Cole Black

Cole Black is an underground comic book hard-boiled detective created by Rocky Hartberg in 1976. The detective first appeared in the self-published full-sheet newspaper-sized Cole Black Comix #1 (1976) which had a print run of only 200 copies all distributed in the Aberdeen, South Dakota area. Hartberg submitted Cole Black to Marvel Comics for inclusion in Epic Magazine in the late-1970s. Although Marvel initially like the concept and accepted the submission, changes in editorial direction at Epic scrapped the project.

In 1980, Hartberg initiated a second Cole Black series, this time in newspaper strip format. Between 1980 and 1983, five issues of Cole Black were published in this format. Each of these issues had national distribution and circulated between 1,000 and 1,500 copies. Informed by Bud Plant and other comics distributors that the newspaper strip format was limiting sales, Hartberg prepared African Dream in traditional comic book format. Although intended for publication in 1984 as the concluding chapter of the first story arc, African Dream was dropped in favor of a less fantastic World War II tale. The previously unpublished story was printed in a limited edition by Boardman Books (USA) prior to the sale of Hartberg's original art.