The long-running indie comic Rob Hanes Adventures about a soldier of fortune whose adventures take him around the world has reached his 30th anniversary in comics. The milestone will be celebrated in Rob Hanes Adventures #25 by creator, writer-artist, and Inkpot award winner Randy Reynaldo under his creator-owned imprint WCG Comics.
“My only long range plan was to see how long I could keep doing this series, my own creator-owned title,” Reynaldo said. “I have always drawn and written the kind of comics I wanted to read myself, particularly like the serial adventure soldier of fortune comic strips that inspired me and captured my imagination as a young cartoonist, even though I only saw this work in reprints years after their heyday. It’s amazing to now look back and see that I’ve now worked 30 years on the same character – actually, even longer since I started it as a zine.”
Rob Hanes Adventures debuted in the early 1990s, it has since seen 1,000 pages and over 45 stories.
“Rob Hanes Adventures features the globetrotting exploits of a private eye with Justice International, a worldwide private investigation, espionage and security firm, who travels the world on assignment, encountering action, intrigue and romance at every turn,” the WCG Comics description reads. “This basic premise gives Reynaldo the freedom and flexibility to put the character in a wide variety of settings, taking him from one international hotspot to another, and most notably, to tell stories in a wide variety of genres and tones.”
The globetrotting spy often comes up against the international crime lord Nikolai Korda, and is joined on his adventures by reporter Tiffany Lance and his assistant Julianne Love (who is also in love with him).
While the book is primarily a story of high adventure and espionage, it explores other genres and themes. Some issues are lighter reads with comedy, some explore revolutions, there has been a sports issue, a drawing room murder mystery, and a romance comic-superhero mashup. Each issue is a self-contained story, making all of them jumping on points for new readers. The format is also beneficial for readers because there aren’t cliffhangers between the issues, which are not published on a strict schedule.
Rob Hanes Adventures #25 is set in World War II and takes the character to pre-war China. There he’ll come across people modeled after characters from classic comic strips.
“I feel very proud to have reached this milestone,” Reynaldo said. “My enthusiasm for the series remains as high as ever and I still have plenty of fresh ideas for new adventures and the character I can’t wait to explore. Above all, I’m grateful for the support readers continue to give the series – both those who have been on board since the very beginning, and others who continue to discover it.”
