King of the Royal Mounted

"King of the Royal Mounted" is a fictional series featuring the character Dave King, created by Stephen Slesinger in 1936. Slesinger licensed popular Western writer Zane Grey's byline, and marketed the character as "Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted".

Corporal, and later Sergeant, Dave King is a Canadian Mountie who always gets his man. King has appeared in newspaper strips, comics, Big Little Books and other ancillary items.

Zane Grey's son Romer and Slesinger collaborated on many of the stories, and the artwork was produced by Allen Dean, Charles Flanders and Jim Gary in Slesinger's New York studio. A movie serial was produced in 1942.

Newspaper strip

"King of the Royal Mounted" started as a Sunday comic strip from King Features Syndicate on Sunday, February 17, 1935.Cite web|last=Don Markstein's Toonopedia|title=King of the Royal Mounted|url=http://www.toonopedia.com/king-rm.htm] The strip was initially drawn by the comics artist Allen Dean.Cite web|last=Lambiek Comiclopedia|title=Allen Dean|url=http://lambiek.net/artists/d/dean_allen.htm]

Allen Dean previously collaborated with Zane Grey on the original King of the Royal Mounted in 1935 but quit when Romer Grey/Slesinger later took over production. (as told to son Allen M Dean Jr, born 1942)

A daily version was added in March 1936, at which point the job as artist of the Sunday strip was passed on to Charles Flanders, who took over the daily strip as well in April 1938.Cite web|last=Lambiek Comiclopedia|title=Charles Flanders|url=http://lambiek.net/artists/f/flanders_c.htm] From 1939, Jim Gary became the artist of the strip, creating "King" until it ended in March 1955.Cite web|last=Lambiek Comiclopedia|title=Jim Gary|url=http://lambiek.net/artists/g/gary-jim.htm] In the end it was Jim Gary who became the artist most closely associated with the strip. In David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview #17, Nov. 1984, in an interview, Gaylord Du Bois states, "In 1939 I worked as a script writer on KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED, when Jim Gary was doing the art work."

Film

*"King of the Royal Mounted", 20th Century Fox, Sept. 11, 1936, Starred Robert Kent. The feature was re-titled "Romance of the Royal Mounted" when it was released on video.
*"King of the Royal Mounted", Republic, Sept. 20, 1940, 12-part serial, starred Allan "Rocky" Lane
*"The Yukon Patrol", Republic, April 30, 1942, Republic 12-part serial released as a feature again starring Allan "Rocky" Lane
*"King of the Mounties", Republic Oct. 17, 1942, 12-part serial, also starring Allan "Rocky" Lane

Big Little Books

*"King of the Royal Mounted", 1936 , Big Little Book GW138-1103
*"King of the Royal Mounted and the Northern Treasure", 1937, Big Little Book GW180-1179
*"King of the Royal Mounted Gets His Man", 1938, Big Little Book GW230-1452
*"King of the Royal Mounted and the Great Jewel Mystery", 1939, Better Little Book SW32-1486
*"King of the Royal Mounted and the Long Arm of the Law", 1942, Better Little Book SW119-1405

Comic Books

*Feature Book #1 (May 1937), published by David McKay Publications from 1937 through 1948
*King Comics (1937)
*Dell Comics' Famous Feature Stories (1938)
*Red Ryder (1940) strip reprints
*Between 1948 and 1952, he appeared in "Four Color Comics" (Dell's catch-all title) #207,265,283,310,340,363,384, all of these consisting of newspaper comic strip reprints, with Jim Gary cover art. Beginning in 1952, King appeared under his own numbering with "King of the Royal Mounted" #8 (June, 1952) through #28 (March, 1958). King's final Dell comic book issue was "Four Color" #935 (April, 1958). Dell's "King of the Royal Mounted" #8-19 were drawn in the Jim Gary style. All of the non-reprint issues were written by Gaylord Du Bois.

ee also

* Northern (Genre)

ources

* [http://www.erbzine.com/zanegrey/comics2.html "King of the Royal Mounted" comics list] ;Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.zgws.org/zgblbs.html King of the Royal Mounted Big Little Books]
* [http://www.mounted-police.00books.com RCMP North-West Mounted Police in Literature and History]