Manhattan, 1953. Hal Rapp's Tall Paul, one of America's most popular comic strips, is now a Broadway musical, infuriating Rapp's longtime rival Sam Fizer, creator of the Starr Syndicate's biggest strip Mug O'Malley. Adding insult to injury is the casting of Misty Winters, Fizer's wife, as one of Rapp's hillbilly gals sashaying across the Great White Way. Then Fizer is found dead, his apparent suicide actually an obvious homicide—with all the evidence pointing to Rapp. Starr Syndicate also had connections to the new musical, which added fuel to the fire between the cartoonists, but Jack and Maggie believe Rapp's been framed. Between loan sharks, jealous husbands, bitter artists, and Fizer's widow—who has taken a romantic interest in Jack—there are more colorful characters with murderous motives than in a month of Sunday funnies—