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As we approach his 70th Anniversary, as both the gang busting
Special Agent FBI and the astounding Human Rocket Crash Morgan has thrilled
generations of action aficionados throughout the world …
THE EARLY YEARS
 In 1931 comic strip writer and
artist Raymond Wheelwright (left), already famous for the swash-buckling
cartoon strip The Steel Rose (1925-1936) developed Crash Morgan,
Special Agent FBI as a daily comic strip for the Chicago Herald Sun
Times. The character, loosely based on the real life gangbuster Eliot Ness,
guarded the fictitious Metropolitan City from a tidal wave of illegal
booze, stolen firearms and, in a twist uniquely Wheelwright's own,
counterfeit pottery. One of the reasons for Crash's popularity lay in his
freakish and exotic Rogue's Gallery, among whose number could be found the
villainous dwarf Landers Foldenstaff, the beautiful yet deadly Venus Caress,
the devilish Judge Injury, the sultry and mysterious Contessa De
Durbervilles, the ravening Cajun Doc L'Orange and the diabolical Actor-turned-bootlegger
Eddie "the Bard" Malone, a character who survived the repeal of
Prohibition in 1933 partially due to his popularity but largely because
Wheelwright, a consumate alcoholic, had been too drunk to notice.
1933 also saw the
national syndication of the comic strip, as well as the involvement of EC
comics who reprinted the earlier strips before commissioning new material. At
a time which saw the messy and necessary divorce of his wife reflected in the
messy and unnecessary death of Crash's original sweetheart Candy Bernice, in
his deepening alcoholism Wheelwright's imaginings became more and more
fantastic, violent and misogynistic. Stories such as Terror of the Blood
Sucking Amazon Women of Hades and The Vampire Mummies of Eros
became commonplace, and sales began to fall.
In 1935 the comic strip
looked set for cancellation. Things were bleak for Crash.
THE RADIO DAYS
Salvation came in the form of Solly S. Saltzberg, a radio producer with a
sponsor and no show, and an old associate of Wheelwright's. Buying the rights
from Wheelwright for just $150 and a bottle of fine Kentucky Bourbon,
Saltzberg set about remoulding the material into a form worthy to bear the
legend "A Choccy Chunks Cereal Serial". Tragically, Wheelwright
soon after died of Cirrhosis of the entire body.
He immediately made
sweeping changes. Of Crash's original Gang Bangers, only kindly Police Chief
O'Flaherty, voiced in the series by Edward G. Robinson and the irascible physicist
Dr. Weinstein remained. Crash's sidekicks - among them Arapaho Joe, Billy
McGilhooey and the unfortunately named Li'l Coon (after the coon-skin hat he
habitually wore) - had had a tendency to die nobly as the story demanded or
simply if Wheelwright had grown bored with them. Crash's new sidekick Buddy
Brannigan brought an element of stability to the character of Crash, as did
the introduction of the scientist Professor Milton Fairweather and his lovely
daughter Glenn, intrepid reporter for the London English Evening Post and
Crash's new love interest.
On the
5th May 1935 the first Crash Morgan radio serial Crash Morgan and the
Cannibal Kitchen of Doc L'Orange was aired - and was an immediate
hit. It seemed if every kid in America was suddenly eating Choccy
Chunks cereal and wearing a Crash Morgan Special Decoder Ring.
It was not until the
show had been running for six months, however, that the Rocket Suit was
introduced and Crash Morgan - the Human Rocket was born!
THE
SILVER SCREEN BECKONS
The first Crash serial Crash Morgan and The Scourge of the Silk Claw
was first shown by Republic Pictures in 1937, starring Nick
"Handsome" Ransom, a five time medal winner in hurling who had
played the singing Cowboy Chuck Nupp in the serials Chuck Nupp On The
Trail and Chuck Nupp Vs. The Prairie Zombies. He was an ideal
choice to play Crash, an All American Hero. After all, you only had to hear
the name "Handsome" Ransom and you'd think of hurling or Chuck
Nupp.
 Kasper Von Kruger, a.k.a. The Silk
Claw was one of a new breed of villains developed especially for the screen,
cleverly anticipating the Nazis as enemies of America despite their fascistic
militarism, but it was not until 1939 that Crash ventured to Mars in the
classic Crash Morgan Versus The Spider Warlords of Mars (above) and
met his Moriarty - the villainous Spider Warlord Tang the Pitiless. Again and
again they clashed in Crash Morgan and the Conquest of the Spider Warlords
of Mars and Crash Morgan and the Curse of the Spider Warlords of Mars.
In 1941 America joined the Second World War and
Tang was temporarily eclipsed by the return of the Silk Claw as Crash's
primary nemesis. Meanwhile, off-screen, through endless personal appearances
Nick "Handsome" Ransom worked to raise morale and to raise money
for America's War Drive as tirelessly as only a cowardly
vain actor desperate to avoid the draft possibly can.
 In 1945 the war ended and Crash
returned in Crash Morgan and the Empire of Evil. The hiatus was over
and an America buoyant with Victory was keen to
once again embrace its favourite son. Morganmania swept America. Crash Morgan could be found on
mugs, lunch boxes, cereal boxes and transfer kits. Hundreds of thousands of
children swelled the ranks of Crash's fan club, The Junior Rocketeers of
America and another radio series was commissioned. At this golden time three
comics titles ran at once; Action Funnies Starring Crash Morgan (left),
Adventures of the Human Rocket and Tales of Crash Morgan, as
well as the short lived spin off title Crash Morgan's pal Buddy Brannigan.
On radio, in comics and in the movie theater, it seemed as though Crash were
invincible, until he faced the greatest challenge of them all - television!
THE TELEVISION YEARS
As television became more and more popular during the fifties the
cliff-hanger serials began to die, and, in 1953 Crash finally succumbed in
his final republic serial in Crash Morgan in the Twenty First Century.
Even the conversion of the Silk Claw into a freedom-hating KGB operative and
the addition of new characters like Rebel the Wonder Dog and the Glenn's
lascivious rivals-in-love Huanita De Tacos and her lovely sister Gladys was
not enough to bolster Crash's fading popularity. "Handsome"
Ransom's death undergoing experimental cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles in 1955 only helped to hasten
the character's decline in the public eye.
With the cancellation of
his radio show and both Adventures of the Human Rocket and Tales of
Crash Morgan, Crash Morgan survived briefly only as a backup strip in Action
Funnies, now starring Dirk McGuire, RedBuster, until that too was
finally cancelled in 1963.
 Salvation was to come again, in
the form of Myron J. Saltzberg, son of Solly S. Saltzberg and a former Junior
Rocketeer himself. He successfully brought Crash to the small screen in 1967,
as The Human Rocket and Buddy, a campy, high-energy show that eschewed
many of the serials original themes in a hip, post-modernist take on the
character. Adults loved it for the irony and kids loved it for the action and
the endless parade of stars lining up appear in Crash's Rogues Gallery. Only
the purists bemoaned the loss of the Mars stories, only touched upon in the
classic two-parter If Doom be thy Destination, which guest starred
Phil Silvers as Tang and Joan Collins as Arakne.
The series ran for five
seasons until 1972 and a total of 120 episodes were produced, all of which
have run in syndication almost constantly since and typecast the lead actor
Burt North as Crash for the rest of his career. Marvel comics opted to
resurrect Crash Morgan as a comic strip in 1969 in The Human Rocket and
the Power League USA (above) at the same time as the Crash Morgan and
Friends cartoon first aired a year later while the old Republic serials
were repeated again on Saturday mornings. Crash was back!
THE
BLOCKBUSTER
For years rumours of a Crash movie had spread through conventions and
fanzines, but it wasn't until 1983 that Michael Winner, director of
screen classics like The Cool Mikado and Parting Shots finally
brought Crash to the big screen in colour for the first time. Crash
Morgan: the Motion Picture (above) starred a young Sylvester Stallone as
Crash and Sir Ian McKellen (then just a humble Dame) as Tang, and with a
soundtrack by Rock legends Spinal Tap the film was an immediate and explosive
critical failure. The audiences, however, loved it for its high energy
approach, the retro-production design that faithfully recaptured the look of
the original comic strip and for Joanna Lumley's exotic and barely clothed
Arakne. In 1984 Crash Morgan: The Motion Picture won an Oscar for Most
Repetitive And Intrusive Use Of A Theme Song In A Motion Picture.
 A sequel was planned, but stalled
never to be re-started by a lawsuit by Burt North, who believed the role of
Crash should have been his by right and claimed that he had both a verbal and
implicit contract with Myron J. Saltzberg to that effect.
Crash's critical
standing was further increased in 1986 by the release of the comics
miniseries Crash Morgan: Inhuman Rocket, by acclaimed writer Alan
Moore. A dark and gritty deconstruction of the Mars mythos, Crash Morgan:
Inhuman Rocket was set thirty years into Crash's future and set on a
desolate Mars where Arakne and Crash had married and been forced to have Tang
live with them rather than place him into a home. Lauded by both critics and
people who knew how to enjoy themselves alike, the series redefined the role
of comics as a storytelling medium, the nature of the hero-figure in a
comics narrative and the meaning of the word "depressing". As a
result of the positive critical acclaim surrounding the series comics readers
began to believe that it was finally cool to be seen reading comics, not
taking into account the fact that it's only cool to be seen reading comics if
you're clearly not the sort of person who reads comics in the first place.
 1995 saw the Young Crash
Morgan cartoon series, in which Crash was re-invented as a floppy-haired,
flying-skateboard riding anti-authoritarian rebel. Poorly animated and
existing primarily to promote a range of toys, it too was an immediate
success but only notable for the use of the voices of Burt North as Professor
Fairweather and Mark Hamill as Mollusk.
CRASH
MORGAN TODAY
Crash Morgan is more
popular and recognisable now than he has ever been. In movies, on television,
in comics and on the radio he has become a popular cultural figure as
distinctive as Mickey Mouse, or Batman, or Dougal from The Magic
Roundabout. The mythos and characters have acquired depth and meaning
beyond their simple pulp roots, inspiring first a two-hour stage play in 2000
(see right), and then the complete condensed radio script live three years later.
Turn on the Dial!
Tune in the Radio!
Crash Morgan forever!
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