MIKE MANLY

Full Name:	Mike Manly
Nationality:	American
Organization:	American Intelligence
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Dick Giordano
Time Span:	1966 - 1967

ABOUT THE SERIES

       Mike Manly is an agent with American Intelligence.
       That is about as close to identifying who he works for as I can. In the three recorded adventures we have of this operative, we know from the first that he is a "Secret Agent ... from Washington", from the second we find him at FBI headquarters though no one actually says he works there, and from the third we see him getting his orders from a bossy older fellow manning a desk at "Washington DC, Headquarters of the Secret Service" but again nothing stating he worked for that agency.
       Manly is certainly an experienced agent because he is sent on these highly dangerous and important missions by himself, showing his bosses have confidence in his skills. Since he successfully completes all of them quickly and succinctly, that attitude is warranted.
       We also know from the silver streaks in his black hair that he is not a young man just out of training. He is self-assured and daring as displayed by the fact that he, on the third mission, does not hesitate to climb the Eiffel Tower to get at his quarry. We also see in that same assignment that he is cool with the ladies for when a sexy femme fatale makes a play for him, he is suave and smooth with her while keeping an eye out for attackers.
       He is also stylish in dress. While wearing the requisite suit for the times, instead of a traditionally dark colored tie, we find him with a light green one in one mission, a red one in another, and a yellow one in the last. All of these with a blue suit jacket.
       He takes his work very seriously, which is good since lots of people are trying to kill him. Though he was talking about another agent, he could just as easily be referencing himself when he refers to agents like them as "the kind of soldier that is fighting the silent war that is keeping the Cold War from turning hot!"

COMIC BOOKS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS

Number of Stories:	3
First Appearance:	1966
Last Appearance:	1967

Tower Comics did not have a huge stable of titles. Their biggest claim to fame was T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents which only ran 20 issues but which got a cult following thereafter.
One title that they tried for just 3 issues was Fight the Enemy, a magazine meant to showcase war stories from different periods. Included in each of those issues was Mike Manly who fought the Cold War instead of a hot one.


1			Message of Doom Published by Tower Comics Contributors: Dick Giordano (artist) Copyright: 08/1966 From Fight the Enemy #1 - 10 pages - When an intelligence agent is murdered on the steps of a library, Secret Agent Mike Manly is called in from Washington to track down the killers. He knows that a book in the library was the dead drop the murdered agent used but that book was checked out by a woman and now she is missing. Click here to read the story.

2			XX 119 Published by Tower Comics Copyright: 10/1966 From Fight the Enemy #2 - 5 pages - Mike Manly is called in to help the investigation of a series of accidents and threats against an experimental plane manufacturer's latest vehicle, the XX 119. Manly pulls a crazy stunt to save the plane. Click here to read the story.

3			Assignment In Paris Published by Tower Comics Contributors: Jose Delbo (artist) Copyright: 03/1967 From Fight the Enemy #3 - 10 pages - Secret documents showing where all the American bases in Europe are (?) have been stolen from the US embassy in Paris. Mike Manly is dispatched and comes up against a spymaster calling himself 'Le Phantom'. Click here to read the story.

MY COMMENTS

Mike Manly was not around long enough to get any true idea if I would like him. From the three brief snapshots of him, I would tend to say that I would not. He is far too earnest and straight-laced, stiff and unsmiling. Even when being seduced by a sexily dressed woman, he is stern and in control. Not an apparent party animal.
The artwork was good for the time, especially the people who were, except for Manly, given a bit of character with a nice variety. The missions were extremely standard and not very well laid out. It had a Joe Friday "Just the Fact, ma'am" feel to it that did not make me wish there had been more. Three was enough.

GRADE

My Grade: C+

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