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The Best of Don Winslow of Navy: A Collection of High-Seas Stories from Comic's Most Daring Sailor
A collection of the best stories from the classic run of Don Winslow of the Navy , one of the most popular comic books running during and after World War II. Edited by Craig Yoe, the selected stories are digitally remastered and contextualized with Yoe's historical research. Preceding the full, colorful tales is a detailed introduction on the creation of the adventurous Don Winslow. The character served to foster recruitment and entertain Navy personnel and the general public alike during World War II and beyond. Winslow fights the Axis and supervillains like The Snake and the attractive, but deadly, Singapore Sal.
- GenresComics
272 pages, Hardcover
Published September 15, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 10, 2019
Editor Graig Yoe’s selection of titles, The Best of Don Winslow of the Navy gets 1 star because none is not a choice, 1 because the reproduction of the cheap color prints of the times is authentic and 1 because it is kitschy and makes a colorful coffee table book. I got my copy at the US Naval Academy Midshipman’s Store so my money went to my old school. From the introduction I suspect that the back story of the Navy men who founded the series is a better story than most of the ones in this book. Lt. Cdr. Martinek a onetime FBI man and according to him an undercover agent, and his number two fellow Navy man Leon Beroth likely rate a shared bio more than we need their colorful Cdr. Don Winslow. If that paring seems weak the strip would find a first home in the Chicago Daily News then published by the future Secretary of the Navy Fran Knox. Anyway the strip later, comic book, later radio and movie serial was started as a Navy recruiting stunt.
My overall lack of enthusiasm for the collection is based on the fact that the stories seem too rushed, shallow, jingoistic (the term for PC before PC was coined) and logical only by accident. Clearly drawn before anyone had a clue about the collective nature of repeated blows to the head, there is hardly a 5 page run without our hero and his Lieutenant side-kick, Red getting knocked unconscious. It could have been worse. Police detective Dick Tracy suffered more single gunshot wounds to the shoulder than would seems reasonable. Wiki cites Mad magazine as counting 47 such to Dick Tracy including at least one case of lead poisoning. But I digress.
Clearly intended as a gag there is one adventure, on Amazon Island that looks to have been largely copied by Futurama excepting the part about the animal skin clad oversized women desiring snoosnoo. Winslow’s large ladies are fonder of serving man, as dinner; until bested by a collection of unreasonably handy full sized mirrors. Don’t ask, this is not the thinking man’s comic strip.
I guess it is all in fun. Once again I find myself punished for actually reading what is meant to be a coffee table book. Then again it does have me interested in the DVD. So maybe not that bad.
My overall lack of enthusiasm for the collection is based on the fact that the stories seem too rushed, shallow, jingoistic (the term for PC before PC was coined) and logical only by accident. Clearly drawn before anyone had a clue about the collective nature of repeated blows to the head, there is hardly a 5 page run without our hero and his Lieutenant side-kick, Red getting knocked unconscious. It could have been worse. Police detective Dick Tracy suffered more single gunshot wounds to the shoulder than would seems reasonable. Wiki cites Mad magazine as counting 47 such to Dick Tracy including at least one case of lead poisoning. But I digress.
Clearly intended as a gag there is one adventure, on Amazon Island that looks to have been largely copied by Futurama excepting the part about the animal skin clad oversized women desiring snoosnoo. Winslow’s large ladies are fonder of serving man, as dinner; until bested by a collection of unreasonably handy full sized mirrors. Don’t ask, this is not the thinking man’s comic strip.
I guess it is all in fun. Once again I find myself punished for actually reading what is meant to be a coffee table book. Then again it does have me interested in the DVD. So maybe not that bad.
January 20, 2025
Above average Golden Age stories. About a half dozen in this collection disappoint, but most are tightly plotted and written. Not one of the best comics of the Golden Age, but definitely superior.
September 2, 2020
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.
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.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews