Monday, April 22, 2013

ADVENTURES OF ALAN LADD "Guns of Smoke Valley"

Was there any manly movie star of the 1940s who didn't have his own comic?
Personally, I'm surprised there wasn't an Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power title, but it's probably because the licensing rights would've been too expensive.
The scripter of this tale from DC's Adventures of Alan Ladd #1 (1949) is unknown, but we do known it was illustrated by Ruben Moreira, one of the first Puerto Rican artists in comic books.
Among his credits during his twenty-year comics career are a two-year stint on the Tarzan newspaper strip and co-creation of DC Comics characters Rip Hunter: Time Master and Roy Raymond: TV Detective.
Like other titles featuring cross-genre stars like John Wayne and Buster Crabbe, Adventures of Alan Ladd ran stories in other categories like crime and contemporary adventure.
Unlike those titles, AoAL played up the fact that Ladd was, first and foremost, an actor, with the level of fame his profession brought him ("Gosh, you're that movie star...Alan Ladd!"), and a guy who wasn't used to doing the strenuous stuff stuntmen did in his films!

The title ran nine issues, with almost every issue featuring a Western-themed tale.

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