The There are hard-boiled detectives, and then there's Mike Hammer.

Philip Marlow and Sam Spade may bend the law to help their clients,

but to Mickey Spillane's private eye, the law is an obstacle to justice,

justice that he usually dispenses himself with a few blasts from his 45.

Mike Hammer didn't just arrive on the scene.

He exploded, and he left his mark in print on the big and small screens

and on radio.

The character first appeared in

1947's I the Jury, a novel Spelane wrote in just under three weeks. The book

sold over three million copies and it kicked off a series of Hammer novels that

Spelane wrote until 1996. The book's blend of sex and violence captivated readers, even if it left some critics cold.

Anthony Boucher, who wrote for Basil Rathbone's new adventures of Sherlock Holmes,

said I the jury should be required reading for Gestapo training schools. Spelane was unfazed and he had the public on his side

to the tune of millions of book sales.

What did the critics dislike about Mike Hammer?

For many it was the apparent glee Hammer seemed to take in dishing out beatings and gunning down criminals, or it was the

delight's Blaine seemed to take in describing the aftermath.

Hammer may have summed up his views on Crime Solving Best in I the Jury when he said

I don't want to arrest anyone I just want to shoot somebody that tone is apparent in the

titles of the spillane books, My Gun is Quick, Vengeance is Mine, and The Big Kill.

I the jury was adapted into a film in 1953, but before he came to movie theaters, Mike Hammer brought his two-fisted style to radio.

In December 1952, the Mutual Series That Hammer Guy premiered.

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