Credits
Writer(s):
Manning de Villeneuve Lee [as Manning DeV. Lee] (signed)
Penciller(s):
Manning de Villeneuve Lee [as Manning DeV. Lee] (signed)
Inker(s):
Manning de Villeneuve Lee [as Manning DeV. Lee] (signed)
Colorist(s):
?
Letterer(s):
?
Subject Matter
Genres:
mystery
Feature(s):
The Scarlet Seal
Character(s):
The Scarlet Seal [Barry Moore] (actor, introduction, origin); Captain Pat Moore (Barry's father, introduction); Lt. Bemis; Spider (death); Bugs Marlone (villain)
First Line:
Barry Moore, top-notch character actor of the films has just finished his latest picture [sic]
Synopsis:
Actor Barry Moore, after finishing the film "Oriental Horror," takes a job in his father's police department but finds that the commissioner is a soft headed liberal. So Barry devises a secret life in order to infiltrate the underworld disguised as a Chinese-American called the Scarlet Seal.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:
Miscellaneous
Pages:
5
Notes:
This feature was created by Manning de Villeneuve Lee, an accomplished fine artist and book illustrator who specialized in historical subjects. His by-line only appears on this first story....after that, the strip was signed "Duane Byrd Monroe", a pen name for which no reference can be found.
Jim Amash and Mike Kooiman, in the Quiality Companion, state that Campbell is falsely credited on this feature.....and the art of Lee's (which is very refined in nature) in no way looks like that of Campbell.
The Who's Who lists Campbell as writer and artist in 1940-41.......Lee (called Lee Manning in the Who's Who) wrote and drew the strip in 1940, and Henry Taylor drew the strip in 1941. I'll leave it to other writer/art experts that have access to all the stories (from Smash #2-24) to determine who did what stories writer and artwise.
The name Barry Moore is a play on the famous screen actor family, the Barrymores.
Many stories display Moore jumping out of a cab and entering through the front door of his secret lab, which was disguised as a fake store front.
Moore's fortune financed his capers, and procured props such as firecrackers and flash powder, and he was also adept in jujitsu.