Ausreprints

...covering Australian comics

Possible AusOriginal by James Zee

If it's Hervey, might be Aussie…

One Will Too Many [nn] ([December 1955?])
One Will Too Many [nn] ([December 1955?])

Despite Mick Stone's disclaimer of "likely omissions", it's rare to find a comic by Australian creators missing from his checklist of Australian comics.1

One possible addition to the index is One Will Too Many [nn] ([December 1955?]), a mystery one-shot comic without creator credits. The title story, which takes up the entire issue, is not reprinted from a typical US source.

One clue to its origins is the cover text, "Police adventure from Mike Hervey's casebook".

page 1
page 1

This does not refer to a character in the story (as might be implied by "Dick Tracy's casebook"), but to the prolific author of short 'who-dunnit' stories, Michael Hervey.

Michael Hervey (1915-1979)2 was an established English author who migrated to Australia, arriving in February 1952 and settling in Sydney.3 At the time, he had worked as an author for ten years producing "1,600 short stories, 62 novels, 23 plays, and about 230 non-fiction articles."4 Over his lifetime he is claimed to have pounded out over 3,500 short stories and his work was known to Australians from books, magazines, newspapers and radio. He edited the Sydney Examiner5 and received a British Empire Medal (B.E.M.) in 1970 for services to journalism.6

His publishers routinely used the tag-line "If you're nervey, don't read Hervey", reflecting his inclination to crime, mystery and supernatural themes.

This Migrant's Mind Dwells on Murder
This Migrant's Mind Dwells on Murder: The Argus (Melbourne, Vic: 1848-1957), 19 February 1952.

Depending on when this undated comic was published, the cover blurb could be a cross-promotion for the pulp Mike Hervey Detective Monthly Magazine, also published by Transport Publishing (Horwitz) in 1952 and 1953. That series is edited by Hervey and composed entirely of stories written by him, including new and reprint work.

Although it is tempting to conclude Hervey wrote "One Will too Many", it isn't certain. He has no other identified comic scripts. His other comics-related credit is text stories in the Australian boys' paper The Silver Jacket.7

While the story's artwork has the general mood of early Australian comics—Frank Johnson Publications and the Offset Printing Company come to mind—I can't identify a specific artist. Royce Bradford [Brad] (b. ?), who did some work for Horwitz, is a possibility; however, the style is too loose for other artists known to work for Horwitz in the 1950s, such as Maurice Bramley (b. 1910), John Dixon (b. 1929), John L. Curtis (b. 1970) and C.E. Drury (b. ?).

page 15
page 15

Given a report that Hervey was also a commercial artist,8 there is a slight possibility this entire comic is his work.

While this looks like an Australian original comic, it might be reprinted from overseas, possibly a UK source given Michael Hervey's origins. It is also possible this is a generic crime story adapted by Horwitz to profit from Mike Hervey's popularity at the time.9

I'd love to hear from anyone who has ideas on this story's source, artist or writer.

References

1
"Australian Comics 1900-1960: A Checklist" in Annette Shiell, editor (1998), Bonzer: Australian comics 1900s–1990s, Elgua Media, Redhill South Victoria.
2
Michael Hervey was born Mark Hockman and was also known as Mark Hoffman. He changed his name by deed poll to Michael Hervey on 8 August 1942 (executed 23 January 1946). Born in 1915, he claimed various birth dates and is often reported as born 11 October 1920. The London Gazette 1 February 1946, p. 781 (www.london-gazette.co.uk accessed March 2014). See also www.sf-encyclopedia.com accessed 9 March 2014).
3
It is often reported that Hervey settled in Australia in 1951, although the contemporary newspaper reports listed here clearly show he arrived February 1952—although that means his ship left England in 1951.
4
"This Migrant's Mind Dwells on Murder", The Argus (Melbourne, Vic: 1848-1957), 19 February 1952, p.7, viewed 7 March 2014, nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23163748.
5
Basic biographical information is from www.austlit.edu.au, viewed 7 March 2014. AustLit reports that The Guinness Book of Records acknowledged Hervey as the world's most prolific short story writer, with over 3500 short stories. Hervey's work had been published in Australia prior to immigrating in 1952 and his arrival was reported in newspapers across the country. Upon his arrival in Sydney, the Sydney Morning Herald reported "Twenty-thousand words a week, sport and various social activities are not enough to occupy Hervey's waking hours. Until he came here, he was running an amateur repertory company, writing film and dramatic criticisms, helping the editing of the Bromley News, editing "Books," occasionally acting in plays and films, giving broadcasts on the B.BC., reading hs own ghost stories…. "Why did I come to Australia?" he asks. He answers that, since he was 17, he has had two ambitions—to travel and to write." 'Word Factory Comes To Sydney.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842-1954), 1 March 1952, p.9, viewed 8 March, 2014, nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18254349. A later November 1952 article suggests possible other reasons for Hervey's migration: "Britain is losing millions of dollars a year by forcing some of its successful authors to emigrate to excape crippling taxation…It is not only the high rate of taxation which has worried British writers. They complain also that the royalties a British author receives during the year of publication of a book are taxed for that year alon, even though the book may have taken five years to write. Even more iniquitious, they say, is the Treasury's practice to treating the outright sale of copyright not as a capital gain but as income… The Treasury interpretation on copyright sale is applied only to an author living in Britain. If a British author lives abroad the Treasury allows him to sell his copyrights and count them as capital gain…" The article refers explicitly to Hervey and to Nevil Shute, who migrated to Australia in 1949. 'Authors Walk Out.', The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW: 1949-1953), 30 November 1952, p.11, viewed 8 March, 2014, nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18517465.
6
'Commonwealth and States honours', The Canberra Times (ACT: 1926-1995), 13 June 1970, p.32, viewed 8 March, 2014, nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110326626.
7
John Ryan (1979), Panel by Panel, Cassell Australia, Stanmore NSW, p.203.
8
The entry for Michael Hervey in R. Reginald Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2 p.936 reports "Born October 11, 1920, at London, England. Settled in Australia, 1951. Married Lilyan Stella (a secretary), October 27, 19751. One son, Gordon Selwyn. Education: Attended Coopers Foundation College… Has been a commercial artist, ship's interpreter, Editor of Everybody's Publications, Drama Critic for the London Observer, editoral assistant for the secret publications department of the British War Office; author of 'Smoke Rings,' a syndicated column, 1953-DATE; free-lance author, 1943-DATE; Managing Director, Hampton Press, Henley, New South Wales; justice of the peace. Member: Australian Journalist Association; Institute of Journalists; Writers Guild." There is some indication that, before moving to Australia, Hervey was a director of The hampton Press, a company that continued to publish his work.
9
As an interesting side note, in October 1954, Michael Hervey ("author and publisher", of Crieff Street Ashbury) appeared in courtand was cleared of convictions for using defaced postage stamps. The judge concluded that Hervey should never have been convicted and that use of the stamps was purely an oversight. "If there had been any fradulent intent, Judge Holden said, Hervey would not have posted the letters, as 'Blind Freddie' could have seen that the stamps had already been used." Harvey argued that it was common practice for authors and business firms to reuse envelopes, and that he had forgotten to replace the stamps when he posted a bundle of letters on 15 March. See 'Author's Appeal Upheld', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842-1954), 19 October 1954, p.7, viewed 8 March, 2014, nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18447023; also 'Old Stamps Used in Oversight', The Canberra Times (ACT: 1926-1995), 19 October 1954, p.2, viewed 8 March, 2014, nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2917478.
Article status

Ausreprints ID

  • 45

Article details

  • By James Zee
  • 9 March 2014

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