The Straight Take on Kerry Drake

Well, one of the advantages of being an early-to-mid 20th century comic strip enthusiast is that one is constantly discovering new series to peruse. Pardon me, as I take a sip of British tea and extend my pinky-finger into the air.
One such recent discovery for me is Kerry Drake, by Alfred Andriola. I recently purchased the first two volumes of this reprint series, which picks up mid-storyline from the late 1940s. At first, it seemed like a pedestrian Dick Tracy with less-polished artwork. The first few pages were a drag, but eventually I started to really get into it.
The key is focusing on the dialogue, which manages to out-Spillane Spillane. The lead character, Kerry Drake, is a hard-boiled detective who knows how to get dirty, and everyone speaks like a grizzled hipster. One plot centered around a cocaine smuggling operation down in the Keys, which is followed by an intricate crime web orchestrated by a popular radio DJ.
Apart from this edition from SPEC Productions, I have never seen Kerry Drake reprinted anywhere. Unlike Joe Palooka, this is a series well worth investigating. Fuck Ham Fisher.