Doug Grant

First Apppearance: Spy Cases #1 (#26) (September 1950).
Appearances: Spy Cases #1(#26)-19.
Years Active: 1942-1954?

"Doug Grant, Secret Agent" is a strapping hunk of two-fisted, black-haired man, who dresses and speaks like a Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe-style private eye--overcoat, fedora, and everything. But his responsibilities carry him much farther afield than New York City or Los Angeles, for he works for the U.S. government, and his real job is to stop Them Damn Commies. Grant works undercover and in uniform or fatigues, in Europe and Asia, sometimes going after criminals as prosaic as counterfeiters but more often getting involved in heavy-duty spy stuff.

During the Korean War Grant served on the frontlines, as any redblooded patriotic American who loved God and country and hated Communism would. During the War Captain (or Lieutenant, depending on the story) Grant performed such acts as: counter-espionage against a Commie double-agent called "The Red Terror;" eliminating snipers and female North Korean assassins; and being assigned to take care of a squad of Korean commandos who were destroying American supply dumps behind American lines.

When he wasn't on the frontlines Grant worked for "Spy Headquarters" in places like Occupied Berlin, the "Banana Republic" of Comporso, on a submarine in the Caribbean, and in "Scandinavian waters" on a pleasure-liner, where he had to help eliminate a "Red espionage agent" named Ivan Olitski.

Some information is available about Grant's origin. He's described as having "the finest record in our (i.e., the United States') counter espionage service." He attended "State University" and began working for America as a spy in at least 1942, if not earlier. In 1942 in Spain Grant clashed with Myra, one of his nemeses; she'd been active pre-1942 in Vichy France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Shanghai, and Portugal as a freelance spy, with Grant implied to have encountered her in all of those places. In 1950 Grant was a Lieutenant  with the Allied Expeditionary Army in Korea; in the summer of 1951 he is a Captain, commanding Alfie Brown. By 1952 Grant is a Captain under G-2.

Note: As with the other Atlas spy-smashers, like Kent Blake and Clark Mason, there were two kinds of Doug Grant stories: the spy-fighting ones, where Grant was a government agent, and the war stories, where Grant was active on the frontlines (and behind the frontlines) of Korea. The top photo is Grant in his espionage get-up. The bottom, rather blase photo is of Grant as a soldier.