Comic-book creator Howard Chaykin has been involved with several pulp and pulp-inspired comics during his career.
Most pulp fans are familiar with his take on The Shadow that appeared at DC Comics (and recently reprinted by Dynamite).
Among the original, pulp-inspired characters are a pair of early characters he created: The Scorpion and Dominic Fortune.
Chaykin created The Scorpion for Atlas Comics in 1975. As some pulp fans may not be aware of Atlas Comics, some background on them. Martin Goodman, who had established several pulp companies in the ’30s such as Red Circle and Manvis, was also involved in comics, establishing Timely Comics, which later became Atlas Comics, then Marvel Comics.
He had sold off Marvel Comics in 1968, but stayed on as publisher until 1972. Later he decided to get back into the business, establishing Seaboard Publications and briefly published comics under the Atlas Comics line. Most fans refer to this as Atlas/Seaboard to differentiate it from the original Atlas Comics of the 1950s.
Atlas/Seaboard published about 20 or so color comics and a handful of black & white magazines. Despite getting a lot of top creators, most comics were fairly derivative (though there are a few gems here and there). None of the titles lasted more than four issues, and most suffered from what fans call the “third issue switch” in which the titles changed direction either with the third issue or just after it, often including a new creative team. Chaykin’s work on The Scorpion lasted only two issues, with a new team and direction with the third.
In the first issue, we learn that Moro Frost is either long lived or immortal, as he had been around since at least the Civil War. Now, in the 1930s, he operates as a urban mercenary known as The Scorpion. In action, he wears a distinctive outfit of blue military-like pants, black shirt, and tan vest (which has chain mail in it), along with a gunbelt. He is shown to be somewhat amoral, looking only for money.
I couldn’t find a site with the first issue online, but Diversions of the Groovy Kind has scans of the second issue.
Moving to Marvel Comics, Chaykin revamped the concept and created a new character: Dominic Fortune. Because their outfits are similar, most see Dominic as just a continuation of The Scorpion, but a lot of things are different. The Scorpion’s vest was turned into a sort of “onesie” for Fortune, which also had a heart on the left breast. Fortune is not immortal and he operates in Hollywood, not New York. While he is a bit amoral, he doesn’t seem to be as hard-edged as The Scorpion. And he is a gambler, always in debt to his landlady, who operates the gambling ship he lives on. So he mainly is a “brigand for hire” to raise money for rent.
Fortune appeared in several of Marvel’s black & white magazines at the time, which allowed for the stories to be a little more hard-hitting for the period. First in “Marvel Preview” #2 (1975), “Marvel Super-Action” #1 (1976), then a series in the back of “Hulk Magazine” #21-25 (1980-81). The story intended for the unpublished “Marvel Super-Action” #2 was turned into a color comic and ran in “Marvel Premiere” #56 (1980). These were the only stories with involvement by Chaykin.
Later, Fortune was used by others in modern times, now as a geriatric. The less said, the better.
Finally, in 2009, Chaykin returned to Dominic Fortune, in a four-issue mini-series set in the 1930s, and apparently before his prior stories. Unlike those early stories, the ethnic background of Fortune (we learn he is Jewish) is a big part of the story, as Fortune works to stop a fascist takeover of the United States.
More recently, Chaykin has used Fortune, along with other Marvel characters set in the 1950s, as part of the “Avengers 1959” group, a covert action team lead by Nick Fury before SHIELD was established. They first appeared in a backup series in “New Avengers” #10-13, and then their own mini-series “Avengers 1959.” The ending did leave an opening for another story, which might be interesting.
Marvel has put out a trade paperback that collects the Dominic Fortune mini, a webcomic of him (not by Chaykin), and his stories from “Marvel Preview” and “Marvel Premiere.” I wish they’d reprint the stories from “Hulk” magazine and “Marvel Super-Action,” which would be the rest of the Chaykin-created Dominic Fortune.
Overall, both characters are interesting, and anyone looking for original pulp style comics should check them out.
