"John Force---Magic Agent"

Over on "Johnny Bacardi's" 01/03/07 blog post he was talking about an old cartoon show produced in the early 1960's created by Batman creator, Bob Kane, called: "Cool McCool". This was a secret agent-type, and is well-remembered by many people our age (that is, "Johnny" & myself; dunt know about YOU), but...anyway...it got me to thinking about another spy-type character from that time.

It was in a comic book published by The American Comics Group (aka: ACG), called Magic Agent, and it starred a character called: "John Force" The title ran for three issues in 1962.

John Force's only "costume" as such was a trench coat (well...yeah! I mean, he DID wear OTHER clothes under it! Get yert mind outta the gutter, folks! *heh*), and he wore an eye-patch. This eye-patch-wearing spy/secret agent-type was created by writer Richard Hughes (who also created "Herbie"), and the art was by Paul Reinman (who many remember best from the various super-heroes he drew for MLJ/Archie back in the 1960's) and inked by Pete Costanza (who inked many of C. C. Beck's "Captain Marvels"), and he beat Marvel's own one-eyed secret agent, "Nick Fury", by a good three years.

John Force did have his own "secret weapon", which was a magic coin which he could touch and create illusions (among other mental/super-natural events, such as telepathy), plus he was an excellant hand-to-hand combatant.

(The idea of using magic coins for various powers, I might inject here, was used again in comics in the 1960's, this time by DC, who in issues of Captain Action (based on the action figure), the hero also used various magic-powered coins to obtain the powers of the gods.)

The idea of a super-natural type of character wearing a trench coat would be used by DC (again) a good twenty years later when John Constantine, the Hellblazer appeared (first in the pages of Swamp Thing, then later in his own title which still runs to this day).

The above cover illustration is from Magic Agent #1, the first app. of John Force (artwork by Kurt Schaffenberger). This character stayed around for about three years and appeared too in issues of Forbidden Worlds (#'s 124 & 125), Unknown Worlds (48,50,52,54 & 56), plus perhaps a few of those full page advertizements you occasionally saw running in various ACG titles. Not only did he appear before any of the other ACG super heroes-types (Herbie, excluded), but he also outlasted (appearance-wise) both "Magic Man" and "Nemesis".