King Cole, Jr.

King Cole Jr., the son of a famous retired detective has followed in his foot steps and become a private investigator. Because of his well known antecedent he quickly gets dubbed Young King Cole.

A proponent of brains over brawn, Cole does not carry a gun (though he does know how to use them), and prefers to avoid violence if he can, however he is handy with his fists, knows a little judo, and has a habit of crashing though doors between himself and the solution to a mystery.

Not an especially brilliant detective, Cole however is dogged and eventually comes to the right conclusion.

His greatest asset is his secretary / Girl Friday Iris who has come to his aid with countless insights when he was lost for a solution.

The King is Gone, Don’t Look For Him to Return Any Time Soon

Coming at the time that the first phase of comic book superheroes were dieing off the most remarkable thing about Young King Cole is how simply pedestrian he is.

Drawn so that today he gives mind of a young thin Drew Carey, Cole was surprisingly (though moderately) successful running though 23 issues of his own magazine which he shared with Toni Gayle fashion model detective, Dr. Doom Professor of Criminology, Doctor Drew Zoo Detective (no really, “zoo detective” and a number of other forgotten gum shoes, okay… Toni Gayle wore high heels instead of gum shoes, but you know what I mean), 10 issues of Criminals On the Run, and an appearance here and their in other comics. Including a one issue reprint of some of his adventures in 1963 in a comic called Master Detectives.

The most unusual things about the young King Cole Jr. is that his creator based him in part on a character from the popular mass media of a generation twice removed from the comics of the 1940’s, that being Old Sleuth, and Young Sleuth, a father and son pair of detectives who’s adventures were popular from 1888 to 1918 in the Nickel Novels of the time.