The Gaines-Hecht Letters

comic book history

The Gaines-Hecht Letters

©2019 Ken Quattro It was 1941 and the debate about the effects of comic books on the youth of America had been raging in earnest for over a year. Sterling North’s article, “A National Disgrace,” published on May 8, 1940 had jump-started the discussion and the comic book industry had been on the defensive ever since. Within the comic book…

A Simon and Kirby featurette!

I couldn’t just scan the one Joe Simon and Jack Kirby illustration from MARVEL STORIES vol. 2 #2 that accompanied the text of “Cycle” from my last post. That just wouldn’t be right So, as a special treat, below you will find scans of each Simon and Kirby illustration appearing in that issue. And don’t overlook the bonus scan at…

The Origin of the Origin of the Fantastic Four?

Some years back, I first wrote this partially tongue-in-cheek article as a response to one of the most enduring arguments among comic book fans and historians, “Who was most responsible for the creation of the Fantastic Four?” Like everyone else who wasn’t in the room with Jack Kirby and Stan Lee–I can’t say for certain. But that hasn’t ended the…

The Major: The Man, The Myth — Part 4

©2019 Ken Quattro The details were purposely oblique, in keeping with military protocol. “…now at the Hotel Astor is Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, who was in command of the mounted detachment of the A.E. In G., who will go from New York to Washington to ask for a leave while he returns to Sweden for his wife, who has a Swedish…

The Major: The Man, The Myth — Part 3

©2019 Ken Quattro As with all soldiers, Second Lieut. Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson spent his first months in the Army in training. Upon finishing his instruction at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, he was temporarily assigned to Fort Meade in South Dakota to await the return of the Second Cavalry from the Philippines. He finally joined up with them when they arrived at…

The Major: The Man, The Myth — Part 2

©2019 Ken Quattro The dawn of a new century brought with it the chance of a new life for Antoinette Strahan and her children. To make a complete break with her past, Antoinette (aka Nettie) made a formal declaration of her separation from her husband, Lola. “As order of publication of summons was entered in the case of Antoinette W.…

The Major: The Man, The Myth — Part 1

©2019 Ken Quattro Not every story related to comics history involves super-heroes or the people who drew them. What follows is a story, a long story told in four parts, of a man, how he came to be and how he arrived at one point of his life. And like every story, this one has a beginning. Though you won’t…

Will Eisner Presentation: March 6, 2019

Will Eisner was the Colossus of Comics. With a career that began at the inception of the modern American comic book era back in the 1930s and spanned the history of the medium into the 21st Century, he both preceded and outlasted most of his contemporaries and was still producing quality work right up until the day he died in…

Welcome!

“The truth is never pure and rarely simple.” — Oscar Wilde Welcome! Or, if you’ve stumbled across me before, welcome back! My name is Ken Quattro and I am THE COMICS DETECTIVE of this blog’s title  and simply put: I study, research and write about the history of the comics medium–comic books, comic strips and everything related to them. I’ve…