May 1964: I Spy, You Spy, We All Spy

DC Comics found itself ahead of the superspy bandwagon without ever quite managing to hitch a ride on it.

I was attracted to Showcase 50 (May-June 1964) by its striking Carmine Infantino/Murphy Anderson cover, which showed a spotlighted, trench-coated secret agent firing an automatic as he parachuted down to a castle while gunfire just missed him.

The art inside was also by Infantino, but even at age 10 I could tell it somehow seemed just a little old-fashioned. Curious how an artistic style can evolve perceptibly in only a decade — or maybe it was just the clothing styles. Fedoras were forgotten by ’64.

The stories inside were from Danger Trail, a Cold War spy title that had lasted only five issues in 1950-51. I liked the hero’s name — King Faraday — even though by 1964, the obvious pun escaped me. 

Queen for a Day, a radio and TV game show, was still on the air, but about to be cancelled. Its heyday had passed.

For the first reprinted story, DC picked Spy Train, a Robert Kanigher-penned adventure set on the Orient Express. And why not? From Russia With Love had been a box office sensation only a year before. Goldfinger would blow off the roof that December.

Various superspy TV projects were already in the works, and The Man from UNCLE would premiere that September. I-Spy was what DC called its new version of Danger Trail, but even that name would be co-opted by a 1965 TV series.

Marvel and other companies would later launch successful comic book superspy spinoffs, but DC’s I-Spy died after only one more tryout issue. DC’s heroes — Superman, Batman, the Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and even Jimmy Olsen — would, however, go on to battle various SPECTRE-inspired baddies.

The irony is that back in 1963, DC had published a Showcase comic book adaptation of a new movie featuring some suspense novel character named “James Bond.”