Newspaper comic strips were like the MCU and The Fast and the Furious of the 1930s and the 1940s. They were hands down the most popular form of mass entertainment. Unlike average contemporary Hollywood tentpoles, they were also refreshingly patriotic. That was particularly true of some of the most successful continuity strips, like Steve Canyon and Buz Sawyer. It was also true of this strip, even though it was obscure in its day. Nevertheless, Bob Robertson & Pat Sammon’s Wade Cabot in the Middle East deserves a reappraisal and a new audience, especially on the date of its 5/11/1953 premiere.
Cabot was a legendary OSS agent, but he returned to the Middle East after the War to pursue his chosen career as an archaeologist. Given his elite background and education, perhaps Robertson and Sammon should have named him Wade Cabot Lodge. Regardless, he has square-jaw and will travel.
Indeed, Cabot is very Indiana Jones like. In the first of his three full story arcs, Cabot must prevent his nemesis, KGB Col. Baranov, from hijacking an excavation site that happens to hold rich uranium deposits. In addition, Baranov also hopes to plunder a rumored artifact that supposedly bestows great power. In all honestly, Wade Cabot has been so long-forgotten, it is unlikely it served as an inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark, but if you dig vintage Dr. Jones you will be utterly delighted with Cabot.
Unlike the last Indiana Jones movie, which made CIA officers the bad guys, Wade Cabot and the U.S. military and intelligent services are always fighting the good fight together. The villains are the Soviets and the various terrorist factions doing their bidding. Cabot prefers to act independently and with plausible deniability, but when his country calls, he always answers. That is especially true when his former commanding officer retired Gen. Max “Gunner” Crackin makes a request.
Similarly acting as a pseudo-free agent, Crackin hatches a plan to rescue Dr. Fieldstone, a leading expert in missile jamming technology, being held captive in an island prison-laboratory in the Caspian. Unbeknownst to Cabot and Crackin, the good doctor is a beautiful woman, with a gift for sarcasm, doing her best to annoy her KGB prison matron, Kruda.
The strip makes recurring jokes mocking the super-eligible Cabot for his romantic incompetence. However, he risks a lot to save Zia, a terrorist double-agent, who turns triple-agent under Cabot’s influence. The third story arc also notably features two oilmen, one from Texas and one from England, not as villains, but as Cabot’s primary allies. Honestly, this strip is like a breath of fresh air.
Next to nothing is known about the co-creators, who are assumed to be both co-writers and co-artists. That would track, because some strips feature lighter thinner lines, while others look heavier and darker. However, they clearly shared a compatible visual sensibility.
Sadly, Wade Cabot only lasted about nine months. Yet, Robertson and Sammon apparently had adequate notice of their impending cancelation, because they conclude the final storyline in a highly satisfying manner. Unlike Beyond Mars, it never feels like they were rushed to wrap things up.
As a result, Wade Cabot is an entirely satisfying read, except for the fact that readers will probably want more of it. Nevertheless, it was quite a geopolitically savvy strip. Arguably, it has aged little, since we still face similar global threats from Russia and China. Sadly though, we don’t have a lot of heroes like Cabot anymore—but we need them. Very highly recommended, the complete Wade Cabot is available in the Lulu bookstore.
