Plus some covers mixed in…
By PETER BOSCH
Frank Robbins is best known to comic book fans for his work in the Bronze Age drawing (and writing) tales of Batman, plus the Shadow, at DC, as well as the Invaders at Marvel. But he was most famous to newspaper comic strip readers as the creator, writer, and artist of Johnny Hazard.
It wasn’t Robbins’ first effort with an adventure strip. He drew the popular Scorchy Smith strip from 1939 to 1944, and resemblances between Smith and Hazard may have been seen at first, but Johnny Hazard was Robbins’ own creation and quickly showed it.
Scorchy Smith strip – February 15, 1941
The first Johnny Hazard daily — June 5, 1944.
The strip began June 5, 1944, 80 years ago (and the day before D-Day!), and newspaper readers saw Johnny, a gung-ho American flyboy, and two of his buddies looking to escape from a Nazi airbase. Needless to say, they do, as well as deliver a couple of patriotic blows to the Germans’ aircraft and a column of armored vehicles on the way out.
Johnny Hazard was both an exciting and witty strip, and naturally there were beautiful femme fatales popping up now and then. Unlike other comic heroes, however, he didn’t get them swooning at an unexpected kiss.
July 8, 1944
Violence was a part of the strip, too, sometimes by the cold-blooded villains, sometimes by Hazard in retaliation. One sequence during Hazard’s military days had him in a deadly hand-to-hand fight with a Japanese general that ran nine days without dialogue.
January 8, 1945 to January 17, 1945
A Sunday strip ran with separate storylines from the dailies.
May 13, 1945
In addition to the newspaper strip, Johnny Hazard could be seen in four comic books published by Standard/Pines with new stories by Robbins between 1948-1949.
Johnny Hazard #5 (Aug. 1948, Standard/Pines)
Johnny Hazard #6 (Nov. 1948, Standard/Pines)
Johnny Hazard #7 (Feb. 1949, Standard/Pines)
Johnny Hazard #8 (May 1949, Standard/Pines)
Following World War II, Hazard had become an adventurer, flying all over the world.
April 13, 1961
In the mid-Sixties, during the spy craze, he joined an intelligence group call WING (World Intelligence Network Guardian) as an agent.
November 1, 1966
One major change over the 33 years of the strip (which ended August 20, 1977) was the development of Robbins’ art style. At first, he was influenced by Noel Sickles (creator of Scorchy Smith) and, as so many were, by Milton Caniff. But, as time went on, he definitely found his own way. Robbins was an incredible craftsman with the use of strong black inking and dynamic lighting.
January 3, 1971
After the newspaper strip ended, Robbins continued his comic art career with various comic books until he moved to Mexico, leaving it all behind to concentrate on painting.
Many professionals cite him as an influence on their own careers, including Dick Giordano, Kevin Nowlan, Jim Steranko, Chris Samnee and Alex Toth.
Johnny Hazard Quarterly #1 (Aug. 1986, Dragon Lady Press) with an Alex Toth cover
Robbins died in Mexico on November 28, 1994, at the age of 77.
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MORE
— DOUG WILDEY: So Much More Than JONNY QUEST. Click here.
— Dig the FIRST 13 SUPERMAN NEWSPAPER STRIPS: An 85th Anniversary Celebration. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. He is currently at work on a sequel, about movie comics. Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
June 5, 2024
Always happy to see Frank Robbins get some love. He was a great artist.
June 5, 2024
I absolutely loved his work on The Invaders.
June 5, 2024
I still question the wisdom of having him draw superhero comics but loved HAZ since the first time I saw him in the Menomonee Falls Gazette! Luckily, there were so many reprint collections of the strips out there well into the 1980s, so I was able to catch up from various eras of the strip!