Considering the sheer volume of American comic books featuring either boy detectives or boys playing detective it’s more than a little surprising that there’s actually been only one titled Boy Detective. It’s another short-run, mid-50′s series from the publisher Avon that offered solid covers, mainly mediocre contents and occasionally some high octane wish fulfillment. Its the story of young Dan Taylor, orphaned when his policeman father is killed in the line of duty who becomes “the mascot of the homicide bureau” and an apprentice criminologist. Not so much out of a burning desire to bring his father’s murderer to justice or avenge himself against all criminals, but just because it’s just so cool. He was then allowed to operate as more or less an honest to gosh policeman and given permission by the adult world to get in all kinds of life threatening, but cool, situations.

Boy Detective ran four issues between 1951 and 1952 and was produced by person or persons unknown. Due disclosure compels me to reveal that this is a symbolic cover, and no such scene appears in the comic, which is a damn shame if you ask me.

There’s some fairly odd fillers in this issue, like this two page “comedy” featuring a stereotyped Asian detective named Foo Shampoo (ha-ha). Frankly, 1951 is a little late for this sort of thing — it wasn’t of course that American had been enlightened, or anything, but by this point most cartoonists and editors had gotten the message that this sort of material was more trouble than it was worth.

And finally there’s Rusty and Dusty, the adventures of a pair of upstanding All-American boys who, being the sons of a judge, decide to give some crooks the what for when they make the mistake of knocking at their door. They redeem a juvenile delinquent (who looks and acts more like one of the Dead End Kids) thanks to the power of chocolate cake, which as we all know from our reading all kids in the Golden Age constantly and obsessively craved. And the story ends with Rusty (or is it Dusty?) delivering a line that would be equally at home on an episode of The Venture Bros.; “Just shows what a couple’a good guys an’ a real family can do fer a kid!”