One of the oldest comic strip heroes ever, predating even the Man of Steel, SALLY THE SLEUTH first popped up in the November 1934 issue of Culture Publication’s Spicy Detective pulp mag, in a steamy little two-page comic back-up feature, nestled in there amongst all the other steamy little prose short stories and novellas of square-jawed, hard-boiled cops and private dicks, and trembling (and half-dressed) damsels in distress. Sally, of course, was often depicted less than half-dressed, though she wasn’t much for trembling. She was nobody’s bimbo. The basic scenario of most of her early adventures was pretty much set in concrete right in that debut. In two black and white pages (twelve panels in all), Sally, initially fully dressed in a business-like fashion, is dispatched by her private detective boss “The Chief” to investigate some nefarious criminal or another, often going undercover as a showgirl or some other role that required some rather suggestive attire and behaviour. Thanks to her sharp (and often miraculously intuitive) detective skills (and the fact that men often think with their dicks, and never suspect someone as attractive as Sally could ever pose a threat to them), she soon gets the goods on the culprit, only to have the tables turned on her, whereupon she finds herself at the mercy of the villain and his henchmen, in some state of undress (usually bra and panties), fearing for her life… or worse. Bondage and the threat of rape are common scenarios, and dungeons and whips show up with alarming frequency.
Appearance List Pulps: “A Narrow Escape” in Spicy Detective Stories (November 1934), followed by at least 33 more short comic strips in Spicy Detective Stories (December 1934 – June 1942). Comics: Crime Smashers #1-15, Crime Mysteries #7.
Description One of the oldest comic strip heroes ever, predating even the Man of Steel, SALLY THE SLEUTH first popped up in the November 1934 issue of Culture Publication’s Spicy Detective pulp mag, in a steamy little two-page comic back-up feature, nestled in there amongst all the other steamy little prose short stories and novellas of square-jawed, hard-boiled cops and private dicks, and trembling (and half-dressed) damsels in distress. Sally, of course, was often depicted less than half-dressed, though she wasn’t much for trembling. She was nobody’s bimbo. The basic scenario of most of her early adventures was pretty much set in concrete right in that debut. In two black and white pages (twelve panels in all), Sally, initially fully dressed in a business-like fashion, is dispatched by her private detective boss “The Chief” to investigate some nefarious criminal or another, often going undercover as a showgirl or some other role that required some rather suggestive attire and behaviour. Thanks to her sharp (and often miraculously intuitive) detective skills (and the fact that men often think with their dicks, and never suspect someone as attractive as Sally could ever pose a threat to them), she soon gets the goods on the culprit, only to have the tables turned on her, whereupon she finds herself at the mercy of the villain and his henchmen, in some state of undress (usually bra and panties), fearing for her life… or worse. Bondage and the threat of rape are common scenarios, and dungeons and whips show up with alarming frequency.
