Kill as directed: Other Media part 10 ...comics (3)

t was also Mike W.Barr who provided the story for "...The
Player on the Other Side!" a Batman story which appeared in the Batman Special Nr.1 (DC Comics) in 1984. Artwork was by Michael Golden and Mike DeCarlo. A little salute to Ellery Queen. A really good story that deals with something that happened on the night that Bruce Wayne's parents were killed. A quote from the original book is included. (See panel) which Batman strangely enough attributes to Aldous Huxley! Writer Mike W. Barr even elaborates in an additional piece on the Panel from Batman Special Nr.1 "The chess board is the world...the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient...but we also know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake -- or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance" origins of the story. According to Barr the quote also is used in the original Queen book The Player on The Other Side and comes from an Aldous Huxley essay. Actually the quote is from Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) a British biologist and defender of the theories of Darwin. Barr was right the quote is included in the EQ book, but the only reference to the author is made as "Huxley". As it turns out Thomas Henry Huxley is "the player on the other side" not Aldous Huxley. In "A Liberal Education and Where to Find It" (1868) the actual (slightly larger) quote is even more intriguing:
"Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that the life, the fortune, and the happiness of every one of us, and, more or less, of those who are connected with us, do depend upon our knowing something of the rules of a game infinitely more difficult and complicated than chess. It is a game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us being one of the two players in a game of his or her own. The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with that sort of overflowing generosity with which the strong shows delight in strength. And one who plays ill is checkmated--without haste, but without remorse."

According to the letter page "Detective Comments" from Detective Comics #531, this issue was scheduled to be published in 1983 as Batman Annual #9. This is also pointed out on the final text page of this issue, where writer Mike W. Barr explains that the story had a "false start", after which the creative team could properly develop and produce the story. This information is further confirmed in the letter page of Detective Comics #543. The story itself was reprinted four more times: in Best of DC #62, Batman: The Wrath, Batman in the Eighties and Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years. (DCwikia)

The superheroes comic The New Teen Titans #38, January 1984 was written by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez, the latter was also the artist. In the story "Who is Donna Troy?"
we find the following conversation:

Donna Troy: You didn't have to do this, Dick, I would've understood.
Dick (aka Nightwing): And ruin my reputation as the teenage Ellery Queen? M'lady, when Deadeye Dick takes on a case, he doesn't give up.

Marv Wolfman was the writer/editor for this story billed as a locked room mystery.Whilst investigating the Vigilante pays a visit to a suspects home, sparking the following remark "I'm The Vigilante Not Ellery Queen,..."

1984 also saw the appearance of "Murder in The Skies!" the 13th episode of "The Vigilante". The Vigilante was Adrian Chase, a New York district attorney whose family was killed by mobsters. This caused Chase to seek justice in his own way as the Vigilante. Influenced by The Punisher from Marvel Comics and The Executioner series of novels this character was one of the first amoral characters in American comic books. Again Marv Wolfman was the writer/editor for this story billed as a locked room mystery. Whilst investigating the Vigilante pays a visit to a suspects home, sparking the following remark "I'm The Vigilante Not Ellery Queen,..." (Above right) (thanks John McDonagh)

Maze Agency 60th Anniversary - February 1990 #9

In February of 1990 Maze Agency #9 surprised us with a mature full color comic celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Ellery Queen. It's a innovative publication with good girl art! It ran in small quantities and is getting scarce. Cover & interior art by Adam Hughes. Much more than a continuation of a series it's a tribute. The series itself centered around two characters, Jennifer Mays, the owner and top investigator of the Maze Agency, and her friend Gabriel Webb. Like Ellery Queen, Gabe is a mystery writer who is close to a detective and ends up getting involved in the investigations. Unlike Queen, Gabe writes for the "True Crime"-style tabloid magazines, and the detective he works with is his lady friend Jennifer, who is quite unlike Ellery's father. Over time we've gotten to see the relationship grow between the two characters and learn more about them and their pasts. Issue #9 ran the story of "The English Channeler Mystery - A problem of deduction" (Gabriel Webb, Jennifer Mays & Ellery Queen app). Barr clearly used the same murder method as found in Ellery Queen's "House of Darkness". As you can see on the cover there even was 'Lesbian' reference on cover & story = "Killer spree of the Lesbian Biker Nuns" by Gabriel Webb! Which is "somewhat" shocking for the regular Queen-fan.

The Green Arrow a Mort Weisinger and George Papp DC Comic, with Oliver Queen as the fictional superhero, started it's run in 1941. It's been said the choice name was induced by the name of Ellery Queen. However no proof exists of this fact. We did however find proof that The Green Arrow writers are aware of Ellery's existence. In a July 1990 unnamed story (by Grell, Jurgens, Giordano) Ollie and Dinah walk through the city discussing a name for their baby. When passing a book shop they see two copies of an Ellery Queen novel which spawns the following comment:

In an Italian Mickey Mouse story called "Topolino e il segreto di William Topespeare" (1991, text en story: Bruno Sarda, drawings: Corrado Mastantuono, I TL 1872-B) supposedly uses elements of the plot of Drury Lane's Last Case. Although there are many translations, the story wasn't translated in English. While according to some it's roughly based on Shakespeare's The Taming of The Shrew the neat Mickey Mouse story about rare Mousespeare books being stolen only to be returned to their owners again with a slash through its cover wasn't completely original.

"Ellery Queen no bouken" (2 volumes) manga by JET, Asuka Comics ,1995

In 1978 a Japanese publisher bought the comic book rights to one of the Queen short story collections. In 1995 Kadokawa Shoten published 2 volumes of The Adventures of Ellery Queen or Ellery Queen no bouken, a Japanese manga by JET (right). It included several short stories: "The Adventure of the Two-Headed Dog", "The Adventure of the Bearded Lady", "The Adventure of the African Traveler" and "The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats".

Case Closed (Original title: Meitantei Conan), aka Detective Conan in Japan and most other countries, is a detective manga and anime series by Gosho Aoyama and serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday since 1994. It follows the adventures of Jimmy Kudo (Shin'ichi Kudou in original), a young detective inadvertently turned into a prepubescent boy by a secret criminal organization when they Eva Kadan, known as Eri Kisaki in the original, is famous lawyer who never loses. Eri is beautiful and talented, she's a very smart woman but aweful at housework or cooking. Kisaki is the Japanese for Queen. knock him out and give him a drug that was supposed to kill him. Several characters are named after famous detectives or detective writers. Eva Kadan, (Eri Kisaki in the original), is a famous lawyer who never loses. Eri is beautiful and talented, she's a very smart woman, awful at housework or cooking. Kisaki is the Japanese for Queen (right).
Panel from "Case Closed" volume 12, Chapter 7 ("Mycroft de no tsudoi" - "Meeting At Mycroft") Sep 18, 1996. In July 18, 1996 the 11th issue of Case Closed had a full page dedicated to Ellery Queen which recommends The Egyptian Cross Mystery. In the following issue (September 18, 1996) we find this panel clearly stating the point of view of the hero/his authors.

Above left: Panel from Case Closed volume 12, Chapter 7 ("Mycroft de no tsudoi" - "Meeting At Mycroft") Sep 18, 1996.

Writer-artist Gōshō Aoyama provided ingenious plots and puzzles that would entertain any crime fan. The series is still very much part of contemporary Japanese pop-culture, with the Detective Conan animation being broadcast on Japanese television in primetime. "Having gone to the movie theaters several times to watch Detective Conan movies in Japan, I saw all layers of society, from children to university students to working adults, gathered together to watch animated mysteries." (Sources Wikipedia - Ho-Ling)

For some reason Ellery seems to have a following among comic authors. In "What Would Spidey Do?!" the September 1997 issue of "The Untold Tales of Spider-Man" by Kurt Busiek, Tom Defalco and Bob MacLeod, a kid who lost his bike derisively refers to an adult, helping to retrieve his bike as "Ellery Queen".

In "What Would Spidey Do?!" the September 1997 issue of "The Untold Tales of Spider-Man" by Kurt Busiek, Tom Defalco and Bob MacLeod, a kid who lost his bike derisively refers to an adult, helping to retrieve his bike as "Ellery Queen" (Above).

Calamity Town by the ShiWen Team, 2001. An example of the graphics...

Again the surprise came from far and away. In 2001 the Chinese ShiWen Team published a comic named after and based on Calamity Town (left and right). No artists are mentioned it only stated "EQ Comic Team" as artists. This illustrates the great affinity people in Eastern countries still have for the Queen legacy.

References
(1) Challenge to the Artist Mike W.Barr
(2) The Comic Book Adventures of Ellery Queen Ron Goulart
(3) The Comic Book Adventures Ron Goulart

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