''King of the Royal Mounted'' is an American comics series which debuted February 17, 1935 by

Stephen Slesinger Stephen Slesinger (December 25, 1901 – December 17, 1953) was an American radio, television and film producer, creator of comic strip characters and the father of the licensing industry. From 1923 to 1953, he created, produced, published, develo ...

, based on popular

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

writer

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontie ...

's byline and marketed as ''Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted''. The series' protagonist is Dave King, a Canadian Mountie who always gets his man and who, over the course of the series, is promoted from Corporal to Sergeant. King has appeared in newspaper strips, comics,

Big Little Books The Big Little Books, first published during 1932 by the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, were small, compact books designed with a captioned illustration opposite each page of text. Other publishers, notably Saalfield, adopted t ...

, and other ancillary items.

's son

Romer A Reference Card or "Romer" is a device for increasing the accuracy when reading a grid reference from a map. Made from transparent plastic, paper or other materials, they are also found on most baseplate compasses. Essentially, it is a speciall ...

and Slesinger collaborated on many of the stories, and the artwork was produced by Allen Dean, Charles Flanders, and Jim Gary in Slesinger's New York studio. A

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

was produced in 1942.

Newspaper strip

''King of the Royal Mounted'' started as a Sunday comic strip from

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

on Sunday, February 17, 1935. The strip was initially drawn by the

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

Allen Dean. Allen Dean previously collaborated with Zane Grey on the original ''King of the Royal Mounted'' in 1935 but quit when Romer Grey/Slesinger later took over production, as told to son Allen M. Dean Jr, who was born in 1942. A daily version was added on March 2, 1936, at which point the Sunday strip was passed on to Charles Flanders, who took over the daily strip as well in April 1938. From 1939,

Gaylord DuBois Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (sometimes written DuBois) (August 24, 1899 – October 20, 1993) was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote ''Tarzan'' for De ...

became the writerDuBois interview,

David Anthony Kraft David Anthony Kraft (May 31, 1952 – May 19, 2021) was an American comic book writer, publisher, and critic. He was primarily known for his long-running journal of interviews and criticism, ''Comics Interview'', as well as for work for Marvel C ...

's ''

Comics Interview David Anthony Kraft (May 31, 1952 – May 19, 2021) was an American comic book writer, publisher, and critic. He was primarily known for his long-running journal of interviews and criticism, ''Comics Interview'', as well as for work for Marvel C ...

'' #17 (Nov. 1984): "In 1939 I worked as a script writer on ''King of the Royal Mounted'', when Jim Gary was doing the art work". and Jim Gary became the artist, creating ''King'' until it ended on February 14, 1954 In the end, it was Jim Gary who became the artist most closely associated with the strip.

Film

*''

King of the Royal Mounted ''King of the Royal Mounted'' is an American comics series which debuted February 17, 1935 by Stephen Slesinger, based on popular Western writer Zane Grey's byline and marketed as ''Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted''. The series' protagonist i ...

'', 20th Century Fox, September 11, 1936, starred Robert Kent. The feature was retitled ''Romance of the Royal Mounted'' when it was released on video. *''

'', Republic, September 20, 1940, 12-part serial, starred

Allan "Rocky" Lane Allan "Rocky" Lane (born Harry Leonard Albershardt; September 22, 1909 – October 27, 1973) was an American studio leading man and the star of many cowboy B-movies in the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared in more than 125 films and TV shows ...

*''The Yukon Patrol'', Republic, April 30, 1942, feature film version of the 1940 serial ''

'' *''

King of the Mounties ''King of the Mounties'' is a 1942 Republic 12-chapter film serial, directed by William Witney. Allan Lane played Sgt. Dave King of the Mounties, with Peggy Drake as heroine Carol Brent, and Abner Biberman played the villainous Japanese admiral ...

'', Republic, Oct. 17, 1942, 12-part serial, also starring Allan "Rocky" Lane

Big Little Books

*''King of the Royal Mounted'', 1936, Big Little Book GW138-1103 *''King of the Royal Mounted and the Northern Treasure'', 1937, Big Little Book GW180-1179 *''King of the Royal Mounted Gets His Man'', 1938, Big Little Book GW230-1452 *''King of the Royal Mounted and the Great Jewel Mystery'', 1939, Better Little Book SW32-1486 *''King of the Royal Mounted and the Long Arm of the Law'', 1942, Better Little Book SW119-1405

Comic books

*''Feature Book'' #1 (

David McKay Publications David McKay Publications (also known as David McKay Company) was an American book publisher which also published some of the first comic books, including the long-running titles ''Ace Comics'', ''King Comics'', and '' Magic Comics''; as well as ...

, May 1937) *''King Comics'' (David McKay Publications) — series published 1936–1949 * ''Famous Feature Stories'' (

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

, 1938) *''

Red Ryder Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

'' (Dell, 1940) — newspaper comic strip reprints *''

Four Color Comics ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

'' #207, 265, 283, 310, 340, 363, 384 (Dell, 1948–1952) — newspaper comic strip reprints, with Jim Gary cover art ** ''King of the Royal Mounted'' #8–28 (Dell, June 1952–March 1958) — Written by

Gaylord Du Bois Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (sometimes written DuBois) (August 24, 1899 – October 20, 1993) was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote ''Tarzan'' for De ...

with art in the Jim Gary style. The series started with issue #8 because the issues published under the ''Four Color Comics'' banner were considered the first seven issues. ** ''Four Color Comics'' #935 (Dell, April 1958) — final comic book issue

References

External links