# The Seekers (comics)

The Seekers is a British comic strip drawn by John M. Burns, written by Les Lilley, succeeded by Phillip Douglas and Dick O'Neil. The strip ran from 1966 to 1971 in The Daily Sketch.

## Synopsis

The main characters, Susanne Dove and Jacob Benedick, are two preferred secret agents employed by Una Frost, director of "The Seekers", an elite agency of missing persons retrieval. Their investigations frequently lead to adventures connected to the sex industry, exploiting the attractiveness of both detectives, and usually leading to the downfall of sexual predators and oppressors.

## Publication history

The Seekers began publication on 2 May 1966 in The Daily Sketch. The concept of the strip bears some resemblance to another strip Burns later drew for a brief period, Modesty Blaise. The female characters were consistently drawn in an enticing manner, indicating Burns' evident intent to challenge the limits of the daily British newspaper strip conventions of the times. The initial writer Les Lilley was succeeded by Phillip Douglas starting with episode 14, The Missing Golfers, occasionally aided by Dick O'Neil, who wrote one story, The Curse of the One-Eyed Sailor.
The strip ended on 10 May 1971, abandoned due to its lack of lasting success. It enjoyed some popularity in Italy where it was known as I Segugi, and the Scandinavian countries, serialised as Spårhundarna in Sweden, Sporhundene in Norway and Denmark, and Vainukoirat in Finland, and as Tragači it was serialized in Yugoslavia in at least three different magazines during the 1970s and 1980s. The name, Seekers, translates to Bloodhounds in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish publications of the strip.

## Story list

| № | Title | Author | Strips |
| 1 | The Boneyard Club | Les Lilley | M103–M180 |
| 2 | The Missing Groom | Les Lilley | M181–M252 |
| 3 | Red Elibank | Les Lilley | M253–N12 |
| 4 | The Bookman Vanishes | Les Lilley | N13–N84 |
| 5 | The Collection | Les Lilley | N85–N155 |
| 6 | The Irish Caper | Les Lilley | N156–N233 |
| 7 | Jamaican Joyride | Les Lilley | N234–N309, P1-P2 |
| 8 | John Silver | Les Lilley | P3–P83 |
| 9 | The Highest Bidder | Les Lilley | P84–P169 |
| 10 | The Missing Star | Les Lilley | P170–P254 |
| 11 | Lost Monastery | Les Lilley | P255–P278, Q1-Q60 |
| 12 | The Off-Beat Case | Les Lilley | Q61–Q120 |
| 13 | Art Theft | Les Lilley | Q121–Q198 |
| 14 | The Missing Golfers | Phillip Douglas | Q199–Q276 |
| 15 | A Matter of Life and Death | Phillip Douglas | Q277–Q309, R1-R45 |
| 16 | Where’s Una? | Phillip Douglas | R46–R117 |
| 17 | The Man Who Died Twice | Phillip Douglas | R118–R178 |
| 18 | The Boy With the Golden Boots | Phillip Douglas | R179–R239 |
| 19 | Hoop of Fire | Phillip Douglas | R240–R305, T1-T8 |
| 20 | The Day the Birds Dropped Dead | Phillip Douglas | T9–T68 |
| 21 | The Curse of the One-Eyed Sailor | Dick O'Neil | T69–T107 |
| 22 | Title missing | Phillip Douglas | T109–T125 |
| 23 | Wheels of Fate | Phillip Douglas | T126–T185 |
| 24 | The Tracy Madison Affair | Phillip Douglas | T186–T245 |
| 25 | Goddess of the Seven Moons | Phillip Douglas | T246–T317 |
| 26 | Legs on Broadway | Phillip Douglas | T318–T365 |
| 27 | Dead Girls Tell | Phillip Douglas | T366–T413 |

## Sources

* The Seekers - Spårhundarna (in Swedish)
* John M. Burns bio FFF (in Italian)

### Footnotes

* 1 2 3 4 Filippini, Henri (1997). Encyclopédie de la bande dessinée érotique (in French). La Musardine. p. 73. ISBN 2-84271-082-7.
* ↑ Lambiek Comiclopedia. "John M. Burns".