Greene and Raymond have established a new formula. Honey waves goodbye to Rip, he rushes off to mystery, the reader gets to find out the solution to the mystery before he does (in a flashback or an aside) and then the story gets very action-oriented.

This time, Rip and Des are searching for a missing photojournalist. It turns out she’s been kidnapped by a rich Muslim king who’s intent on marrying her. The attempted rape scene’s pretty mellow (the king’s waiting for the wedding night apparently). The politics of it are… horrific. I guess interesting in a historical sense. All the Muslims are psychotic murderers. This kind of story—the sheik kidnapping the American girl and her finally giving in to his charms—is very old, even with Greene and Raymond did it here. But it was always from the woman’s point of view.

Not here.

It’s quite weak.

CREDITS

Writer, Ward Greene; artist, Alex Raymond; publisher, King Features.