Lt. Mullins and the rooftop police

Context

These obscure characters were seen but once, in 1975 – DC Comics’ First Issue Special #6.

This book was about throwing concepts at the wall to see if they stuck. Even though this was work from Jack “The King” Kirby, it didn’t stick.

Lt. Mullins evokes a previous Kirby/Simon character – Jim Harper, aka the Guardian.

We barely see these characters, but they’re… weird (acrobatic police ?!). So some of y’all might want to have them back in your stories.

Powers & Abilities

Lt. Terry Mullins is an extraordinary police detective. He’s a two-fisted brawler, a powerful and acrobatic athlete, and a keen crime-fighting planner.

He seems to be a one-man Major Crimes Unit… who also uses levels of urban acrobatics that are usually the province of super-heroes.

Three members of his precinct’s SWAT team are also capable at urban acrobatics. Presumably, Mullins trained them. They don’t have a heroic proficiency, but they can follow a minor costumed character taking the rooftop expressMoving across a dense city using comic book acrobatics (and usually a swingline)..

And, well, nobody expects the parkour police.

History

In 1975, Lieutenant Mullins and his men foiled the dastardly (and potentially mustachioed) plot of Jumping Jack and Gasser.

During this case, Mullins collaborated with the Dingbats of Danger Street youth gang. One imagines that there were further cases where they were allies, much like with Jim Harper and the Newsboy Legion.

This likely occurred in Metropolis, where the Dingbats are seen later on. But though the neighbourhood evokes Suicide Slum, this is likely not the case. By 1975, the Slum had become a mostly African-American area.

One good alternative is the Hell’s Gate neighbourhood, which traditionally has been a tough, blue-collar area of Metropolis. The main difference is that Hell’s Gate wasn’t completely devastated by the Great Depression — unlike Suicide Slum, which never recovered.

Personality

Mullins is a dynamic, indefatigable, fearless, two-fisted crimebuster. He presumably does wonders for the case-closing rate of his precinct.

Beyond always getting his man, he’s a shrewd strategist. He excels at manoeuvring criminals — especially overconfident ones — into traps that will expose their mob and allow for bigger arrests.

Mullins appears honest, chill and open-minded. He has good dealings with the people on the streets. He even seemed to appreciate the weird, none-too-friendly Dingbats. Perhaps Mullins too grew up on the street ?

Vague guesswork

One amusing hypothesis would be that Terry Mullins is the same person as Tex, of the Boy Commandos.

This is meant to echo Brooklyn becoming “Terrible” Turpin, and André Chavard becoming a spymaster.

However, I haven’t read enough Boy Commandos material to know if that can actually work.

A man such as Mullins would also likely have been involved with the Special Crimes Unit when Maggie Sawyer founded it. His specially-trained mini-SWAT-team might even have been a precursor, lending credibility to the latter SCU project.

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: 1^st issue special Vol. 1 #6.

Writeup completed on the 24^th of May, 2021.