Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: golden age, Matt Baker, The Saint

Leslie Charteris and the Mystery of Avon's The Saint #4, at Auction

Avon Publications' Joseph Myers had been in the business of publishing paperback editions of Leslie Charteris's highly successful The Saint book series for years when he wrote Charteris about the idea of a comic book featuring the character in 1944.  While Myers, mindful of wartime paper regulations, pitched the title as a potential quarterly in 1944, it appears that Charteris preferred to wait until it could be published monthly.  But significant newsprint shortages continued after the war, perhaps accounting for the mid-1947 launch date of Avon's The Saint comic book a year and a half after wartime paper restrictions had ended. The title never did make it to the planned monthly release schedule.  That was just the beginning of what seems to have been a somewhat problematic production for the series, and that might help explain the mystery behind the cover of The Saint #4.  There's a copy of The Saint #4 (Avon, 1948) Condition: VG/FN up for auction in the 2022 August 11 The Matt Baker Showcase Auction #40190 at Heritage Auctions.

There's been a debate in recent years over who really drew the cover of The Saint #4.  While many have credited it to Matt Baker over the years, some experts have disagreed.  But while one can perhaps point to some stylistic reasons that argue that this might not be Baker work, there seems to be no other artistic candidate that is a better fit than Baker.  Of the artists with known cover credits for the series, none is a particularly good fit for this one.  In terms of the possibility of other artists of the period, Lee Ames as a candidate is not impossible, though Baker still seems a much better overall stylistic fit.  But there might be a reason why the cover artist for this piece is more difficult to identify than usual while accounting for the undeniably "Bakerish" aspects to the piece overall, as well as Baker's involvement.

Letters and other info in The Saint, A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television of Leslie Charteris' Robin Hood of Modern Crime, Simon Templar, 1928-1992 suggests that Charteris did not have approval over the finished comic books of this Avon series.  Putting the correspondence dates on a timeline implies that he was given proofs just as the issue was going to press, and he would provide feedback in regards to his preferences for future issues from these proofs.  It appears that Charteris gave detailed feedback on the dialog and artwork of each issue (plot synopses were provided farther in advance)  He may have approved individual artists or character styles based on samples. Comments from Charteris regarding the stature and glamour of the Saint and his female companions vs other characters seem to have been common in the early going.

By 1947, Charteris was also getting a The Saint comic strip underway with the New York Herald-Tribune, and his detailed feedback to artist Lew Schwartz regarding what seems to have been early samples or character designs for the strip led to a contentious exchange.  In response to a late-1947 missive from artist Schwartz (who was drawing Batman for DC Comics around this same time), Charteris responded (in part):

I'm sorry that you react so violently to criticism, but I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to the idea at least until you are generally accepted as the dean of comic strip artists. In fact, it may still go on after that, if I can judge from my own experience, since I still get plenty of criticism from many quarters.

It's rather silly of you to maintain that you will draw hands as you goddam please, because you won't.

Anyone with experience in producing licensed comic books will tell you that such contention between licensor and publisher is far from uncommon.  Both parties want to get it right and have specific but sometimes conflicting ideas on how that should be accomplished.  The reality of licensed comic books is that work sometimes has multiple hands involved, goes through multiple revisions, or that artists are sometimes compelled to stray from their usual style of drawing hands (or faces, or what have you).  Sometimes, a publisher is forced to cast a wide net to find a style that the licensor will like, and who better in 1947 as a potential candidate for having a glamourous, polished style than Matt Baker?  The cover of The Saint #4 is simple, focuses on the figures and has the earmarks of a pitch sample. It might have even been repurposed by the artist from a pre-existing unpublished piece. It may also be noteworthy that this cover would have appeared around the same time as Baker's earliest work for St. John, and thus might have been part of his bid to find work as he entered the post-Iger stage of his career.

Based on what's been established about Charteris's feedback, one can easily imagine him replying with something like "the woman's face should be more full" or "The Saint should be pointing a gun here rather than letting his arm hang down by his side", resulting in art revisions on the part of Avon.  That's just speculation, but the evidence suggests that Charteris was never satisfied with the cover art of The Saint comic book series.  Four of the final six covers used previously-approved painted artwork from Avon's The Saint paperbacks, with the other eight covers credited (some tentatively) to seven different artists.

Given the glimpse at the level of detail regarding the ongoing development suggested in The Saint, A Complete History, it seems likely that details about the circumstances of this cover exist in the Charteris archives, somewhere.  But for now, the circumstances and stylistic elements would seem to suggest that Baker's involvement in this cover is certainly possible, and perhaps more likely than not.  That's a long way from a smoking gun, but absent records, tentative attributions will continue to evolve over time.  In the meantime, it's a gorgeous and iconic cover from the late Golden Age era. There's a copy of The Saint #4 (Avon, 1948) Condition: VG/FN up for auction in the 2022 August 11 The Matt Baker Showcase Auction #40190 at Heritage Auctions. New to collecting Matt Baker or want to learn more?  Bleeding Cool is doing an ongoing deep dive into the history behind Matt Baker's comic book artwork in the run-up to this auction. If you've never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.

The Saint #4 (Avon, 1948) Condition: VG/FN. "Good girl" cover by Matt Baker. Interior art by Al Hollingsworth. Overstreet notes this issue's lingerie panels. Overstreet 2022 VG 4.0 value = $142; FN 6.0 value = $213.

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