Fish Police — Steve Moncuse

Fish Police is a comic book series by cartoonist Steve Moncuse. The plot centers on law and crime in a fictional underwater metropolis with the protagonist, Inspector Gill, trying to solve various, often Mafia-related, crimes while avoiding being seduced by the buxom Angel Jones. The comic featured several marine species as its characters, while the plots and dialogue were reminiscent of film noir. Fish Police started in 1985 as a self-published black-and-white title by Moncuse through his own Fishwrap Productions. After 11 issues, the title was picked up by Comico in 1987, which reprinted issues 1-4 in a trade titled Hairballs (of which this is the first), followed by color reprints of the other Fishwrap issues. Hanna-Barbera Productions adapted Fish Police into an animated television series that first aired on CBS in 1992, lasting only six episodes over one season. Fish Police had a decidedly more mature tone than most other animated Hanna-Barbera series, with episodes often filled with innuendo and cases of mild language. It also featured several stars' voices, including Ed Asner, John Ritter, Tim Curry, Hector Elizondo, Buddy Hackett, Megan Mullally, Robert Guillaume, and JoBeth Williams. Enjoy this piece of comic book history!