Al McWilliams - Dateline Danger - 25MAY1970

Digging those fashions of the early 70's that still had the holdover hippie style!  I like that the strip is anchored by the center panel with the dark cop uniform to pull our focus.  Even a stroll down a street looks so interesting with McWilliams' art. 

Nice insight. The first and third panels show the pair as background figures, helping the reader get a sense for the setting. But the center panel, as you point out, puts the pair upfront and center, so we have no doubt about which characters are the drivers of the scene.

Getting into comic strip art is a great thing to do. There were so many  good artists  workng this rigid form and stillcreating amazing things. 

Thanks, David. Getting my hands and eyes on these two pages in person has been a revelatory experience. I never paid much attention to comic strip art before, but it is definitely in my plans going forward.

I've already picked up a few more dailies from this series. And I got a page from another series.

I'm trying to stay focused and not just go out trying to get pages for the sake of getting more comic strip pages. It's difficult because I do want to see more of these in person.

Geez, how did I deprive myself for so long of this department of original art collecting?

Nice dailies.  McWilliams is the poster child for underated artists.  His name and style were to similar to Al Williamson and he never worked on any bigger popular comics so he never got the recognition he deserved.  There is a real skill in making a character black in the pen and ink form, a real understanding of art and human form.  Dateline Danger was a progressive strip with a black hero and some great adventures.  It was an important milestone in comic strips.  

From looking at the dozen or so pages (dailies and Sundays) I have, I've become a big fan of McWilliams. He's definitely deserving of greater recognition. It's too bad he didn't do more work in high-profile comic books.