JERRY MALONE

Full Name:	Jerry Malone
Nationality:	American
Organization:	American Intelligence
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Herman Browner
Time Span:	1943 - 1944

ABOUT THE SERIES

       Jerry Malone is an American counter-intelligence operative.
       In the two very short adventures we are allowed to read of his exploits, Malone's job is to the enemies of the country who have infiltrated the citizenry or corrupted those already here. Based on these stories and a short reference to other works, he is used to being given the bare bones description of a case and sent in alone to solve it. As the opening remarks indicate, counter-espionage is a "comparitively new branch of our government's war activity."
       New York City seems to be his main balliwick, though that is just a feeling I have.
       What Malone was doing before this "new" service was created is not known but based on his keen ability of crime scene analysis, it is safe to assume he was in law enforcement of one sort or another. Though not a police officer himself, he does have the authority to make arrests as well as to use lethal force when needed. A thinking man, Malone uses reason before brawn to come up with answers to his questions but he is also quite willing to punch someone's lights out if needed.
       Very little information about Malone is given, which makes some sense since he is working in a secretive business. He is in his mid 30's, quite good looking, athletic, and intelligent. As all good counterspies, he knows how to break codes. He is definitely a Federal agent of some organization for he often operates in a suit and tie with a hat that stays on even when fighting. And he is stalwart enough to not loose his cool even when tied up.

COMIC BOOKS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS

Number of Stories:	2
First Appearance:	1943
Last Appearance:	1944

       A comic book publication from the early 40's, Captain Aero Comics, put out by Holyoke Publishing, had as its lead character the dynamic pilot and terror in the skies, Captain Aero and his sidekick (he actually calls him that), Buster. Air combat is not the only subject matter for this book, though, as the standard gambit of interesting and diverse heroes graced the pages.
       Alias X was a crime fighter cum adventure-seeker. The Red Cross was a costumed hunter of saboteurs. The Commands of the Devil Dogs were terrific soldiers, and so forth.
       For two non-consecutive issues midway through the 26 issue run of the book, Counter Spy Jerry Malone had a couple of his adventures told.


1			'The Director and the Spy' Published by Holyoke Publishing Contributors: Herman Browner (writer/artist) Copyright: 11/01/1943 From Captain Aero Comics #12 - Someone uses on-location filming of a movie to engineer a real heist of valuable industrial diamonds, needed by the Nazis for their war machine. Jerry Malone is sent to find out who is behind it. Click here to read the story.

2			'A Murder, A Remark, and A Newspaper' Published by Holyoke Publishing Contributors: Herman Browner (writer/artist) Copyright: 04/01/1944 From Captain Aero Comics #14 - A series of disastrous accidents are the work of a team of very dangerous individuals. Jerry Malone is assigned the job of stopping them but first he must figure out how they are communicating. Click here to read the story.

MY COMMENTS

The two tales of Counterspy featuring Jerry Malone are fairly standard fare although they do stand out in that they are not filled with comments about how bad one side is over the other. Crooks are crooks and cops are cops. If the few pieces specifically mention counter-espionage and agents were omitted, it would be very easy to treat either story as another cops-and-robbers tale.
I can see why, since the stories are so very vanilla, that they only lasted two episodes and did not get any kind of marquee announcement on the covers.

GRADE

My Grade: C+

YOUR OPINIONS

Be the first to leave your own comments about this series.

Tell us what you think of the series. Give your grade and comments.

Your Grade:
Your Comments:

To give your opinion, you must be logged in.