All Hands On Deck
While Martinek gave the strip an air of authenticity, he brought in Naval Lieutenant Leon Beroth as art director and Carl Hammond to handle layouts and research. Martinek articulated this central principle: "Since Don Winslow of the Navy is approved by the Navy Department, I cannot allow him to do anything that is contrary to the ideals, traditions or motives of the Navy."
The strip debuted on March 5, 1934. A Sunday page was added in 1935. Martinek supervised the daily feature’s "general tone and direction", sending the typewritten continuity to Beroth every week for illustrations. From 1934 to 1952, Beroth was the leading artist on the feature. Ken Ernst (later famous for Mary Worth), assisted or ghosted the art between 1940 and 1942. With Don leaving his fiancee behind in December 1941 to go fight the Japanese, the World War II period saw the height of Don Winslow’s popularity. The strip continued for a full decade after the war ended, coming to a close on Saturday, July 30 1955.
Although created primarily as a Navy recruitment and propaganda tool, the strip received high marks from Coulton Waugh for “excellent suspense, and ingenious, spine-joggling situations.” Ron Goulart credits Don Winslow with "intrigue, spychasing, beautiful women, and villains with names like Dr. Centaur, the Dwarf, and the Scorpion." Like all good propaganda, the strip first sought to grab the reader's attention.
Read more about this topic: Don Winslow Of The Navy (comic Strip)
Famous quotes containing the words hands and/or deck:
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