Johnny Dynamite
Created by Pete Morisi and William Waugh (pseud. of Ken Fitch)

"The Wild Man from Chicago! He's rough! He's Tough!
He's JOHNNY DYNAMITE!"

JOHNNY DYNAMITE was definitely the best of the pre-Cimics code comic book eyes of the fiftiies -- and, it turned out, the one with the longest legs.

With his best gal and faithful secretary, Judy Kane by his side, and his cop pal Lieutenant Hennessy, this rock 'em/sock 'em private eye from the Windy City burned hot and bright for a few years.

Even the loss of an eye, in issue #4's memorable "An Eye for an Eye" couldn't slow Johnny down. He just slapped on an eye patch and continued slugging and shooting his way through a morass of pimps, thugs, gangsters, dope dealers and other assorted denizens of the Windy City. Suffice it to say there was more than a little Mike Hammer influence at work here

The first nine books, printed by comic Media, were pre-Comics Code, and thus full of all kinds of good stuff, like prostitution, drugs and good ol' graphic violence. The series was later picked up by Charlton for a few issues, and were considerably watered down.

Still, not bad, but a pale imitation of those pre-Code issues, which featured some truly hardboiled stuff and a truly hardboiled dick. Charlton tried to keep Johnny going post-code, but it just wasn't the same. After three issues, they revamped Johnny, making him a government agent who travelled abroad, mostly to mix it up with East German spies and changed the name of the mag to Foreign Intrigue. But it also flopped after three issues, and it looked like the end of the road for the Chicago Wildman until...

Johnny was re-introduced to eighties readers when Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty, creators of Mike Mist and Ms. Tree, and longtime Dynamite fans. Ms. Tree began using reprints of Dynamite's stories as backup features. The reprints were launched in Ms. Tree #36 with a story featuring Tree, Mist and Johnny himself, now retired and married to the former Miss Judy Kane.

And then, in 1994, Collins and Beatty brought Johnny back in a psychotronic/occult/period piece zombie-filled four issue mini-series for Dark Horse and pitted him against a mob of gangsters risen from the grave. They prove to be almost as resilient as Johnny himself.

THE EVIDENCE

• "He staggered back drooling blood from his lips as I followed through with one round-house after another."
  -- "Kidnap"
  
  
• "I'd get them... somehow. I'd watch their faces blubber and drool as I shoved the .45 in their guts. Then I'd pull the trigger and blow out their insides!"
  -- "Vengeance"

COMIC BOOKS

• DYNAMITE
  (1953-54, Comic Media/Allen Hardy Publications)
  9 issues, pre-code
  Writers: William Waugh, Pete Morisi
  Art: Pete Morisi

• "I'll Find that Killer" (September 1953, #3)
• "Excuse for Murder"
• "Promise to a Corpse"
• "An Eye for an Eye" (#4)
• "Big Racket"
• "Murder Hits Home"
• "Death is So Lonely"
• "The Phony Kill"
• "Kidnap" (#6)
• "Vengeance" (#6)

• JOHNNY DYNAMITE
  (1955, Charlton)
  3 issues, #10-12, post-code continuation of above
  Artists: Nick Alascia, Pete Morisi..

• "Vengeance Be Mine" (June 1955, #10)
• "Poison Jasmine" (August 1955, #11)
• "Johnny Dynamite and the Maddened Teller" (October 1955, #12)
• "The Hundred Cadillacs" (October 1955, #12)
• "The Fixer's Mob" (October 1955, #12)..

• FOREIGN INTRIGUE
  (1956, Charlton)
  3 issues, #13-15
  Dropped Johnny Dynamite completely after #15, and became BATTLEFIELD ACTION with #16)..

• (March 1956, #13)
• (#14)
• (August 1956, #15)..

• MS. TREE
  (1987, Renegade Press)
  Written by Max Allan Collins
  Artists: Terry Beatty and Gary Kato..

• "When Dynamite Explodes" (February 1987, #36)..
  

• JOHNNY DYNAMITE: UNDERWORLD.. Buy this book
  (1994, Dark Horse)
  Written by Max Allan Collins
  Art by Terry Beatty
  4 issue mini-series

REPRINTS

Reprints of the original Johnny Dynamite stories, as well as a few of Lt. Hennessy without Johnny, can be found in:

• MS. TREE
  Nos. 36-48
  
  
• MS. TREE's 1950's THREE-DIMENSIONAL CRIME
  (July 1987, Renegade Press)
  
  
• THE DETECTIVES
  (No. 1, April 1993, Alpha Productions)
  
  
• NOIR
  (Vol. 2, No. 1, April 1995, CFD Publications)

RELATED LINKS

• F.O.M.A.C. (Friends, Fans, and Family Of Max Allan Collins)
  Max's Official Website!  Here you can find information on Max and his latest works, all done up in a most excellent fashion by his son, Nate, who wants to go to college. So, buy his dad's stuff!
  .
• Terry Beatty and Wendi Lee's Homepage
  Terry Beatty, who with co-conspirator Max Allan Collins, dragged Johnny into the nineties, shares a website with his wife, author Wendi Lee, creator of Old West P.I. Jefferson Birch and modern gal private eye Angela Matelli.

ALSO OF INTEREST

• Art in Time: Unknown Comic Book Adventures, 1940-1980 (2010).. Buy this book
  A beautifully produced book by comic book historian Dan Nadel, offering an interesting survey of forgotten comic book artists and writers, including two complete stories each of Harry Lucey's Sam Hill and Pete Morisi's Johnny Dynamite.