Hammer Author Mickey Spillane Dies
Grizzled author Mickey Spillane passed away at the age of 88. The venerable, iconic novelist who wrote his first Mike Hammer book, I, the Jury (1946), originally started out in comic books (Batman). His gritty, street style launched a Mike Hammer cottage industry. More Hammer volumes followed, some eventually made into film and made-for-television movies. His unnuanced, black-and-white vision made his work appealing to some, and simplistic to others.