Before Virgil Tibbs!
Before John Shaft!
Before Easy Rawlins!
There was..Ace Harlem...
...the first Black detective in any literary format to star in his own story!
To Be Continued...
Friday!Written and illustrated by Black creative John Terrell, this tale features a fashion phenomenon unique to the 1930s/40s...zoot suits!
There's a superb article about the trend
HERE that explains it far better than I could.
As to
Ace himself, publisher, Orrin C. Evans, wrote in his editorial...
Through Ace Harlem, we hope dramatically to point up the outstanding contributions of thousands of fearless, intelligent Negro police officers engaged in a constant fight against crime throughout the United States.
A second issue was written and illustrated, but, sadly, was never published, and no art for it has ever been seen by the public.
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