Velda: Girl Detective - Volume 1

Book excerpt: My name is Velda Bellinghausen. I'm a private investigator. I used to be a showgirl at Slotnik's Follies, but I got pretty sick and tired of shedding my clothes twice a day, four times on weekends for matinees. So I followed up on an ad I saw on a matchbook cover and sent in my twenty bucks for the Hawkshaw Course on Detection. It was the best twenty bucks I ever spent, too! In no time at all, I had my license and was in business for myself! Now I’m called upon to investigate murders, burglaries, and all sorts of crimes occurring in the big city. Velda: Girl Detective - Volume 1 is a multi-leveled parody representation of not only the more lurid of the 1950s crime comics but of comic collecting itself. This series is also more than a passing homage to the noir films and hard-boiled detective school of writing of the 1950s. Purporting to be an anthology of all the issues of a little-known golden age comic, it includes a history of the creation of the Velda; Girl Detective comic, an interview with its creator and an episode list of the "Girl Detective" TV show as well as special features such as vintage ads and featurettes "Hawkshaw Hawk, Bird Detective" and "Neolithica: Girl of the Pleistocene." "Velda is the kind of detective I like." - Richard S. Prather (writer, Shell Scott novels). "Hubba Hubba!" - Kevin Burton Smith, thrillingdetective.com. "A pulp classic! If you like your action gritty, yet full of surprises, then you'll love Velda..." - Rick Overton (writer, Dennis Miller Show, actor). "The Velda Comic is spectacular. I felt like I was a kid again as it had the real flavor of the old detective comics I used to read." - Bob Burns A Caliber Comics release.