The creator and writer of the Don Winslow of the Navy comic strip had predicted the Japanese aggression of the 1930s and 1940s, and notably Hawaii, 20 years before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
From the U. S. Naval Institute is a profile of comic strip writer Frank V. Martinek.
Featured in comics, novels, radio programs, and film serials, Don Winslow of the Navy attracted legions of fans throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The character was created by a former crime reporter, naval intelligence officer, and FBI agent named Frank V. Martinek…
The creative process that resulted in Don Winslow began when Martinek worked as a young crime reporter for the Chicago Record Herald. In addition to watching the newspaper’s cartoonists at work…
Following the U.S. entry into World War I, Martinek enlisted in the Navy and trained at Naval Station Great Lakes, becoming a chief petty officer after only three weeks. His superiors quickly realized his unique investigative skills could be put to better use. Awarded a commission and assigned to the Asiatic Fleet as an intelligence officer, Martinek began gathering and analyzing information from throughout the Pacific…
In 1921, Martinek left the Navy and immediately began writing a series of nationally syndicated columns about the looming threat of Japanese militarism.
Mark Carlson-Ghost covers the Don Winslow of the Navy comic strip.