A Couple of Notes, Inspired by Danger on the Diamond

Two things about Danger on the Diamond that I didn’t mention in my previous post …

First: Danger has some overlap with two Hardy Boys books written by James Lawrence: the revised Figure in Hiding (#16) and Tic-Tac-Terror (#74). Like Danger, both books include baseball scenes that exclude Chet. Danger also has a scene at the Bayview Motel, which has run down quite a bit since it appeared in Figure. Danger also visits Bayport General Hospital, which was in both versions of Figure and Tic-Tac-Terror. (And The Sign of the Crooked Arrow, #28, which admittedly has nothing to do with Lawrence.)

Could Lawrence have written Danger on the Diamond? He wrote eight other books that we know of, with Tic-Tac-Terror being the last one that is definitively linked to him. Tic-Tac-Terror came out six years before Danger, which isn’t much of a gap, considering Lawrence wrote his first Hardy Boys book in 1957. I think it’s likely, given Lawrence’s considerable experience in the industry (he also wrote in the Tom Swift Jr. series). Lawrence died in 1994, six years after Danger was published.

Second: The cover artist for Danger on the Air (#95), Paul Bachem, must have been really liked the cover he created Danger on the Diamond. I suppose it’s not too surprising, given the similarity of titles; if the books have only one word different, perhaps their covers should be as similar. But the composition of the two is a bit too similar for me. Take a look at Danger on the Diamond’s cover:



Now compare it to Danger on the Air’s cover:



You have Joe jumping toward the right side of the cover in each, trespassing into the cover art’s blue border to suggest his escape from the attack. His right leg is bent and in the air; his left is planted. Both arms are up, with the right arm higher, above the head. He’s even dressed similarly: belted pants, with a shirt tucked into the trousers. (That’s especially silly for Diamond.) Frank is shrinking off to the left. Behind (and mostly between) the boys is a fiery blast.

Bachem was the digests’ go-to artist at this point (he drew all the covers between #89 and #112). You can’t infringe upon yourself — see Fantasy Records v. John Fogerty — but given the quality of work Bachem has on his web site, I think he could have worked a bit more to distinguish these two. Or to distinguish Joe, at least; Joe has changed his hair style (and maybe color), but nothing else, not even his position.