Born on this day: comic book and film artist Tony Salmons: artist on G.I. Joe, Savage Sword of Conan, Marvel Fanfare and much much more, plus animation illustration work for Batman: The Animated Series and Æon Flux!And he's co-creator of Dakota North!
from Heartthrobs (1999 series) #2 (DC/Vertigo, February 1999)
Happy birthday, Tony! Hope you have a great day and that I can someday find more instances of actual you appearing within a comic book! in the meantime, let's look at your great Dakota North pin-up promo!
...but rather Dakota North, P.I. Before Sunny Randall, before Jessica Jones, and thankfully before Anita Blake, Dakota was the Marvel universe's answer to Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and Jake and the Fat Man, although Ms. North definitely looks better in her underwear than any of those guys. (Especially William Conrad). See?:
Dakota North paper doll from Marvel Age Annual #2 (1986), script by Martha Thomases, art by Tony Salmons
Click image to North Dakota-size
All you need for some jet-setting, fashion-world private investigator action and thrills is a color printer, a piece of cardboard, some glue and scissors! And I think you can figure out the rest from there. Make sure you cut out every weapon! Then, you can draw and create your own costumes for the delightful Ms. North! Put her in that J. Lo dress! Or the swan gown made famous by Iceland's Bjork! How about dressing her up as the Fantastic Four's Susan Storm? Or Kill Bill's banana-hued Beatrix Kiddo? Or how about Lara Croft, Tomb Raider? Or...well, maybe that's best left to the privacy of your own home.
Wondering just who the heck Dakota North is? Well, although she's appeared in recent issues of Daredevil as investigator for the Nelson & Murdock law firm, Dakota's been around in the Marvel Universe since the mid-eighties...that's longer than Gambit (And believe me, it seems like Gambit's been around for freakin' ever). If you can't hunt down her appearances, especially her long out-of-print eponymous miniseries, take the cheat-sheet approach by studying her Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entry (conveniently alpha-located right between Night Shift and Numinus. Now that they're all such big stars in the Marvel Universe, isn't it fun to see how they got their start?).
From The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #5 (October 1989), text written by Peter Sanderson, pencils by Marc McLauren, inks by Josef Rubinstein, colors by Andy Yanchus
And now you know (in the words of the late great Paul Harvey) the rest of the Dakota North story. And even tho' she's a DD supporting character, I've always had a great fondness for Ms. North, and wouldn't mind seeing her return in an all-new miniseries. Which might get so popular it could get turned into an ongoing series. Which might spawn a regular Dakota North comeback craze. And then you know what that means:
I'm back from the frozen lands of Central New York where I attended the surprise birthday party of John's sister Lorrie (Happy Birfday, Aunt Lorrie!) and got stuck there Sunday night when our flight was cancelled. So, I've returned to Brooklyn a day later and a tote bag full of snowballs richer, which means Wodehouse tomorrow to let me catch up. Tonight? Why not feast your eyes on some wild and wacky Marvel Comics 1980s house ads? Well, why doncha?
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