Turner Classic Movies is showing a few of the "I love a mystery" movies and I didn't even know that they made movies from the radio shows. Did the show ever make it into the comics? Does anyone know how many radio shows made into the comics?
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The Shadow and Captain Midnight made it into comics. I bet if you looked up some of those old spooky shows on the Grand Comics Database you'd probably find a few -- Inner Sanctum, maybe, or whatever the one was that opened with the squeaky door.
A Date With Judy (DC), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (DC; the GCD lists the title as Ozzie & Harriet), and Straight Arrow (ME).
A number of radio shows became early television shows. If the comic started after the TV show one might quibble over whether it counts as a spin-off of the radio show. An example is Gunsmoke, which got comics from Dell and Gold Key.
In the case of the Lone Ranger there's a further complication. Wikipedia tells me his newspaper strip started in 1938. This was reprinted in comics from an early stage, including in the early issues of Dell's The Lone Ranger. The page says the first issue of the Dell title with original stories was #38 from 1951, which is after the TV show started. The Green Hornet, in contrast, never got a comic strip and started appearing in comic books in 1940.
Wikipedia tells me Henry Aldrich, a teen character, first appeared in a play, then on radio, then simultaneously in films, then in comics and on TV. Although he became widely known through radio, since he first appeared in a play one might argue he shouldn't count.
A number of radio shows became early television shows. If the comic started after the TV show one might quibble over whether it counts as a spin-off of the radio show. An example is Gunsmoke.
I see that an earlier Gunsmoke comic started in 1949. It was a western title unrelated to the radio/TV series. According to GCD it sported covers (not necessarily interiors) by future EC artist Graham Ingels). Looking at Wikipedia I was surprised to learn that the radio and TV shows were aired at the same time. The radio version (starring William Conrad) started in 1952 and ran until 1961, while the TV version (starring James Arness, and apparently called Gun Law in the UK) ran from 1955 to 1975. I'm surprised that a radio drama stayed on so long. I thought they all stopped soon after TV became popular.
The Dell comic started in 1957 and has James Arness on the cover.
There was an overlap as radio stars moved to tv and some found that it didn't work. My Friend Irma didn't last too long and people like Walter Winchell found that their radio style didn't move to television at all. On the other hand the Jack Benny show did. Our Miss Brooks was a comic wasn't it?
There were Tarzan radio shows in the 30s and 50s: more information here. (According to this page on the 50s show there was also a Australian one that started in the mid-50s and ran "at least over 800" episodes.) One of the early Dell Tarzan stories, "Tarzan and the Fires of Tohr" from Four Color #161, was based on an unreleased (according to the first link) radio show.
The first of the 30s radio shows started in the second half of 1932. The first of the MGM films, Tarzan the Ape Man, came out earlier in the year. The radio show reportedly used a different version of the Tarzan yell.
The GCD doesn't list her as having gotten her own title, but she appeared in at least one issue of Four Color.My Friend Irma got a series from Marvel.
Charlie McCarthy got a series from Dell in 1949. He had earlier appeared in movies and shorts as well as on radio, and also in a comic strip (link via Wikipedia).
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The Shadow and Captain Midnight made it into comics. I bet if you looked up some of those old spooky shows on the Grand Comics Database you'd probably find a few -- Inner Sanctum, maybe, or whatever the one was that opened with the squeaky door.
The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet are famous examples.
Inner Sanctum was the door. The Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet were radio first?
A Date With Judy (DC), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (DC; the GCD lists the title as Ozzie & Harriet), and Straight Arrow (ME).
A number of radio shows became early television shows. If the comic started after the TV show one might quibble over whether it counts as a spin-off of the radio show. An example is Gunsmoke, which got comics from Dell and Gold Key.
In the case of the Lone Ranger there's a further complication. Wikipedia tells me his newspaper strip started in 1938. This was reprinted in comics from an early stage, including in the early issues of Dell's The Lone Ranger. The page says the first issue of the Dell title with original stories was #38 from 1951, which is after the TV show started. The Green Hornet, in contrast, never got a comic strip and started appearing in comic books in 1940.
Wikipedia tells me Henry Aldrich, a teen character, first appeared in a play, then on radio, then simultaneously in films, then in comics and on TV. Although he became widely known through radio, since he first appeared in a play one might argue he shouldn't count.
Luke Blanchard said:
A number of radio shows became early television shows. If the comic started after the TV show one might quibble over whether it counts as a spin-off of the radio show. An example is Gunsmoke.
I see that an earlier Gunsmoke comic started in 1949. It was a western title unrelated to the radio/TV series. According to GCD it sported covers (not necessarily interiors) by future EC artist Graham Ingels). Looking at Wikipedia I was surprised to learn that the radio and TV shows were aired at the same time. The radio version (starring William Conrad) started in 1952 and ran until 1961, while the TV version (starring James Arness, and apparently called Gun Law in the UK) ran from 1955 to 1975. I'm surprised that a radio drama stayed on so long. I thought they all stopped soon after TV became popular.
The Dell comic started in 1957 and has James Arness on the cover.
There was a long-running comic in the UK called Radio Fun.
Was Zorro ever a radio show? Or any of the ERB characters?
There was an overlap as radio stars moved to tv and some found that it didn't work. My Friend Irma didn't last too long and people like Walter Winchell found that their radio style didn't move to television at all. On the other hand the Jack Benny show did. Our Miss Brooks was a comic wasn't it?
There were Tarzan radio shows in the 30s and 50s: more information here. (According to this page on the 50s show there was also a Australian one that started in the mid-50s and ran "at least over 800" episodes.) One of the early Dell Tarzan stories, "Tarzan and the Fires of Tohr" from Four Color #161, was based on an unreleased (according to the first link) radio show.
The first of the 30s radio shows started in the second half of 1932. The first of the MGM films, Tarzan the Ape Man, came out earlier in the year. The radio show reportedly used a different version of the Tarzan yell.
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
The GCD doesn't list her as having gotten her own title, but she appeared in at least one issue of Four Color. My Friend Irma got a series from Marvel.
Charlie McCarthy got a series from Dell in 1949. He had earlier appeared in movies and shorts as well as on radio, and also in a comic strip (link via Wikipedia).
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