Mickey Finn (comics)

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Mickey Finn was an American comic strip created by cartoonist Frank E. "Lank" Leonard, which was syndicated to newspapers from 1936 to 1976.

1 Premise
2 Other media
3 Quotes
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Premise

A lightheared dramatic serial, the hit strip centered on a likeable Irish-American police officer, Michael Aloysius "Mickey" Finn, in suburban Port Chester, New York. While it, like other police strips, debuted in the wake of the blockbuster Dick Tracy, Mickey Finn was more analogous to the popular 1970s television program Barney Miller, focusing on humor and character rather than on action or mystery. Mickey lived with his doting Ma and his cigar-smoking, derby-wearing, blarney-spieling Uncle Phil, who became a breakout character.

As Don Markstein's Toonpedia describes [1]: "Mickey patrolled a quiet neighborhood beat, where a big crime confrontation might involve foiling a penny-ante burglar. He joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, and eventually rose to the rank of Detective — but during most of the strip's run, Mickey sauntered about in a police uniform, just a big, friendly guy, there to help out."

Distributed by the McNaught Syndicate, the daily strip debuted Monday, April 6, 1936. The Sunday feature, eventually focusing on Uncle Phil, began six weeks later. Leonard was assisted by Tony DiPreta from either 1945-1955 or 1949-1959; sources differ. Sources differ as well on the strip's creative succession; some list comic book artist Mart Bailey as continuing it after Leonard retired in 1968, though under Leonard's byline.

Morris Weiss, Leonard's assistant from 1936-1943 and again from 1960 on, took over in 1971, following Leonard's death in August 1970. Weiss continued through the final Sunday strip on December 21, 1975, and the daily strip's finale on July 31, 1976.

Other assistants in the 1940s were Ray McGill, John Vita, Allie Vita, and Larry Tullapano.

[edit] Other media

Feature Funnies #7 (April 1938). Art by Lank Leonard.

Lank Leonard's Mickey Finn strip was reprinted in color in the first American comic book series, Eastern Color's Famous Funnies, starting with issue #28 (Nov. 1936). Famous Funnies also reprinted Leonard's Nippie: He's Often Wrong, which appeared as the Sunday page's "topper" (an additional, ancillary strip). Mickey Finn appeared in most issues through #35 (June 1937). The strip then appeared in every issue of Quality Comics' Feature Funnies (retitled Feature Comics with issue #21) from #1-113 (Oct. 1937 - Aug. 1947). Concurrently for a few months, Mickey Finn also ran in Columbia Comic Corporation's Big Shot #74-104 (Feb. 1947 - Aug. 1949).

The strip was additionally reprinted in its own comic-book series, Eastern Color's Mickey Finn #1-4 (no cover dates; released 1941-1942), which continued as Columbia's Mickey Finn #5-15 (no cover dates; released c. 1943-1949). The strip's final comic-book reprints were Headline Comics' Mickey Finn Vol. 3, #1-2, in 1952.

In the modern day, Golden Years Publications reprinted the Mickey Finn strips from Big Shot #82 (Oct. 1947) in All-Amazing Comics #16 (Dec. 2001)

Additionally, an adaptation of the comic strip was published as Little Big Book: Mickey Finn by Lank Leonard in 1940. Unrelated to Western Publishing's Big Little Books, this was one of a series by the Saalfield Publishing Company of Akron, Ohio.

[edit] Quotes

Morris Weiss in The Palm Beach Post [2]: "'Sparky' Schulz [Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts] once told me that Mickey Finn was his dad's favorite comic strip. Compliments like that you don't hear every day".