KING FARADAY

       King Faraday is an agent with American Intelligence.
       At least when we first meet him he is. His exact employer is not specified but the hard-boiled way he approached life and danger while rescuing a beautiful dame from some goons make it seem as though this silver-haired operative might have been a private investigator. The impetuousness he shows when he just happens to overhear a murder plot shows his love of excitement and being in the thick of things
       What we also learn from that adventure is that Faraday likes movies and women and not necessarily in that order. He apparently attended college since he talked about being left on the bench during a game with Notre Dame. He is quick witted and agile and not unwilling to leap out of upper floor window to avoid lead pellets.
       The next time we see Faraday, he is asked to help an old friend, a government agent, get a captured scientist out of a foreign prison. He shows no hesitation taking the job and does not blink when told there would be no backup in case of trouble. We still do not have any affiliation with any organization.
       It is in the third recorded adventure that we see Faraday thrown into a mission for "counter-intelligence" but he was not working for anyone when they came to call; he had just watched a man fall from a high-rise. His interest in the why causes Faraday to lose the girl he was with. "If you prefer thinking about murder instead of moonlight ... Goodby!" was her parting comment. The next day he's investigating former Nazi nuclear scientists.
       As an introduction to the fourth exciting escapade, we learn from Faraday that he has "side-stepped death in many different guises all over the world ... int he shape of bullets in Belgium, Machetes in Manaos, and typhoons in Tahiti. This time he is in the African island of Madagascar and he soon gets involved in government upheaval in that nation but not before an old friend, a high ranking policeman, dies in front of him of poison (Faraday knows it is poison in a drink because he tastes it to be sure!).
       The fifth recorded adventure has him again approached by an old friend, Major Lester, of Counter-Intelligence to catch a dangerous spy who is then quite interested in killing him. It is hard to tell from the description whether he worked for Lester or was doing him a favor for old times sake. Regardless, at least another beautiful woman takes the time to fall literally into his arms so that was something.

       It was only after his solo adventures that we get a clue as to Faraday's connection with the government but as the tales come and go, exactly who he works for sort of changes. He is a "federal agent" and a "government agent" and maybe even with the "FBI" and later certainly with the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI). He will be connected with them for some time.
       When the intelligence agency known as Checkmate comes into existence, he becomes a major part of that. Since it is based on the game of chess, his position is that of the White Queen's Knight (aka White Knight) for several adventures.
       So exactly who does he work for? Hard to say. Maybe he just likes job-jumping.
       Whoever he works for, his love of a snappy line remains. In one televised episode, he is heard stating, "Attention, unidentified craft. This is Special Agent King Faraday. Your vessel is currently surrounded by three United States Navy Seawolf-class submarines. While I strongly suggest that you surrender immediately and prepare to be boarded, I really enjoy firing Trident missiles at tiny little subs, so the decision's entirely up to you."

       I read somewhere that Faraday's first name came as the result of a father's sense of humor and the play on worlds of "King For A Day". If it was mentioned in the adventures, I misses it. But I liked the joke nevertheless.

       So many comic books spies from the 30s - 50s came and went. King Faraday was not one of them. He came and went and came back and disappeared and then came back over and over. He was a hard-boiled detective styled operative when we first met him and he stayed that gruff, quick-tempered "do not mess with me" sort of guy throughout it all.
       Considering the number of different writers who threw him into a tale, the fact that he did not change his surliness much is a compliment to them all.
       There are a lot of similarities between Faraday and Marvel's top spy, Nick Fury, but there are far too many differences to make the mistaken notion they were counterbalances for each other. It is nice, though, that both major comic book publishers had their own gruff and growling hard boiled spy to get involved all over the place.

       I like Faraday. Well, I really like reading about him. Except for the myriad females who throw their lips against his in the early days, I do not think many people actually like Faraday. But I like hearing about him. From time to time.

My Grade: B+

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