Monday, January 6, 2014

Manic Monday Bonus--Burke's Law!!

So there was this cop show in the early 1960s:

Burke's Law!!!

We start, as always--with MURDER!!

Yes, that is indeed early Gene Colan art!!

The premise of our series? Amos Burke is a homicide captain...who also happens to be a millionaire. Yeah, I know, but look:



Oh, yeah, he had this habit of spouting stupid pithy aphorisms, and declaring them "Burke's Law!!" Here are some actual samples from the show. Trust me, we'll see more of this.

Every show, he went to the crime scene in his chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce...no, really:

So, if he's a millionaire, why does he work as a cop? You're not alone in asking...

Oh, did we mention his propensity for spouting "Burke's Law" after every nugget of wisdom?

"Burke's Law"!!!
"Burke's Law"!!!

"Burke's Law"!!!

"Burke's Law"!!!

I swear to Odin, I would have slapped the guy.

I'm told the show was sort of campy, although there's some debate over whether it was deliberately so.

The third season was 1965, the magic year of U.N.C.L.E.-mania, so the show shifted premise, and instead of a cop, Burke was now a secret agent (who still traveled everywhere in his Rolls Royce). Cancellation soon followed. Sadly, there are no Dell comics covering that season...

Surprisingly enough, the show was revived in the mid-1990s by Aaron Spelling, with Burke now assisted by his son. If you care to, you can watch the opening, and the big Murder She Wrote-style "here's who did it" scene, from one of the revival episodes...and of course, there's a patented "Burke's Law." GRRRR....

There was never a comic book for the new series...but at least we have the Gene Colan artwork from the 1st issue of the old series...



 From Burke's Law #1 (1964)

1 comment:

Britt Reid said...

The third (and final) issue featured a plotline involving old movie monsters coming to life and killing actors, with art by Frank McLaughlin, Dick Giordano, and Vince Colletta...
http://captainvideossecretsanctum.blogspot.com/2013/10/burkes-law-who-killed-hollywood-hopefuls.html
BTW, all three issues had different artists #2 was rendered by John Tartaglione and Vince Colletta.