Comic Book Review: The Best of Don Winslow of the Navy edited by Craig Yoe
Don Winslow of the Navy was created as a newspaper comic strip in 1934 by Lieutenant Commander Frank Victor Martinek, a Naval Reserve officer. He wanted to encourage enlistment in the U.S. Navy during a time of relative peace, especially by recruits from landlocked states that were otherwise under-represented in that service. So he created a Lt. Com. of Naval Intelligence who went around the world having exciting adventures. The strip was very successful, spawning two movie serials, numerous books, and a comic book series.
And it’s that last that this volume is concerned with. It collects a number of stories from the Fawcett Comics run from 1943-1947 chosen by editor Craig Yoe, who also wrote the introduction explaining the history of the series. Lt. Com. Martinek certainly contributed story ideas (based on the comic strip version), but they were mostly written and drawn by various Fawcett regulars.
The cover of issue #1 has Don, a clean-cut naval officer who looks younger than he is thanks to clean living, introduced by Fawcett’s best-selling superhero, Captain Marvel. In the first story, “The Coast Guard Menace”, the Germans attack a large fishing boat for no apparent reason. It’s actually to create a distraction so that Nazi spies can land and steal the Navy’s plans for a submersible aircraft carrier. Don, ably assisted by his slightly chubbier friend and subordinate Red Pennington, thwarts the plot, but not before the spies menace Admiral Colby’s lovely daughter Mercedes (Don’s primary romantic interest.)
The first part of the book is World War Two stories, with Don thwarting German or Japanese plots. This continues for a while even after the war, with stories being noted as from Commander Winslow’s notebook. A standout is “Joins the War Workers” in which Don and Red go undercover to investigate sabotage at a shipyard. A black worker named “Jim” is one of the supporting characters, his race never mentioned in dialogue, but described as a “best worker” and displaying courage and intelligence.
After the war, the stories get more varied. Don’s archenemy from the comic strips, the Scorpion, returns a couple of times. (The Scorpion isn’t all that distinctive; he dresses in “ship captain casual” but does have unusually large eyes for the art style.) A modern pirate nicknamed “Singapore Sal” appears; as often for femme fatale types, she has a hankering for Don that in no way convinces her not to be evil. There’s also a couple of appearances by Snake, a slender contortionist, and one by “Longhair”, a strongman with shoulder-length locks who thinks that like Samson, he gains strength from his hair.
One story has Don using the very first submarine invented by Ezra Lee Winslow (here an ancestor of Don’s) to thwart smugglers!
The final story in the volume is “Death for Sale”, a three-parter in which Singapore Sal is broken out of prison to steal the formula for a new type of enriched weapons-grade uranium. It’s got disguises and a deathtrap, and a bit of suspense.
The art is decent for the time period, and some of the stories are well-written. Don gets tied up a lot.
Content note: There’s some period ethnic prejudice (there’s a reason there are few of the stories that featured Japanese antagonists) and sexism (a tribe of Amazons is thwarted by introducing them to mirrors.)
Sadly, after the creator retired, the Don Winslow franchise has faded into obscurity. Most recommended to fans of U.S. Navy stories; general comics fans will want to check this out at a library.
