Comics Week: Agente Secreto. We've seen many cool Danger Man (Secret Agent) comics from around the word this week. Although the French Destination Danger covers may have topped the list for their strong illustrated covers, the Spanish Secreto Agento have a unique quality- infiltration. As you can see below, the series eventually ran stories about many popular spy characters, including The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and James Bond. But if you look closely, you'll see there were cases when the publisher decided to run other heroes under the masthead of McGoohan's John Drake. Who is that tall modern-day Robin Hood under the Drake logo? Roger Moore's The Saint steps into action! Agente Secreto had an alternate graphic design for their line of rotating secret agents, a small target image with crouching spy silhouette, which you can see was used below in the Bond and U.N.C.L.E. issues. Eurospy fans might like to pour through back issues to locate interesting, lesser-known characters Enjoy!
Selected Spy Vibe posts: Danger Man Comics 2, Danger Man Comics, John Drake Comics, Der Mann Von UNCLE, Golden Margaret Nolan, Man From UNCLE Rocksteady, Pussy Galore Calypso, Cynthia Lennon R.I.P., Edward Mann Fashion, Leonard Nimoy Tribute, Shatner at 84, Bob Morane series, New Saint Publications, The Saint Complete box set, Gerry Anderson Box Sets, Music For Spies, Thai Bond Design, Brian Clemens RIP, Bond vs Modernism, Imitation Game, New Avengers Books, Ringo Does Goldfinger, Sixties Beat Wear, Popular Skullture, Art of Modesty, Avengers Blu-ray update, Tokyo Beat 1964, Polaroid Spy, Feraud Mod Fashion, Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Designing Bond Books, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
Comics Week: After our look at German, Dutch, and Spanish comics based on Danger Man (Secret Agent), Spy Vibe continues with cool comic treasures from the world of Patrick McGoohan's John Drake. Today we feature a larger collection of covers from the 1965-1966 French comics (where the series was called Destination Danger) printed for the French, Belgian, Swiss, Canadian, and Moroccan markets. Some of the scenarios look like they could have been adapted from older comics and updated with Drake as the hero. The design was less dynamic this time around (though fun!), with a simple red banner, white typeface, and the Tele Serie Bleue logo. Most covers listed stories as "Une adventure de John Drake", but some did not. Tele Serie Bleue/O.Z Odez published similar series under the same graphics scheme, most notably Les Hommes Volants. What they lacked in graphic design was countered by some very cool illustrations of McGoohan-as-Drake in action. My favorite? How can anything beat Drake in skinny suit and tie controlling a retro-futuristic robot on a rampage? Don't make this guy angry! I love the pulp vibe. Images sourced from the internet, but many came from ComicBDFrance and bedetheque. Enjoy!
Selected Spy Vibe posts: John Drake Comics, Der Mann Von UNCLE, Golden Margaret Nolan, Man From UNCLE Rocksteady, Pussy Galore Calypso, Cynthia Lennon R.I.P., Edward Mann Fashion, Leonard Nimoy Tribute, Shatner at 84, Bob Morane series, New Saint Publications, The Saint Complete box set, Gerry Anderson Box Sets, Music For Spies, Thai Bond Design, Brian Clemens RIP, Bond vs Modernism, Imitation Game, New Avengers Books, Ringo Does Goldfinger, Sixties Beat Wear, Popular Skullture, Art of Modesty, Avengers Blu-ray update, Tokyo Beat 1964, Polaroid Spy, Feraud Mod Fashion, Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Designing Bond Books, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
Comic Week: My vintage spy marathon at the Spy Vibe lair has settled nicely into the world of Patrick McGoohan's John Drake. Each episode of Danger Man, or Secret Agent as it was called in the States, played like a mini-movie. The writing was so packed and layered, and McGoohan's own sharp intelligence cracked like a whip on the screen. There were a number of comic adaptions produced. Today we feature covers from the Spanish Agente Secreto, editions printed in Dutch and in French (Destination Danger), plus German versions of John Drake published by BSV Williams. The Spanish editions featured a fun design plan, with a yellow banner sporting McGoohan's portrait, bold red typeface and a gun that looks like the famous air pistol used in the early Sean Connery Bond publicity images (sometimes replaced with a Luger). Agento was a long-running title that starred a number of different spy heroes. It was hard to track these down and the covers took some editing on my part to look presentable. Stay tuned for more Drake tomorrow. Enjoy!
Selected Spy Vibe posts: Der Mann Von UNCLE, Golden Margaret Nolan, Man From UNCLE Rocksteady, Pussy Galore Calypso, Cynthia Lennon R.I.P., Edward Mann Fashion, Leonard Nimoy Tribute, Shatner at 84, Bob Morane series, New Saint Publications, The Saint Complete box set, Gerry Anderson Box Sets, Music For Spies, Thai Bond Design, Brian Clemens RIP, Bond vs Modernism, Imitation Game, New Avengers Books, Ringo Does Goldfinger, Sixties Beat Wear, Popular Skullture, Art of Modesty, Avengers Blu-ray update, Tokyo Beat 1964, Polaroid Spy, Feraud Mod Fashion, Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Designing Bond Books, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
Happy Holidays to all Spy Vibers out there in the field. I hope that you get a break from your current missions to enjoy some time with friends and family. And because gifts are fun, too, we're giving away presents! Prizes will be listed each day this week and winners will be chosen at random on December 24th. All you have to do is send an email to jason[at]spyvibe.com with the prize name (Tinker, etc) listed as subject and your mailing address as content. Also, check out the Spy Vibe auction this week to see our listings of a Sean Connery 007 autograph and some vintage 007 and U.N.C.L.E. collectibles.
Prize #4: SECRET AGENT/DANGER MAN
Every secret lair needs a top spy, and you can't find a better one than Patrick McGoohan's John Drake (Secret Agent/Danger Man). Classic still magnet, cool for kitchen operations!
