Debbie Dean, Career Girl #1* was published April 1945 and #2* July 1945 by Civil Service Publications, Inc. Interestingly, the only other comics ever published by them was a single issue of Vic Jordan #1 also on April 1945.
But I digress. Six pages inside Debbie Dean #1 are a story titled “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” which was is an adaptation of an Edgar Allen Poe story.
Created by Bert Whitman as a smart girl for smart readers, this distinguished her from much of the slapstick gga work at the time from Marvel. The book is reprints of the syndicated newspaper strip of the same name that began in January of 1942. The strip features Debbie as a newspaper reporter (it seems like 95% of characters back in the day were either employed by the newspaper or the police). In her investigative role she gets involved with various gang and sports corruption mysteries. The strip ran until 1949 when the censorship board banned the comic after Whitman used the word “dope” (as in drugs not lack of intelligence) in one of the strips.
Whitman, a self-taught artist, began working on comic books in 1939 after various newspaper stints. He drew comic characters such as Dr. Mortal, Balbo Boy Magician, Navy Jones and Nyoka the Jungle Girl for publishers such as Fox Feature Syndicate Comics and Fawcett. Whitman also purchased to rights to The Green Hornet and hired artists under the name Bert Whitman Associates where they put out six issues with scripts from the radio show for Helnit Publishing. Whitman subsequently sold The Green Hornet rights to Harvey. Whitman’s series was reprinted in 2010 by Dynamite Entertainment. Whitman was also a painter whose works have been exhibited by the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
* Sold Copy
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