If you missed the last one…
Lance Lewis, Space Detective was one of the headliners in Startling Comics at the end of its run. (The Pulp, Startling Stories, from which the comic got its name was SF, so it was appropriate that space opera should be in the comics too.) In fact Issue #44 (March 1947) to the last #53 (September 1948), all bore a Lance Lewis cover (either drawn by Graham Ingels or Alex Schomberg as Xela.) Lance did not get his start there though, he appeared in the last two issues of Mystery Comics first (October-December 1944). In all, Lance had twelve comic adventures and two text stories.
Like so many old comics, the original creators are largely unknown. None of the writers was ever acknowledged. Of the two that penned the text stories, Charles S. Strong was a real person. Strong was an explorer and lecturer who wrote popular Mountie novels as Charles Stoddard as well as for The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew franchises. Unfortunately his name was used as a house name by other writers like Donald Bayne Hobart (so who knows?). For a few issues the artist is either credited or obvious by their style. These include Graham Ingels, Bob Oksner and Rafael Astarita.
Lance Lewis was the star in these late issues of Startling Comics. Earlier the covers and stories went to superheroes like The Fighting Yank and Pyroman. The late 1940s saw more Science Fiction (or space opera) characters like Lance and Tara, Outlaw of the Universe (in Pines’ Wonder Comics) replace the men in spandex. At Exciting Comics it was Jungle Girl, Judy of the Jungle. Fantastic Worlds and Adventures into Darkness also worked the shift away from Superheroes that came with the end of World War Two. (If you don’t have any Nazis to punch, what do you do? The spirit of Edmond Hamilton’s space opera runs through Lance Lewis. Perhaps not surprisingly, Hamilton wrote the occasional Captain Future stories for Startling Stories as well as superhero comics for DC around this time.)
After the first adventure, Lance is joined by Marna, sassy astronomer and love interest. At first she is little more than someone to rescue but as the strip progresses she becomes more and more of an equal, short of her using her fists on bad guys.
The use of the idea of a “detective” in space is unusual. The writers were hoping to capture two different audiences. “Space” brings in the SF fans while “detective” pulls in the Mystery lovers. Lance is really more of “policeman” though does have the detective work of figuring out ways to stop villains.
“The Race to Mars” (Mystery Comics #3, October 1944) begins with a race between two competing space-liner companies for the Earth-to-Mars mail run. (They have spaceships but not email!) When Speed Siller is murdered during the race, it is up to Lance Lewis to investigate and find the culprits. He chases his man all the way to Mars. The bad guy sends Martians out to kill Lance but he punches his way to the truth.
“The Amoeba Men” (Mystery Comics #4, December 1944) has Lance rushing to the rescue after his friend is devoured by an amoeboid creature. While in space the Amoeba Men, pirates from Saturn, come on board through Lance’s exhaust vents. They take him to their base where he meets the beautiful Marna, another captor. Lance figures out what can hurt the amoebas and stops them. He knows more of the pirates are coming from Saturn. (They will return nine stories later.)
“Lance Lewis, Space Detective” (Startling Comics #44, March 1947) has Lance facing an invasion of Earth by a race of intelligent Venusian ants. Using his detective skills he figures out that a mysterious gas plant is essential to their invasion. He frees the human slaves and destroys the plant. Giant insects were common in SF fiction decades earlier.
“Lance Lewis, Space Detective” (Startling Comics #45, May 1947) has the Mercurians (who all look like evil Mr. Potato Heads) drawing Venus and Earth towards the sun as part of their plan of conquest. Lance and Marna are the only ones who can save the Solar System. The duo blow up the power beam that draws the planets and defeat the Sun King.
“The Underground of Mars” (Startling Comics #46, July 1947) takes Lance back to Mars to stop an invasion. A race of floating ball-shaped monsters called Gobuls are under the power of a skull-faced villain. The Gobuls stun their enemies with a blast of bright light. Lance arrests the bad guy, the Mystic Monarch, because the light weapon doesn’t work on him. He has contact lenses that polarize the blasts.
“Lance Lewis, Space Detective” (Startling Comics #47, September 1947) has the Sun King and the people of Mercury at it again. This time the people of the Solar System’s first planet want to refuel the sun. This plan requires the destruction of Earth. This time around we get to see Lance and Marna in the king’s famous torture room (mentioned last time). They escape and blow up the palace as they go.
“The Space Gypsies” (Startling Comics #48, November 1947) begins with everyone on Earth being frozen stiff. A strange race of lizard-like aliens pilfers the planet. Lance, Marna and Lance’s boss, Interplanetary Coordinator Montague, are not affected. Lance and Marna go after the Space Gypsies, find their hideout and meet their leader. The duo unveil the camoflagued alien fleet. The spaceships of Earth bomb the gypsies out of existence.
“The Man-Killer on Mars” (Startling Comics #48, November 1947) is credited to Edward Hasset. This was a house name so we don’t really know who wrote this story. Lance is off to Mars when a space pirate threatens her cities. He and Marna track the killer to an ice fortress and melt his ice cap.
“The Crab Men From Space” (Startling Comics #49, January 1948) is another invasion story. The crab men use a gravitation nullifer to destroy planets. Not much new here but the bad guys are interesting because they are essentially an evil version of Neil R. Jones’s Zoromes, brains inside mechanical bodies.
“The Invisible Pirate” (Startling Comics #49, January 1948) is by Charles S. Strong (probably a house name). Lance and Marna are on Mars for a vacation. Montague send them after the space pirate Agra Boldanov, who has invisibility technology. Lance defeats him with colored liquid to paint the invisible. The villain’s name is a typical Cold War Russian name.
“The Amoeba Men!” (Startling Comics #50, March 1948) has the raiders from Saturn return! The fleet of Earth goes to meet them in a great space battle. The Amoeba Men have a new weapon, telepathy! Lance and Marna get captured on purpose so they can defeat the invaders from the inside.
“The Conquest of the World” (Startling Comics #51, May 1948) has Lance capture and arrest the villain, Carla the Magnificent. She is tried and sentenced to space exile. She heads for Venus where she teams up with Scarpia to take over that world then come for her vengeance against Earth and Lance Lewis. With this new artist, Lance’s helmet lost its Romanesque fin on top. He now looks more like a French Legionnaire.
“The Tyrant of Mulda” (Startling Comics #52, July 1948) begins with Anton Gregor, the nuclear fission pioneer, kidnapping Marna and heading out for Astra, the most distant planet in the galaxy. Gregor sets himself up as the tyrant of the planet but Lance has other ideas. He leads a resistance movement against the mad man and saves Marna.
“Music of the Spheres” (Startling Comics #53, September 1948) has Lance called away during a music contest where he sees a young boy playing his violin alone. (Lance has a wrist television watch in this episode, ala Dick Tracy. No email but they had Zoom calls.) The case that pulls him away is a ship that exploded without cause. The villain, Mr. Gorman, is at the concert too and has plans for the young soloist. Lance soon connects the two ends of the Mystery.
The End of an Era
1949 saw Ned Pines’ comics under the Better Comics and Nedor Comics combine into the Standard Comics Company. Most of the Standard comic titles would disappear with the coming of the Silver Age and the Comics Code. The Golden Age charm and freedoms were lost with the introduction of the new self-imposed standards. Lance Lewis’ intergalactic investigations were certainly among some of the best of this era. Alan Moore must have thought so anyway, because he revived Lance Lewis, Space Detective and other Nedor characters for his Tom Strong comic in 2001.
All of these comics are available free at Digital Comic Museum.
Next time...The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe!
