SCOOP DALEY

Scoop Daley is a reporter for the American newspaper/magazine Press Guardian.

When we first meet him, his last name is spelled Daily as in daily newspaper but then it switched to Daley until the last of the five illustrated adventures where it is back the Daily. Might it be two different people? Yes, especially considering the final one which has a different vibe to it but for now let us consider them one person.

That person is a newshound who has chosen for his beat the world and more specifically it seems, regions involved in war. Four of the tales depict his working assignments in occupied France, pointing out instances where the invading Germans were working hard to suppress speech and other freedoms. The last tale apparently comes much later, likely after the War was over and dealt more with one man's personal greed.

Daley is the kind of reporter who shows that while the pen might be mightier than the sword, the fist can be pretty persuasive, too. Apparently he enjoys having his knuckles meet someone's jaw because he is leaping into such action at the turn of a head. Granted, the people he so dubs invariably are needing it but it is hard to see when he has time to write anything.

Graced with a healthy head of auburn or light red hair, except in the final adventure where he is very much a blond, Daley is a handsome man and quite energetic. It would be reasonable to place his age in the late 20s or very early 30s based on his athleticism as well as his impetuousness.

Daley has a way with the women as befits all good action heroes, though in one adventure when he saves a beautiful woman, she turns out to be a major player in the German occupations and who repays his gallantry by musing she might "have the Gestapo only remove your eyes and tongue".

Scoop Daley or Daily is not around long enough to get any sense of the man but the writer did a terrific job in the first four adventures showing how pretty rotten the Gestapo was in France. This is not after-the-war reporting of brutality; it is being written before the U.S. got officially involved in the fighting but had plenty of real-life reporters doing exactly what Daley was, reporting the unpleasantries first-hand.

The artwork is really well done and a lot more detailed, especially with close-up facials, than was the norm for comic books in the era. Mood lighting also plays a big role giving the atmospheres a decent chance to affect the tale.

There is no doubt that Daley wants to do more than just report the goings-on making him a hero more than just a spectator and making the stories filled with action. I am surprised that the series did not last very long. Did the writer/author go on to other things? I would have liked a few more adventures and I do not say that often about comic book spies from that decade.