"You're Worried About the Alibi Angle."

Rick Random's Manhunt Through Space.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Super Detective Library No. 90, September 6, 1956.

Graphic novel (68 pages).

Online at Comic Book Plus (HERE).

   "At least one important man doubted her guilt."

WHO would be better at avoiding apprehension than a magician? Rick Random of the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigation should have plenty of Frequent Flyer miles accumulated (or, more likely, a government travel voucher) if he intends to track down an eel as slippery as Grink Slok. Slok is either the perpetrator of, or a material witness to, a murder on Mars, a murder that the court has already found and convicted someone else of doing. Was it "a simple case of murder, for jealousy and profit"? You have to ask?

Comment: THE BAD: Slow going lackluster plot with excessive repetition and an anticlimactic finale. THE GOOD: Superb pen and ink artwork. Let your eye find the nicely done small details.

Main characters:

~ Rick Random, John 'Cracker' Crandon, Marta Crandon, Dr. Marius Fisher, Dr. Dart Emery, Lee Chong, Dr. M'bwango, Charlie Big-Brain, Feleena Smark, Black Jack McLain, Klak Fronge, Grink Slok, Frongolla, W Vamvil, Baron Pellango, Fzhrtwm Plgdxb, Yonk V'ji-To, C't-Ree Phonphelphutphaphic, Dusty Rhodes, Prince Twirno, Count Bypanello, Sir Mee Mango, Goobal Mash, and Wila-Wog-Wenu.

Typos: "CONSTELLATION Scorpio" (should be Scorpius); "lense".

References (all links are to Wikipedia).

(NOTE: Astronomical data have changed considerably in the last 70 years.)

- "the Great Canal on Mars" (HERE)

- "a trip to Deneb IV" (HERE)

- "Alpha Centauri III" (HERE)

- "Sirius II and III" (HERE)

- "the asteroid belt" (HERE)

- "Mars" (HERE)

- "Jupiter" (HERE)

- "the Procyon System" (HERE)

- "clearance to hyper-space" (HERE)

- "the space-time continuum" (HERE)

- "the size of a half-crown" (HERE)

- "Antares IV and XXI" (HERE)

- "Pleiades X" (HERE)

- "Spica XV" (HERE)

- "the Hercules Constellation" (HERE)

- "Arcturus VIII" (HERE)

- "Regulus II and VI" (HERE)

- "Pollux V" (HERE).

Resources:

- Space sleuth Rick Random's previous adventures include "Crime Rides the Spaceways" (HERE) and "Mystery in the Milky Way" (HERE).

The bottom line:

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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