This storyline is slightly goofy.

First, Honey runs off to show up Rip (she’s mad he was giving Pagan Lee attention). So he and Desmond (Desmond’s his butler, a reformed burglar) have to find her. In the meantime, Honey’s met this evil old woman on an ocean liner and it turns out she’s going to be the storyline’s main villain.

But then Greene and Raymond introduce this Hawaiian ex-Marine buddy of Rip’s—the story takes place in Hawaii—who runs around looking like Tarzan most of the time. It’s like Raymond really wanted to do a jungle adventure comic and he just added it to Rip Kirby.

The actual mystery is pretty lame and it plays more as an action story. Only the action isn’t particularly good. The bad guy’s an old lady… it’s not like Rip’s going to knock her out.

The art’s great, the story’s just tepid.

CREDITS

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

About half this storyline is spent with Pagan Lee as the protagonist. Rip and Honey are too busy vacationing (though there’s some more implications of their intimate relationship). Pagan’s past is catching up with her, with a card shark tries to shake her down. It’s an interesting structure, with Greene and Raymond spending a lot of time introducing the card shark and detailing his efforts before meeting Pagan. It barely feels like Rip Kirby in those strips.

Rip eventually shows up to sort the whole thing out and the story races to the finish. I think, once Rip appears, the rest of the story takes place over two days, maybe three. It’s almost too fast.

The other problem is how Greene writes Rip during the first half, as he ignores Pagan’s troubles. He makes Rip petty and occasionally mean.

It’s still a compelling read, since Pagan’s a very sympathetic character.

CREDITS

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

Instead of an involved, complicated story, this time Greene and Raymond go for something far simpler. There’s a blackmailer using kids to get celebrity autographs to fuel his forgery endeavor. Rip accidentally gets involved and has to sort it out. There’s a murder, some intrigue and Honey and Pagan fighting for Rip’s affections.

Unfortunately, when presented with a simple “case” for Rip, Greene and Raymond unnecessarily aggrandize it. It’s not a simple case of blackmail, there’s the youth gang; it’s not some smart blackmailer, it’s another guy with a silly nickname and a secret base. When Pagan turns out to know the blackmailer, it works since it’s a comic strip and things need to be neat… but Greene and Raymond are giving Rip a rogue’s gallery. It’s too much. He’s not Dick Tracy.

The romantic conflict is a nice touch, however, though Honey and Rip’s relationship has, unfortunately, become chaste.

CREDITS

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

Greene and Raymond give Rip his first real nemesis here—the Mangler. Though we hear he’s called the Mangler for how he murders people, we never see it. The Mangler’s far more interested in elevating himself from crime boss to terrorist as he steals a biological warfare formula from Rip and proceeds to auction it to the highest bidding country.

The storyline is split into two parts—Rip getting kidnapped and tortured for the formula, only for the bad guys to realize threatening Honey will get him to cave. He does, which leads to the second part of the story, the hunt for the Mangler. The first part has a lot of implied sex; it’s funny to see a newspaper strip get away with it while a movie of the time could not.

The second half is better; the first half’s plot requires Rip to be really stupid, really often.

CREDITS

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

For the second storyline, Greene and Raymond send Rip and company off to college. Honey doesn’t get a lot smarter this time around, but she definitely gets somewhat smarter and it helps a lot. While she’s not really Rip’s sidekick, just an odd addition to the cast (she has her own reasons for visiting the college, while he’s investigating something), she’s pleasant to have around. There are a lot more female characters (in small parts) who are reasonably vapid, but even without them, Greene’s making Honey a much stronger character.

Raymond’s art is, big shock, excellent. What is somewhat surprising is how much he plays with the strips, occasionally only doing two panels or even one. The story reads great in a sitting as well.

The sometimes unexpected twists and turns to the plot only increase the appeal. It’s an engaging read, even if there’s little character development for Rip.

CREDITS

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

It’s a little surprising how every panel of Rip Kirby is perfect. Okay, not every panel. There are two panels—each the last panel of a strip, where Alex Raymond apparently photo-references a close up for this one character and it’s too static. I’m guessing it’s referenced because of that static, something no one else has in the forty-three other strips making up this storyline.

The mystery itself is pretty contrived, as a newspaper sequential has to be. But Rip Kirby reads really well, like it’s meant to be read in a sitting, not day to day in the newspaper. Writer Ward Greene does do some recaps, but more often he just assumes the reader’s caught up and moves on.

My only complaint is Rip’s sidekick, Honey Dorian. She’s supposed to be smart, but has a dimwit’s dialogue. It’s like Greene and Raymond can’t decide.

Otherwise, it’s phenomenal.

CREDITS

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