Hollywood Halloween / Captain's Library BURKE'S LAW "Who Killed the Hollywood Hopefuls? The Fatal Attempt"

Before we begin, a brief primer on Hollywood makeup techniques...

...as they were in the 1960s, courtesy of writer Paul S Newman (again...not the actor) and artists Frank McLaughlin & Vince Colletta from the inside back cover of Burke's Law #3!

That's why it's b/w instead of color!

Now, with that out of the way, let's continue...

We Have Already Seen...

...several Hollywood actors killed by what appeared to be classic movie monsters come to horrifying life!

Captain of Detectives Amos Burke and his aides traced the creatures back to Gerald Grant, the now-retired actor who first portrayed all of them, and discover their primary suspect has an unbreakable alibi...

Written by Paul S Newman (for the final time...NOT the actor!) and illustrated by penciler Frank McLaughlin along with inkers Dick Giordano, Sal Trapani, and Vince Colletta, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Burke's Law #3 (1965) followed the format of the TV show pretty closely, including the title character's continual reference to non-existent "Burke's Laws" to cryptically-explain his deductions.

Happy Halloween!

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Hollywood Halloween / Captain's Library BURKE'S LAW "Who Killed the Hollywood Hopefuls?: Third Victim"

When Last We Left Our Millionare Crime Solver...

Movie actors are being killed by...something...resembling famous cinematic monsters.

Los Angeles Captain of Detectives Amos Burke and his aides follow a trail of clues leading to the film studio that made the movies the creatures originally appeared in....

Well, this looks like another dead end...or is it?

You'll discover the astounding answer tomorrow as the story concludes on

Halloween!

Writer Paul S Newman (again, not the actor) and artists Frank McLaughlin (penciler) along with Dick Giordano, Sal Trapani & Vince Colletta (inkers) will keep you guessing as they finish this tale from Dell's Burke's Law #3 (1965).

Burke's Law (1963-1966) was produced by Aaron Spelling, who later did such genre series as Charlie's Angels, TJ Hooker, Matt Houston, Hart to Hart, Starsky and Hutch, The Rookies, SWAT, Mod Squad, and Honey West (a spinoff from Burke's Law we've featured HERE.)

While it was a cop show, the plot was often secondary to the parade of high-profile guest stars playing victims and suspects, making it "CSI meets Love Boat".

Classic movie stars like Buster Keaton, Don Ameche, Basil Rathbone, Dorothy Lamour, and Broderick Crawford joined up-and-comers like William Shatner, Barbara Eden, Tab Hunter, Annette Funicello, and Telly Savalas as the weirdest grouping of West Coast eccentrics outside of San Diego ComicCon!

As you can see, translating it to the comic page proved difficult, since the editors felt the guest star aspect couldn't be carried out in a licensed comic.

Trivia: Every episode's title was "Who Killed (Insert Noun)?", much as Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s titles were "The (Insert Noun) Affair" and Wild, Wild West's episodes all had a "Night of the (Insert Noun)" title...even if they took place in broad daylight!

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Hollywood Halloween / Captain's Library BURKE'S LAW "Who Killed the Hollywood Hopefuls?"

A TV series set in Los Angeles is bound to do stories about the entertainment industry...

...and, if it's a crime-oriented show, probably about the kind of evil that could only happen in a business that makes the unreal extremely real...

Captain Burke will clue us in

TOMORROW!

Written by Paul S Newman (No, not the actor) and illustrated by penciler Frank McLaughlin and inkers Dick Giordano, Sal Trapani, and Vince Colletta, this book-length adventure from Dell's Burke's Law #3 (1965) followed the format of the tv show pretty closely, down to the use of "Who Killed..." in the title that the show used for every episode's title.

While the show itself did several episodes about murders within the TV/movie industry, none of them contained sci-fi/fantasy/horror elements.

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Captain's Library PLANET OF THE APES "From Out of the Sky!"

We End Our TV Planet of the Apes Stories (for now)...

...with this tale of potential rescue by a familiar face (familiar to the characters...and the artist)!

Why is it someone always dies when these ships land anywhere?

Lieutenant Maryanne Stewart dies in hybernation in the original Planet of the Apes.

Colonel Donovan"Skipper" Maddox dies when he and John Brent crash in Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

Astronaut "Jonesy" dies when Virdon and Burke crash in the premiere episode of the TV series!
Oddly, all three "ape-anauts" survive traveling back in time and space to 1973 Earth in Escape from the Planet of the Apes!
Trivia: the astronauts and Galen use rifles extensively in these strips, though they only handled them once or twice on the actual show, never actually firing them!
Illustrated (and likely written) by John (V for Vendetta) Bolton (who used his wife as the model for Verina), this was the final comic strip in the final (1977) Planet of the Apes Annual.

A fitting, open-ended, send-off!

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