Q-13

Q-13 is an agent with American Intelligence.

This operative whose real name is never revealed is billed as "America's Spy Fighter" which is somewhat interesting as we will follow him on a half dozen adventures in which his activities are more that of a spy and not a spy-fighter. That difference is explained when, as we catch our initial glimpse of him in the first recorded adventure, he is sitting on a terrace roof of a hotel "in mysterious Stamboul, Turkey". Our introduction will include the statement that "over the four corners of the globe roves Q-13, whose mission in life is to protect his beloved homeland, America, from plots of foreign spies." Apparently he believes in taking the fight to the enemy.

In each of the half dozen adventures we join Q-13 on, he is shown to be a tall, slender, athletic man who throws himself into the path of danger to get the mission accomplished. While his hair color will change from dark brown in the first tale to blond for the rest, his appreciation for wearing bright yellow suit jackets remains consistent -or to switch it up a tad, blue jackets with a yellow tie. He is not a stickler for formal apparel, though, as he will go 'local' if the situation requires.

Most of his adventures has him needing to interface with beautiful women but while he definitely has an eye for attractive ladies, he does not allow himself the luxury to getting to know any of them better; it is common for him to wrap up one case just as he receives a summons to head elsewhere for the next assignment. Interestingly, none of the females seem particularly upset at his departure.

Q-13 is definitely a man of action and while he knows how to use firearms and explosives, and makes use of them as required, he seems more prone to making a fist and getting close and personal. While he never says anything directly about this, Q-13 appears to appreciate a good knock-down fight. While he wins most of them, he does not hesitate to start throwing punches even when the odds are wildly against him - Q-13 spends a fair amount of time in a jail cell or a dungeon.

A common complaint I have with comic book spy series from the late 30s and early 40s is that they tend to try to tell a story in 4 or 5 pages and suffer greatly from it. That is happily not the case with the Q-13 adventures which surprisingly allots 10 pages to each story and that gives the writer. Malcolm Kildale, plenty of time to tell interesting and enjoyable tales.

I was intrigued that he never spent any panels showing female showering the hero with adoration as was a very common practice of writers back then. Instead, and this is something fairly unusual for 1940 comic book, the females he encounters are highly capable women often working as government agents themselves or enemy spies tired of being treated poorly by their bosses. Some of these women are the ones doing the saving of Q-13.

Usually after finishing a series from this period, I am more than ready to move on to something else. In the case of Q-13, I was actually sorry there were not more stories.