
About this work
This pair of original Sunday boards from Dateline: Danger! captures the strip at full cinematic scale, with Al McWilliams’ ink over graphite storytelling stretched across large Bristol boards that each measure 20.25" × 13.75" in image area. In these pages, undercover reporter and secret agent Danny Raven studies a tagged bomb in his cell, cracks wise with his partner, and then takes charge in the laboratory as tensions rise, underscoring his role as the narrative engine of the series. Created with writer John Saunders and syndicated by Publishers‑Hall/Field Enterprises, Dateline: Danger! is widely recognized as the first mainstream newspaper comic strip to feature an African‑American lead character, with Danny Raven’s co‑star status marking a breakthrough in representation within daily and Sunday adventure comics. The strip’s premise—two intelligence agents working undercover as reporters in a globe‑spanning thriller inspired by I Spy—situates these pages within a broader late‑1960s/early‑1970s media landscape where espionage and race were increasingly intertwined themes. Light toning, stat logo paste‑ups (one showing discoloration), pinholes, and handling wear visible on the boards speak to their function as working production art, while their survival as a matched, narrative pair offers rare, contiguous insight into how McWilliams staged action, emotion, and social tension in a mainstream strip that quietly reshaped who could lead an adventure on the comics page. Within The Askia Jones Collection, these boards sit at the heart of your comics and representation narrative, providing high‑impact, original evidence of a pivotal moment when Black characters began to occupy central, ongoing roles in syndicated newspaper storytelling.