Dakota North 1 (Jun. 1986)

I found this issue (along with Dakota North 2) on a massive comic book rack in the magazine section of a Cheboygan, MI, grocery store while on summer vacation in the summer of '86. I convinced my dad to buy both of them for me using a tactic I like to call "twelve-year-old businessman." I suggested that, because they were the first two issues of a series, they would someday be worth a lot of money. Thus, a sound investment!¹ I don't think my dad necessarily believed this, he was just happy to buy me a couple of comics.

Needless to say, these two comics are not worth a lot of money thirty years later. In fact, I doubt I could get even double their 75¢ cover price. (Having sat in a wire rack in a grocery store for several weeks before I rescued them from oblivion, my copies are not in pristine shape.) The series did not sell well and was canceled after five issues. Much like my beloved Archie, I believe that Dakota North was intended primarily for a female audience. Although Dakota is a private investigator in tight leather pants, and her adventures (to say nothing of her enemies) had a distinctly '80s-action-movie vibe, the series nonetheless featured significant romance and fashion elements.²


Everybody loves Dakota!
I would guess that Dakota's cocreator and writer Martha Thomases might have planned on a slightly less gun-centric, more girl-friendly vibe than is present in the book that ultimately made it into print, but that's strictly conjecture. In any case (and to add even more conjecture to this posting), Dakota North would have had a steep uphill battle in trying to find enough female readers to make the series profitable. There are a lot more female readers of Marvel and DC comics now than there were thirty years ago (and the bar for a successful Marvel comic was a lot higher then than it is now).


Don't let his age or the wheelchair fool you; Dakota's dad is a badass.
Regardless, I still love the five issues that were published. Thomases' lighthearted, funny stories zip right along at a brisk pace. They don't always make complete sense, but they're enjoyable.


Dakota chases some kidnappers through a department store...on her motorcycle.
Dakota North's cast of goofy, memorable characters is the area in which Thomases' writing really shines. Dakota's assistant, the trigger-happy Mad Dog, is just like Rambo--if Rambo had been written by someone with a sense of humor.


Dakota with her one and only employee, the aptly nicknamed Mad Dog.
Then there's Ricky, Dakota's bratty younger brother who's forced by their father to move in with his big sis. He spends his free time getting on Dakota's nerves, barging in on her capers, and dating models.


Ricky, who wears sunglasses even when he's indoors and playing Galaga.
Of course, the story would be nothing without some dynamite illustrations to back it up, and Tony Salmons' delicately rendered artwork reminds me of the inestimable Alex Toth's. Salmons' line work perfectly compliments the book's tone, which shifts seamlessly from comedy to drama to romance, sometimes all on one page--if not all in a single panel. As far as I'm concerned, Marvel canceled Dakota North far too soon.


Dakota North = Modern Art
Fortunately, Dakota North (the character, that is) didn't disappear completely from the Marvel universe. She popped up again in a few random issues of other series in the late '80s and early '90s, and played a significant part in a long string of Daredevil issues written by Ed Brubaker in the mid- to late '00s. What she really needs, however, is another solo book. C'mon, Marvel: bring back Team Thomases and Salmons!

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Pointless Footnotes

¹ See this entry for one of my many real-world lessons in comics as investments.

² She had her own paper doll (albeit pretty tongue-in-cheek) in Marvel Age Annual 2, for goodness' sake!