Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: alex toth, Robert Kanigher

Rex the Wonder Dog's First Appearance and Origin, Up for Auction

Bob Kanigher and Alex Toth's Rex the Wonder Dog debuted in his own series in 1952, with the title lasting 45 issues 1952-1959.

In 1952, Bob Kanigher and Alex Toth, the team who had created Streak the Wonder Dog in Green Lantern #30, rebooted their comic book pup for the post-superhero era into a white-furred former military K-9 Corps German Shepherd named Rex the Wonder Dog. The dog character debuted in his own series, Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog, with issue #1 simply explaining that Rex had been "overseas," had been awarded a medal for bravery, and had been trained to help people in trouble.  There's an affordable copy of Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #1 (DC, 1952) Condition: Apparent FR and several other issues of the series up for auction in this week's 2024 April 28-30 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122418 from Heritage Auctions.

The series itself had little issue-to-issue continuity and was largely just a framework for putting Rex through his paces in a wide range of adventures, even shifting to a war-focused title for a few issues. Most accounts of Rex's historical backstory note that he's a rebooted version of Streak and also point out the similarity to a dog star of the film era of the 1920s.  In total, this earlier movie dog star Rex appeared in about 28 films 1923-1930, and went on to become a performer in circuses, county fairs, and the like.  When this Rex died in 1946, it was noted in newspapers across the country. Since "Rex" was a very popular name for dogs for many decades, and there's been more than one famous dog star named Rex besides that, the history of Rex the Wonder Dog has largely been left at that.

But then Rex's history was rebooted entirely, with the introduction of a real-life DC Comics-connected version.  A small group of newspaper accounts in 1958 put a spotlight on a 'new' Rex the Wonder Dog.  Some of these accounts claim that it was this Rex that actually inspired the DC Comics series.  What's more, in addition to film and tv work, the new Rex the Wonder Dog actually appeared with Superman on some sort of traveling show tour which involved George Reeves as Superman — the star of the Adventures of Superman television series — and actor/stuntman Gene LaBelle, playing a character called "Mr. Kryptonite".  The connection between this Rex and the comic book version seems to have been confirmed in a 1985 Gannett News Service syndicated story on the 50th Anniversary of DC Comics. The widely-seen piece notes that DC turned to comics featuring celebrities in the 1950s, including "Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Rex the Wonder Dog and Hopalong Cassidy."

A deep-dive piece on Rex in the January 29, 1958 issue of the Ithaca Journal  (Ithaca, New York) headlined "Courageous Dog Outwits Reds, Reaches America" goes all-in on what seems to be the hero dog's dramatic real-life story.  When the Hungarian Revolution broke out in late 1956, Rex helped 25 Hungarians evade Russian patrols as they all made their way to freedom. Rex, four years old in 1958, had recently made his way to America from his birth home in Hungary:

The crossing was made at night with Rex in the lead. Once on the Austrian side of the border, the refugees lighted their flashlights — only to draw gunfire from the Communists they had outwitted.

Shortly afterward, two men approached Bihari (Rex's owner) and urged him to bring Rex back into Hungary to lead another party to safety. But their poor Hungarian speech and their manner did not ring true. Bihari, suspecting them of being Communist agents, turned down the opportunity for Rex to become a dubious hero.

Although it had been considered dangerous to bring a dog on such a venture, Bihari learned that groups of refugees on either side of them had been discovered, captured, and shot. Without Rex, Bihari feels, there would be no story to tell, no promising career in the United States.

The details here very broadly track with the simple comic book origin of Rex from Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #1 in 1952.  However, the Ithaca Journal story also contradicts the notion that this Rex inspired the comic book, since it launched in 1952, and Rex didn't arrive in the U.S. until 1957.  Further, the "original" Rex passed away in 1946, so it's unlikely that he would've been part of a 1950s DC Comics push for celebrity or tv/film property-related comic books.  It's possible that Rex's backstory was connected to Superman and DC Comics for its Cold War-era anti-Communist media message value.

Despite the arrival of the new Rex to America and a wide range of media and local event performances, The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog series ended in 1959. But the character remains one of comic book history's most beloved comic book dogs to this day, and there's an affordable copy of Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #1 (DC, 1952) Condition: Apparent FR and several other issues of the series up for auction in this week's 2024 April 28-30 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122418 from Heritage Auctions.

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