Big Little Books (BLB) have had a tremendous appeal to collectors since they first appeared featuring the likes of Mickey Mouse, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Orphan Annie, The Phantom, Donald Duck, and so many others. In the course of this column, we’ll take you through a selection of them and explore some of the many nuances to collecting BLBs.

Intended as a low budget alternative to Dick Tracy during a time when everyone was trying to replicate the success of the often violent detective, Dan Dunn began his career in a comic titled Detective Dan #1, released in 1933. Despite his near identical visage and personality, sales proved less than encouraging.

Creator Norman Marsh retitled the strip Dan Dunn, Secret Operative 48 and soon had his Tracy replacement running weekdays and Sundays in 135 newspapers for the next ten years, beginning in September 1933.

Dunn had a hard-bitten, no-nonsense investigative style as well as a Tracy-esque jawline and a familiar fedora. With his cast of supporting characters, like sidekick Irwin Higgs, streetwise orphan girl Babs and dog Wolf, Dunn battled such subtly named foes as Ma Zinger, Wu Fang “King of the Dope Smugglers,” and Eviloff, who had his very own Caribbean island from which to plan his dastardly deeds.

Dunn’s adventures took on a slightly more global tone than those of his more famous counterpart, with Dunn matching wits with more “Bondian” schemers than Tracy ever met.

Marsh eventually left the strip under somewhat disputed circumstances and was succeeded by writer Allen Saunders and artist Paul Pinson in 1942. A short time later, Pinson was replaced by Alfred Andriola, who secured a promise that the strip would be replaced by one of his own creation when contracts ran out.

Merchandise was manufactured, including a rare 1933 pinback for ‘Detective Dan,’ produced in the hopes of establishing a fan club. Dunn also made his way back into comic books and pulp magazines, and a radio version of the character’s crusade against crime aired in syndication in 1944. The strip itself ended ten years after its debut in October 1943.

The day after its conclusion, Andriola’s Kerry Drake debuted in its place.

If you’d like to know more about Big Little Books, check out The Big Big Little Book Book – An Overstreet Photo-Journal, which is an amazing compendium of information and images about Big Little Books and other publications associated with the form. It’s full color, 272 pages, and it’s packed with the history of these little classics. And it’s only $19.95!