Future-era wealthy philanthropist Rod Hathway and his secretary Dot Kenny fight interplanetary evil and helped the innocent as Avenger and Teena using the methods of 1940s gumshoes combined with the technology of the far future!
Blasters instead of revolvers!
Personal jetpacks instaed of taxis!
Stories, whose titles included "Opium Smugglers of Venus" and "SpaceShip of the Dead", delivered fast-paced action illustrated by comics legends Wally Wood
and Joe Orlando, who would go on to greater graphic story glory as mainstays of EC Comics' Weird Fantasy
and Weird Science
titles.Weird Trivia:
1) Despite the fact that neither character wore a mask, nobody ever commented "hey, ain't you that famous Hathway guy?" or somesuch.
(Maybe they were too busy looking at Teena's cleavage?)
2) Nobody ever calls Rod "Space Detective"! He's always called "Avenger".
3) The original user of the name "Avenger"
, a Doc Savage
-style pulp/comic character, hadn't been published since 1944. The trademark had lapsed, so it was used on this unrelated character from a different company.This sort of thing is far more common in comics/pulps than you might think.
For example, three different companies have had a "Captain Marvel", none of whom were related to the other companies' versions!
In fact, Marvel Comics itself has had several Captains Marvel including a father and son!)
Atomic Kommie Comics™ has revived Space Detective in our The Future WAS Fantastic™ retro sci-fi collection.
The four-issue series' slick art style is again in vogue with pop culture aficionados (like us) who are also into video games and graphic novels.
We've digitally-restored and remastered all four covers as well as recreating the series' logo!
So if you're looking for something offbeat as a stocking stuffer or main gift for that certain someone, look at Space Detective...before he comes looking for you!
