gladiatorial scene.....
In the second story, they must contend with enemy agents, out to steal a device that creates mirages.
Both stories were actually reprints of British comics, from TV Comic (issues #756-760 and 761-766), with some slight modifications and the addition of color. This marked the only US comic adaptation of the Avengers tv series, for a couple of decades, but more would come, which we will examine, later.
Next, we have the one truly original idea of the spy craze (in my opinion). Before the spy craze, the Western was king of television. now, spies were all the rage. Why not combine the two for an unbeatable combination? That was the idea of producer Michael Garrison and the end result was The Wild, Wild West....
The series starred Robert Conrad, as Captain James West, a veteran of the Union Army and the Civil War; and, Ross Martin, as Artemus Gordon, a noted actor and inventor. Together, the pair traveled in a private, tricked out train, traveling the West, putting a stop to renegades, would be conquerors and madmen, such as the recurring diminuative genius, Dr Miguelito Loveless, played with wonderful flair, by Michael Dunn. West and Gordon carried all kinds of gadgets, including West's personal weapons of a sleeve gun, a Derringer on a spring-loaded armature, which would snap out and give him quick access to a pistol (later aped by Travis Bickell), a throwing knife hidden in the back of his coat, a breakdown Derringer hidden in the heels of his boots, and a flick knife, which spring out of the toe of his boot, allowing him to cut his way out of bonds or kill with a kick. Artemus would concoct other devices, as needed, while their billiard table, on the train, hid weapons, including sword blades, hidden inside the cues.
Sadly, the comics never featured Dr Loveless or his assistants Annette (Dunn's singing partner, Phoebe Dorin) and Voltaire (Richard "Jaws" Kiel).
Issue #4 features a story by Leo Dorfman and art by Bill Molno and Sal Trapani. Jim and Artie are finally granted some vacation leave and they head to the border country to do some hunting, when they come across a wagon that is surrounded by bandits. they render assitance to the wagon group, who are on an archeological expedition. Jim and Artie make use of exploding buttons to drive off the attackers and allow the expedition to flee to safety. Later, the elader of the bandits comes upon Jim and Artie and he is actually Captain Jimenez, of the Mexican Secret Police. The men in the wagon were thieves who have stolen Montezuma's gold and jeweled costume and headed into indian country. Jimenez wants to arrest the two Secret Service agents, as members of the gang, but Artie uses knockout gas, from his pocket watch, to escape. They track the wagon and find a group of Aztec descendants, who believe the phony professor is Montezuma. They are captured and forced to fight for their lives. They soon discover the reason for this ruse, they bandits are hunting for Montezuma's lost treasure and discover it in an underground cavern, along with the remains of conquistador armor...
They use the armor to defeat the bandits and return the treasure to the indians.
The plot here isn't bad, but the art is rather pedestrian. Al McWilliams handled the first and second issues and Jose Delbo did the third. Sal Trapani inked every issue and Frank Springer handles pencils on issue 7, the last, but issues 5 and 6 have unknown artists, per GCD.
The Wild Wild West was too good a concept to stay dormant and it would return, a couple of decades later, which I will discuss in a future installment. It WILL feature Dr Loveless and is vastly more faithful to the tone and style of the series.
Next time, we will continue the look at Gold Key spies, as we examine the adaptation of a series that created a whole alphabet soup of spy agencies, which had contributions from the man who gave the world spy agency acronyms: Ian Fleming. Come on back, as I discuss my UNCLE.