"The Phantom Bullet"... "Zephyr-Jones"... "Trojak"... any of those names ring a bell? Yeah, not here either. For some inexplicable reason, this issue doesn't feature a single character from the first one, every single feature here is brand new. Exactly why remains a mystery, but the best explanation seems to be that once again, Joe Simon chose to fill the book with already-finished comics created by personal friends in order to get them sales. Also, the cover illustration is an even bigger mess than the one for the first issue - whereas that one featured a character that was claimed to be the Fiery Mask, but who looked more like the Phantom Bullet, this one features a character claimed to be the Phantom Bullet, but who looks even less like him than the actual Phantom Bullet looks like the Fiery Mask. Bizarre.
The interior front cover features a contest of the kind that was common in newer comic books at the time. Readers are told to write to the editor and explain, in 100 words or less, which of the characters in Daring Comics #2 is their favorite and why. If they have multiple favorites, they can mention them all, and if they have no favorites, they should say so and explain what kind of character they'd like to see in the book. One lucky winner will get 5 dollars, the runner-up will get 2 dollars, and 18 other winners will get one dollar each. The purpose of the contest should be obvious enough - if they get kids to write in and explain what they like, they know what features to promote and what features to drop and replace with hopefully better received ones.
Zephyr Jones and his Rocket Ship
"Zephyr Jones is the son of the well-known scientist and inventor, Dr. Morrison Jones. Zephyr is following in the footsteps of his famous father who started building the rocket-ship with which he planned to visit the planet Mars. Dr. Jones, unfortunately, did not live to see his space ship completed and his dream realized. Through mysterious circumstances he met his untimely end, and young Zephyr swears that he would fulfill his dad's wishes and undertake the fantastic journey to Mars. With his faithful friend, 'Corky' Grogan, he is ready to start."
Our tale begins with a group of people, including the town's mayor, gathering to see Zephyr and Corky off. The mayor wish them luck, but thinks their flight is foolhardy, and the rest of the crowd are calling them crazy fools throwing their lives away for a bit of fame. Zephyr and Corky enter the ship and blast off, and Zephyr's instruments tell him their current speed means they'll cover the 35 million miles to Mars in a day. But suddenly the space ship lurches. Somebody has tampered with the controls - they're not working and the ship starts to fall. Zephyr activates the safety controls, which stops their fall and allows them to steer the ship, but them not being able to use the other controls means they can't tell where they're going. Corky fears they'll end up lost in space, but Zephyr replies they'll just have to trust their luck. He notes that they've had one misfortune after another since they started building the ship, and seems to suspect sabotage.
Corky spots a planet through a window, but it's not Mars. In fact, the planet isn't listed on their charts at all, it's some sort of lost planet. They decide to try landing on it so they won't spend the rest of their lives floating aimlessly around in space, so they aim their ship towards it. They successfully land and exit the ship, then decide to explore, since they don't see anyone around. They walk around for a while not seeing any sign of life, and Corky hopes they won't run into trouble if they find anyone. They eventually find a tall wall and take it as a sign of life, hoping the natives here aren't cannibals. And as Corky wonders what they look like, some natives approach from behind, introducing themselves in perfect English.
Zephyr wonders where they are and how these people know their language, and one of the natives, who look like humans with bird wings, explain. They're on a planet called Sunev, which legend has it was once part of Earth, but broke off and flew into space to form a new world. The language they speak is one that has been handed down to the by their ancestors. He introduces himself as Roudo, a birdman, then says he's going to bring the two spacemen to their King Bolo and Princess Tonka, who await them. Zephyr asks if the king knew they were coming, and Roudo tells him Earth is visible from Sunev and they've been expecting earthmen to come visit for hundreds of years. Corky wonders why Sunev isn't visible from Earth if Earth is visible from Sunev, and Zephyr theorizes that it's probably because the sun's rays don't reflect this far - since sun rays curve, they most likely just miss Sunev completely and make it invisible from Earth. ...I'm not going to try make sense of that.
The two are brought to the king, who welcomes them and says they're free to do whatever they want during their stay. So the two settle down on Sunev and start learning about the birdmen and their customs, who have discovered the elixir of long life and frequently live to be 300 to 400 years old. In exchange, they teach the birdmen about Earth's scientific breakthroughs, and Zephyr teaches their scientists how to make radio, motion pictures, television, motor cars and so on. Princess Tonka also ends up falling in love with him, which annoys Roudo to no end. It turns out he's secretly an agent for the birdmen's enemy, the evil parrot-men, and decides to do away with the two. One day he enters the palace with guards, telling them to seize the two men, accusing them of being spies for the parrot-men. As proof, he presents the king a written account of all that goes on in their kingdom, including the formula for the potion of eternal life. Zephyr protests, but the king says these notes and Roudo's testimony is enough - these notes would allow the parrot-men to wipe them out in no time, and there's nothing he can do but sentence them to prison, with an execution awaiting them the next day.
The two are thrown in prison, and a frustrated Zephyr thinks about how their ship is ready for takeoff and only a heavy door separates them from it. Corky wonders how they'll be executed and Zephyr tells him they at least won't get shot, since they never taught them how to make firearms. Corky remembers their tommy gun and realizes that would get them out of prison easily, but Zephyr points out it's unfortunately still in their ship. The two have no choice but to wait in their cell, but just before dawn, Zephyr spots a silhouette outside. It's Roudo, signalling to someone, and Zephyr bets he's calling the parrot-men and telling them it's safe to attack. Just then Corky hears someone approaching and assumes it's the guards that have come to take them off to get executed. But it's not - it's Princess Tonka, who tells them she bribed the guards to let her see Zephyr one last time. She asks if there's something she can do to help, and Corky gets an idea. He asks her if she can go to their ship and get his violin - Nero fiddled while Rome burned and now it's his turn. Zephyr backs him up, and she falls for their bluff and leaves.
As they wait for her to return, the stillness of the night is suddenly shattered. From their cell, Zephyr and Corky can see a horde of parrot-men attack, swooping down on the unprepared birdmen. The parrot-men resemble winged neanderthals, and are dressed in loincloth and wield giant clubs. Just as Zephyr wishes they had their gun, the princess returns. Apparently ignoring the attack, she sticks the "violin case" through the window in the cell door. Zephyr and Corky open it, take out the tommy gun and automatic that were inside, then tell the princess to run and hide as they practice their lessons on these strange violins. Zephyr shoots the cell door open with his automatic and the two rush out, then open fire on the parrot-men from the castle roof. They gun down a number of them, but one manages to jump onto Zephyr's back and lock his arms, while two others grab Corky and start flying off with him. Zephyr manages to throw one of the parrot-men over his shoulder and off the roof, then shoots the ones trying to make off with Corky. At this point these strange weapons frighten the parrot-men so much they decide to fly off, and Corky spots Roudo about to fly off with them too. Zephyr dives off the roof and tackles Roudo to them ground, then knocks him out with a punch to the face.
The king and the princess approach and thank Zephyr for driving off the parrot-men, but asks what the deal with Roudo was. Zephyr tells him Roudo has a confession to make that will clear their names by proving his guilt, and a narration box tells us Roudo ended up confessing when confronted with the facts and paid for the treason with his life. We're then told that our heroes taught the birdmen about guns so that they'd be free from any further parrot-man attack, then quickly prepared their ship for takeoff before anything else could delay them. The king and the princess show up to see them off, the king hoping that they'll one day return, or that they'll be able to establish regular rocket-ship travel between Sunev and Earth. The princess gives Zephyr a farewell kiss, and the two earthmen take off. "And so the rocket ship is headed for the Earth again to prepare for another attempt to reach Mars. Follow the adventures of Zephyr Jones and Corky Grogan in the next issue of this magazine."
This is a pretty decent adventure story. It'd have been nice to learn a bit more about the birdmen and their civilization, but what we get is interesting enough. There's a number of neat touches here, like an actual explanation to why these people on a different planet speak English and the part where the earthmen decide to play it smart and safe by tricking the princess instead of explaining their plan and gambling on her trusting them. The latter bit is the kind of stuff that's usually seen as too unethical an action for heroes to engage in, so it was rather refreshing to see here. The parrot-men being presented as nearly animal-like also makes it look less like the heroes are picking a random side here, though you have to wonder what Roudo could possibly get out of allying with them. There's the odd flaw, like the rushed end and the lack of attention brought to the sabotage of the ship, but this is the first feature in Daring where I'm genuinely excited for the next installment.
The Phantom Bullet, Scourge of the Underworld
There's been a murder, and the city editor at the Daily Bulletin is furious his best reporter, Allan Lewis, is nowhere to be found. He orders his entire staff to search for Lewis, and when one of them asks if he can have the story instead, the editor replies that as far as he's concerned, Lewis is the only reporter in the country. But Lewis is not only a good reporter, he's also quite rich and has an annoying habit of never being around when needed. The newspaper staff search the city for him, one of them getting a tip from the owner of Charlie's Bar that Lewis "left to go for a ride", then eventually finding him sleeping in a carriage on a merry-go-round. Heh. The reporter wakes Lewis and tells him about the murder, but Lewis just blows him off, cynically telling him that either crooked politicians or legal red tape is going to get the culprit running free again soon anyway. The other reporter tells Lewis that if he's such a good reporter maybe he'd make a good sleuth as well, and Lewis takes the challenge, telling the other man to take him to the crime scene.
At the crime scene, a police officer explains to Lewis that the millionaire victim was strangled to death inside a locked room, without anyone having gotten past the servants... and with the room being on the twentieth story of a 30 story building. Lewis goes to the room to take a look, and runs into a bunch of other reporters there that mock the famous "Scoop Lewis" for being so slow to the scene their papers already have extra editions on the street at this point. Lewis investigates the corpse, which reporters are apparently allowed to do now, and finds a brilliantly colored feather clutched in the man's hand. He secretly places it in his pocket, then asks the officer at the scene if there were any other clues, and the officer tells him they found handprints... from hands with seven fingers . He mentions this is the third such murder this week and that the police is baffled - only a bird could get through that window. That remark gets Lewis thinking.
Lewis returns to the paper and starts writing his story, thinking about the possibility of the murderer being a bird. After all, he found that feather, and there were those weird handprints. He writes the idea of as being too fantastic when his editor shows up, apparently having heard what Lewis told the other reporter earlier, and starts mocking Lewis for his claims about wanting to clear up the crimes around town. Lewis tells him he had a good enough idea there and orders the editor to call him a cab - he can write the story himself, he knows just as much as Lewis does.
Lewis takes a cab to Ten West St, where the murder was committed, then climbs to the roof of a nearby building and leaps from there to the roof of Ten West St., not wanting to be seen taking the elevator. He's realized the killer didn't touch the dead man's safe and has concluded he most likely got scared off by something and is going to be back this night. Lewis hides behind a chimney and waits for what seems to be hours, but his hunch pays off as he sees a rope being tossed onto the roof. Not too long after, a shadowy figure hoists himself onto the roof. Lewis pulls out a gun and confronts the newcomer, ordering him into the light. But suddenly he hears the sound of footsteps, and as he turns around he's hit in the head, then grabbed by multiple arms, some of which grab his throat and choke him into unconsciousness. Hours later, he wakes up on the roof, alone and with a throbbing headache, but clutching another feather in his hand.
He staggers to the Bulletin's office, where the editor takes him for being drunk and chews him out, then tells him he'll be handling small stories from here on, he's getting to be too much of a problem. He gives him a note and tells him it's the address to an inventor who's perfected a new type of gun, hopefully he'll be able to handle that story without messing things up. Lewis goes to the inventor and interviews him, and the man tells him this new gun shoots a bullet of hard ice that inflicts a mortal wound before melting away, leaving no trace. However, he fears he's in danger due to unscrupulous people wanting his secret, so he gives Lewis the gun and its blueprints and tells him to take them somewhere safe for the time being. Lewis thinks the man is a nut, but decides to humor him and takes the two items with him. However, when he returns to the office, he's met by his editor asking him if he got "the story". Lewis doesn't understand what he's talking about, and the editor realizes Lewis missed it - the inventor has just been found murdered and his place ransacked. Lewis understands it must have happened shortly after he left, and wonders if the gun might be the real deal after all.
Back at his apartment, Lewis tests the gun and realizes it really does work as the inventor said. It'd be the perfect weapon for a criminal, enabling him to murder without the ability to be traced... but it could also be a great instrument for justice, since no politics or red tape could stop criminals from getting their punishment from this. He thinks about the other reporter telling him to become a private sleuth and decides he'll do something even better - he'll become a private court of justice. And for that he'll need a disguise that "will fasten itself to the memory of all who come in contact with (him)"... so he puts on blue pants, a yellow shirt with a bullet drawn on it and a red cape. One panel also shows him putting on makeup, so I guess the meaning is that he disguises his face as well, even though it's not visible in the actual art.
Lewis recalls that wealthy broker Rafael Case received another warning note this afternoon, so clad in his new costume, he hurries to Case's estate. The house is surrounded by police, but Lewis dodges them and somehow manages to enter the house through an upper floor window. As he enters, he's met by Case himself, who assumes Lewis is the killer and pulls a gun on him. Lewis tackles Case and disarms him, then gags him with his hand, telling him he's there to help and might be able to save both his money and life. Case decides to believe him and explains the note he got demanded half a million dollars "to help create a new government in the United States", and that he'd meet a horrible death if he refused to pay. He goes on to say the writer was going to come tonight, but is then interrupted by the lights going out. Lewis hides behind the curtain to see what happens, and watches as a tall black man wearing only a pair of pants climbs through the window and demands the money (calling Case "Davis" for some reason). Case gives the man a package with the money and the man turns to leave, but Lewis steps out from the curtain with his gun raised and confronts him. The man answers by whistling a shrill tone, and Lewis is suddenly grabbed from behind by multiple other arms as the first man attacks Case and starts choking him. Lewis manages to tear his gun arm free from the men holding him and shoots Case's attacker, and the men behind him suddenly let go, then grab the package and escape out the window. Lewis follows them, but they escape into the trees and he again starts wondering if they might actually BE bird-men of some kind. "No human could travel like that".
Back at Case's house, an officer enters the room and finds Case and the dead guy, and Case tells him he was shot by "that phantom" - A strange phantom that helped him and shot this man when he attacked him. The officer investigates the dead body and finds no sign of a bullet, only a gaping wound and a puddle of water, so he quips that the phantom must have shot a "phantom bullet". The next day at the office of the Bulletin, the editor is rather happy with Lewis again after he scooped all the other papers on the Case robbery story, and gives him a new assignment: Oil magnate Nelson Glaven got one of these notes as well, but didn't notify the police about it. The editor found out thanks to a contact at the post office and wants Lewis to get an interview. Lewis goes to Glaven, but is turned away at the door - Glaven tells him he wants neither police nor reporters meddling in this; he values his life and is going to simply pay the half million dollars the note demanded and hopefully be done with this. Lewis tries explaining this reaction only encourages crime, but Glaven is unwilling to listen, so Lewis decides the phantom will have to come here for work that night.
Lewis goes home, changes to his phantom outfit, then hides on a nearby roof and waits. Eventually a man shows up and collects the package with the money, and Lewis starts following him to his destination, an old building. Lewis confronts him inside, recognizing him as "old Benny the beggar", and threatens him to reveal his part in this case. A frightened explains he knows nothing, he just gets paid to pick up these people's mail and send it to them in some envelopes they've given him. He shows Lewis the envelopes and Lewis writes the address, then decides to check it out. Unfortunately, the address turns out to be a graveyard, which obviously doesn't help him much.
The next day, Lewis asks the editor if he has a new story for him and is told another note has been sent. This time, heiress Gloria Francis has been kidnapped and the gang wants the usual half million to return her. Lewis goes to interview her mother, who fears Gloria will be murdered even if she DOES pay, as well as an officer who admits the police is completely stumped. Getting an idea, he returns to Benny in costume again later that night and asks to see one of the envelopes again. This time he holds it over the light of a lantern, and the two watch the graveyard address fade away and another address show. Now, Benny clearly didn't know this, and the envelopes get sent in the mail, so... how exactly do they reach their destination again? Lewis claims they're "addressed with an ink that fades in the light", which doesn't even match what he just did. This entire concept just doesn't make sense.
Either way, Lewis now has the real address the money gets sent to, which turns out to be the house of African explorer Alveroz Monez. He goes to his house, where he somehow finds some underground caverns off-panel and starts searching through them. He spots a streak of light and approaches it, only to find Monez holding Gloria Francis at gunpoint, telling her that her mother paid the ransom, but he's still going to kill her since it'd be too risky to let her go. Lewis rushes in and swings on some stalactites to kick the gun out of Monez' hand. Monez whistles, and... a horde of "shaggy African half-men-half-apes" clamber into the room. Lewis realizes these are the mysterious men that murdered the millionaire and attacked him before - the feathers are from their headdresses and they managed to climb so supernaturally well because of their seven toes on each foot. "Clever, Monez."...All right.
Monez orders his freaks to attack Lewis, but Lewis turns and runs, yelling loudly that he's going to jump onto the trees from the tower. He then apparently runs upstairs into the house and up a couple floors, then jumps out the window... and holds onto the top windowsill as the entire band of savages leap out of the window as Monez yells at them to stop. But it's too late and his headhunters all fall to their death, since Lewis just lied about there being any trees to jump into there. Monez pulls a gun and swear to kill the intruder himself, but Lewis swings back in through the window and tells him to turn around, then apparently shoots him off-panel. The next day the editor once again congratulates Lewis on getting the scoop on the Monez story, not understanding how he could possibly have gotten that story. He then mentions the police are looking for this phantom for questioning since they found no bullet on Monez' corpse, and tells Lewis to see what he can find on the Phantom Bullet. "Some other time, maybe, chief... I'm taking the day off...", Lewis replies.
So in short, the entire concept is a cynical reporter deciding to put on a costume and kill criminals because he has lost faith in the law's ability to properly deliver justice. The entire "untraceable bullets" thing feels very pointless considering all the Golden Age heroes that murder criminals with no need for such things, so all that really sets him apart is his personality. And the thing is, his personality DOES set him apart and manages to actually sell him as a person that decides to becomes a vigilante once he discovers the ability to kill without risk of getting caught by the law afterwards. The story itself is decently told and rather exciting, even with the ultimate solution to the murders being "they were committed by some weird ape men with inhuman climbing abilities" and despite weird plot holes and unexplained details. As mentioned, the address thing makes no sense. What was up with that "create a new government in the United States" motive that got mentioned once and then forgotten? And were we meant to assume the inventor got killed by Monez' freaks? Nobody really bothered investigating that murder, and the inventor is never mentioned again after he dies. Yeah, the story isn't without its flaws, but it's considerably less messy than the Fiery Mask one from issue 1, and the protagonist, while not the most likeable hero out there, actually stands out as being fairly unique for exactly that reason.
Trojak the Tiger Man, King of the Jungle
The chief of an African tribe calls the only white man in the tribe to him. The white man is told the chief is getting old and doesn't have much longer to live, so the time has come for him to learn his story. Many years ago, the white man's father, an explorer, saved the tribe from extermination at the hands of a wicked tribe. The explorer had improved the tribe's living conditions, which made its enemies jealous. The explorer offered the enemy tribe to join them in the better life he had created, but the enemy tribe didn't want any of the white people's civilization, nor did they want to lose their position as the superior tribe in the jungle. The explorer refused to allow his friends to be humbled and the enemy tribe ended up attacking, burning the village and eventually killing the explorer in the subsequent battle - a battle the friendly tribe ended up winning. The explorer's son was only a baby at the time, but the friendly tribe took him in and raised him as their own out of gratitude towards his father. Through his superior intelligence, this boy, Trojak, became a white god in the jungle. He speaks the language of the animals, and his strength and fearlessness has never been equaled. But he's still a white man, and the chief feels he should leave the tribe and seek out his own people, the ones he belongs with. Trojak understands his reasoning and sets off, bidding goodbye to the natives and the animals he loves, only bringing his faithful companion Balu the tiger with him.
Trojak and Balu travel for months until one day, they sense a strange new smell. They sneak closer and spot a group of both white people and black natives working their way through the jungle. One of the whites is carrying a map to "Gold River". Trojak recognizes the whites as his people, but he also sees them whip and hit the natives, so his sympathies falls with them rather than the whites. Suddenly the party spots Balu the tiger and the leader quickly fires his rifle at it, grazing it. Before he can fire again, however, Trojak dives out of the trees and rips the rifle from his hands, then breaks it in two. The natives flee as the other white men ready their guns, but Trojak has disappeared before they can fire. The leader stops the escaping natives, and they tell him the man was Trojak, the king of the jungle. "He who draws his wrath is lost." The leader orders his men to shoot Trojak on sight next time they see him, but at this point the natives are too scared, and the next night they all escape into the jungle, leaving the whites behind.
The next morning the whites discover they're now all alone in the jungle and discuss what to do. The only girl in the group wonders if the white savage would be able to help them, but another group member says he obviously wouldn't approve of their expedition and must be destroyed. The group continues onward, shooting down wild animal as they go, but without any guides they lose their sense of direction and end up walking in circles, with an amused Trojak watching them. The girl eventually asks if they have to continue on like this, all that drives the men is their thirst for gold. One of the men asks what has gotten into her, wondering if the white savage put ideas in her head, but the girl replies that that savage was far more honorable than any of them and that she's had enough, she's going home alone. The man laughs and calls it suicide as she proudly stomps off into the jungle, only to immediately get attacked by a lion. Luckily Trojak has watched them and as the lion attacks, he dives at it and pulls the lion away from her. The lion scratches at him and causes a fairly bloody wound on Trojak's chest, but he eventually manages to sidestep one of its lunges, allowing him to grab it from behind and choke it to death. The girl tries thanking Trojak, not knowing if he even understands her, but he silently picks her up and swings off in the trees with her. Eventually the blood loss from his wound proves too much for him, however, and he sets her down before fainting on a branch.
Over the next few days, the girl nurses Trojak back to health. Small animals bring them food, and Balu the tiger stands guard under their tree. As Trojak gradually recovers, the girl also teaches him some basic English. Eventually Trojak is healthy enough to continue, and the two start searching for the other whites. They eventually spot them, staggering around half-crazed, completely lost in the jungle. The leader spots Trojak in a tree and fires at him, but he ducks, then drops down and rips the rifle out of the leader's hands. The leader begs him not to destroy the gun, since they're hopelessly lost, and Trojak eventually relents and decides to help them. He signals for them to follow and leads them to a nearby native village, then points them to it. The girl begs for him to come with them to their land and learn their customs, since he's one of them, but Trojak tells her his place is in the jungle. She understands and bids him farewell, and the whites head for the village as Trojak walks back to the jungle, experiencing the new and unknown sensation of loneliness. Over the next few days he can no longer find zest for the things he used to revel in.
One day, however, he feels something is wrong and heads back to the village, where he sees the whites have been tied to trees as native yells "Death to those who beat our people!" Trojak orders Balu to get help, then grabs a vine and swings into the crowd. He grabs the village chief and uses him as a shield to prevent the other villagers to attack him as he cuts the whites' bonds. Trojak and the whites escape into a hut, Trojak dragging the chief along, but the chief orders his villagers to forget about him and kill the intruders. The villagers hesitate a bit, but eventually set fire to the hut, intending to burn everyone inside alive. The girl tells Trojak she's at least happy to die in his arms, but he tells her people need to learn to be calm in the face of danger and assures her they won't die. And just as he says this, Balu arrives with a huge army of jungle animals, including elephants, which wreck the village and free the group. The natives are chased off and the whites quickly make their way to a ship and set sail for civilization, happy to leave the jungle. And as the ship sails off, the girl wonders if she'll ever see Trojak again. Watch for further exciting adventures of Trojak, the Tiger Man, in the next edition of Daring Comics.
This is a fairly straight forward jungle adventure without anything really going for it. Trojak has been raised by natives and identifies more with them than with the white men he feels somewhat ashamed to be of the same race as, with the ending implying he feels he doesn't belong with them, but the comic touches so little on any of this it doesn't end up mattering much. It gets some bonus points for managing to make the reader feel some sympathy for the white men despite initially passing them off as rather nasty villains, though. But as a whole, it just lacks substance. It didn't even bother explaining what the whites were in the jungle for beyond a vague mention of gold.
Six-Gun Dynamite
Ozias Wilkins is on his way up the mountain trail leading from Silvertown to his prospect, carrying a box with the words "Caution! Dynamite! Handle with care!" written on it. He and his wife Mattie has toiled at that prospect for twenty years, and he just spent their last bit of money on the content of that box - money he had gone to Silvertown to buy provisions for, since their larder was empty, and which Mattie had very expressly forbid him from spending on explosives, telling him she'd leave him if he did. Mattie has completely given up on the mine, and Ozias insistence that maybe the next explosion will reveal the silver vein he just knows is in there doesn't help, since he'd been saying that for twenty years now. But once he had made it through the town, which was in the state of excitement due to a bank robbery the day before where two gangsters had killed a cashier and escaped into the hills with fifty thousand dollars after their getaway car got wrecked, he got into an argument with himself about his purchase and eventually concluded that Mattie probably wouldn't actually leave him if he came back with dynamite, at least not before she had seen him use it, and she'd definitely forgive him if he did find silver.
As he approaches their cabin, he spots footprints from two men leading towards the cabin, and assumes it's the gangsters he heard about in town. Fearing for Mattie's life, he runs for the cabin, where he spots her standing outside. She spots the dynamite and tells him this is it, she's leaving. But as she picks up her already packed bags and starts walking off, Ozias stops her and tells her about the footprints. Before he can say more, they both see two men carrying satchels and guns come out of the mine. The men order Mattie to go into the cabin and ix them some food and Ozias to drop his box and raise his hands, but he calmly turns around and tells them to look at the box. The gangsters read the words and Ozias tells them a box like this would kill everyone in a three hundred yard radius, and that it would definitely go off if they shot him and it fell. The gangsters try calling his bluff, but eventually get too nervous and drop their guns, and Ozias has Mattie tie them up as he keeps threatening them with his box. After they're both securely tied, he finally sets the box down and drags the gangsters into his tool shed, where he ties them to a pair of posts. He tells Mattie one of the state police's posses will most likely be around soon and he can turn the gangsters over to them, then go along and get the 10.000 dollar award that's out for them. Mattie admits she was just trying to scare Ozias, she never actually planned to leave, and he tells her to prepare some food while they wait for the police. Mattie points out they have no food... but they do, as Ozias reveals his box is actually full of food, he just had it packed in a dynamite box when he bought it so he could check if she was indeed serious.
This is a clever and fun text story full of personality that actually had me fooled until the reveal at the end. I believe it might even be the best story in the entire issue, but that probably says more about the quality of the comics. As far as text stories go, this is really solid, though.
K-4 and his Sky Devils
High above the North Sea, seven English Hawkers engage a bomber convoy flight. An enemy fighter gets its motor riddled and drops out of the fight, but the huge Hun bomber keeps its distance from the dogfight and continues on. One of the Hawkers breaks through the convoy and heads for the bomber, but before he can get there, "six streams of smoking tracer lance down from above and rakes the bomber from prop hub to tail skid. The pilot is killed, the engines explode and the bomber spins down to earth. The nazi bomber had been destroyed by a trio of snub-nosed Grummans that shortly after zoom onto the scene. The Hawker pilot turns around to rejoin the dogfight, wondering about the planes that just showed up - they're American models, yet carry English insignia. Shortly after he gets his answer, as one of the new planes call him up. The pilot of it identifies himself as "K-4" and tells the Englishman he and his partners will tag along and help them out with the Heinkels. And this is where we finally get our introduction to our new heroes: They are American captain K-4, soldier of fortune with experience from both the first World War, the Spanish rebellion and the China-Japan conflict, French lieutenant René D'Auvergne, World War ace and expert swordsman, and British lieutenant Ronald Wolverstone-Clodd, scion of a wealthy family, actor and master of disguise. The three of them now fly and fight for Great Britain and the Allies in the present European war. They join the dogfight, and with their help, the remaining six Heinkels are all chased off.
Later that day, K-4 and his assistants have dinner at their base, a military airport in London, when a soldier approaches and tells K-4 the colonel wants to see him. K-4 goes to see the colonel, where he's told they've obtained the credentials and personal belongings of Gestapo agent Gunther Hesseman, who was recently apprehended by their counterespionage system. He wants K-4 to assume Hesseman's identity and head to the seaport of Kurtzberg on Germany's Baltic coast, where he'll destroy the ammunition depot that feeds their air defense guns, thus allowing Allied bombers to operate on a much lower and more accurate altitude.
That night, a disguised K-4 departs in a captured German Henschel. René has come with him and takes over the controls after K-4 jumps out and parachutes down over Germany, flying the plane back to London. K-4 directs his black, stealthy parachute to a dirt road he spots, discards his chute and flying suit, and walks off towards Kurtzberg dressed in Gestapo uniform. Some hours later, he's stopped by an armored truck that demands to know what he's doing there. K-4 presents his credentials and tells the driver the Gestapo answers to no one, then orders him to drive him to Army HQ in Kurtzberg. The Nazi driver obliges, and once K-4 reaches the base, he goes to the commander there and presents some forged transfer papers he's been given. The commandant sees nothing wrong with them and explains to K-4 that he is to be transferred to munition depot R-200, where he will report to a Major von Lutz. He then gets his adjutant to drive K-4 there on his motorcycle.
The two speed down the road on the motorcycle, but just as the adjutant tells K-4 he can make out the sentry post, K-4 takes out his Luger and hits him over the head with it. He places the adjutant in the side car, then drives the motorcycle to the sentry post himself, where he cries out to the sentry that his driver has fallen sick. He then presents his credentials and the sentry calls for a man named Karl to drive K-4 to von Lutz, but once Karl comes over, K-4 pulls his gun on them and orders them to raise their hands. He has Karl tie up both the adjutant and the sentry, then ties up Karl himself before continuing on foot.
After walking through the countryside for a while, he eventually arrives at a giant dirt covered hill he assumes is the ammo dump. He approaches and notices it's the cleverly camouflaged roof of the underground munitions depot, then walks over to the door and knocks on it. He once again presents his credentials to the Nazi guard and is shown in, whereupon he orders one of the guards to take him to the ammunition stores, claiming the Gestapo believes an attempt will be made to destroy it. He's shown the section where the heavier ammo is stored, and grabs the chance to knock out the guard with his gun. However, at that moment, the Kurtzberg commandant phones von Lutz to check if "Hesseman" has arrived, and von Lutz tells him he hasn't, and that he's also been unable to contact his sentries by phone, so he's sent someone over to check on them. That "someone" soon reports in and reveals what has happened, and von Lutz sends out people to search for "Hesseman", knowing he is actually a spy.
Von Lutz gets told Hesseman is inside the ammunition storage, which is indeed correct - K-4 has just finished preparing fuses to blow up the ammunition when the alarm sounds. He sets off the fuses, then arms himself with two sacks of hand grenades before making his escape. Soldiers try shooting at him when they spot him inside the storage, but he answers with grenades and blow a bunch of them to bits. He "races into the acrid grenade smoke and leaps over many freshly strewn bodies" as he makes for the exit, knowing he has 9 minutes before his bomb goes off. He escapes into the field, lobbing a few grenades at some Nazi soldiers that attempt to follow him, but knows he's still going to be dangerously close to the upcoming explosion. Just then he spots a British plane. It's the Sky Devils! They land and pick him up, then take off again before the ammunition dump explodes. And hours later, K-4 is complimented by the colonel and told England is grateful for what he's done. Continue the modern, flying adventures with K-4 and his Sky Devils in forthcoming issues!
The writing in this story is extremely solid, and makes it feel a lot more sophisticated than any other comic I've read here so far. There's also a heavy focus on realism - this isn't some crazy implausible adventure about some super soldier, it's a rather low key story about a relatively believable infiltration mission with a realistic goal: Destroy an ammo dump. Unfortunately, sophisticated writing and realism alone doesn't necessarily make for a great story, and this one honestly doesn't have much going for it. It's just K-4 going around bluffing his way into places and knocking out a couple Nazis, then planting a bomb and escaping, without anything exciting or notable really happening. You also have to question the wisdom of making the first adventure of three soldier heroes a solo tale focusing entirely on just one of them. Ronald's name isn't even mentioned outside his introduction profile. Good effort, but the end result is unfortunately a bit too dull.
Mr. E
"Several of the country's leading captains of industry have come to an untimely end in the past few weeks. Their deaths were not related in any noticeable way and so did not arouse any suspicion... but to one man a slim thread connected each passing with the previous one. That man is the wealthy sportsman, Victor Jay... who in reality is Mr. "E", the enemy of the underworld."
Jay has noticed that all four died from the same cause, and that they were all silent partners in the Snead Oil Company, so he decides Mr. E had better drop by the company's owner, J. P. Snead, and see if he has anything to say. After putting on his Mr. E costume, which is a fancy suit, a fedora, a domino mask and a cape, he drives his car to Snead's mansion, where he notices the light in the library is on. He looks through the window, seeing Mr. Snead reading a note and looking worried, then tossing the note into the fireplace, saying he has to follow the writer's instructions, or he'll be next. Wanting to read the note, Mr. E rushes through the window and grabs the burning note from the fire, apologizing to Snead for accidentally knocking him to the floor. Looking at the partially burned note, he's able to make out that the writer demanded a million dollars from Snead, telling him that he'd be dead if he called the police, as well as something about depositing the money Friday at midnight. Annoyed there wasn't enough text left to get any real clues, Mr. E drives off again, but on his way back another car drives up close to him and forces his car off a cliff and into the sea, where it sinks into the mud. The other car stops by the edge of the cliff and a man dressed in a dark costume walks out, looks down at Mr. E's car and concludes not even he could have survived that. He gets back into his car and drives off, saying he'll get back to his business with Snead now, as a very much alive Mr. E watches from a beach he's managed to crawl onto, recognizing the costumed man as his old arch-enemy, the Vampire.
Back at his home, Jay assumes it's going to be easier to work now that the Vampire thinks he's dead. The only clue he has it the mention that the money is to be paid Friday at midnight, and since that is today, he puts his Mr. E costume back on and returns to Snead's estate, where he waits outside, assuming Snead is going to deliver the money to the Vampire himself. His hunch is correct, as shortly after, Snead leaves his house and gets into his car. Mr. E jumps onto the roof of the car as it passes by and rides on top of it as it drives through the forest, eventually going down a side street and stopping. Assuming this is the Vampire's hideout, Mr. E gets off the car and hides behind a tree, getting ready to take the Vampire by surprise... but it's the Vampire that takes him by surprise, as he sneaks up behind Mr. E with a gun and tells him to surrender.
The Vampire leads Mr. E into his hideout, congratulating him on surviving the "unfortunate accident" and telling him he'll have to use a more substantial method this time, one he's sure he'll compliment him on, one that will lead to a more horrible fate than the others that crossed him. Mr. E takes this as a confession, that the Vampire killed the four oil company partners because they wouldn't pay, but the Vampire corrects him - they did pay, he just killed them anyway to make sure they didn't talk. Mr. E is shocked at how evil his enemy is, and the gloating Vampire explains the clever way he killed them - he used capsules containing a gas of his own formula that causes the heart to accelerate to such an extent the heart bursts from the pressure, and he's now going to kill Mr. Snead the same way. He then presents the death trap he's prepared for Mr. E - a lit candle placed on top of a box of dynamite. The candle will make the dynamite explode in one hour, setting off other dynamite built into the walls and causing the entire cave hideout to collapse over Mr. E. The Vampire activates the trap and leaves, and Mr. E starts moving the chair he's tied to over towards the stairs in the room, managing to make himself fall down them. The fall breaks the chair and frees him. All in two panels.
Meanwhile, the Vampire confronts Snead and tells him he also has his daughter Betty captive, demanding Snead signs his interests in the Snead Oil Company to him in exchange for her safety. Snead asks to see Betty, and the Vampire takes him to her. Seeing his daughter is indeed a prisoner, Snead finally agrees to sign the paper... and after he's done so, the Vampire reveals he's now going to kill him, since he doesn't need him any more. Betty, on the other hand, will become his wife. Before he can say more, though, Mr. E climbs through the window with a gun. The Vampire tosses a lamp at him, but Mr. E dodges and attacks the Vampire, telling Snead and Betty to escape, and to take the paper with them. Betty says she hears police sirens and the two fighting men stop fighting, both of them fearing police apprehension. The next day Jay reads in the paper that the police raided an apartment in the West Forties last night upon receiving a complaint from the neighbors, but only found signs of struggle, not any people. He realizes the Vampire escaped as well, and at that moment we find the Vampire in his secret laboratory, planning the destruction of Mr. E. And not too long after, Betty and Snead tell Jay about their adventure, Jay mentioning that he's sure he'd like Mr. E if they ever were to meet. Next month Mr. E and the Vampire meet again in another thrilling adventure.
The plot itself isn't really all that, just a rather standard blackmailing scheme, but both Mr. E and the Vampire are pretty fun characters with decent banter. The death trap and the gas weapon play no real role in the story apart from adding to the Vampire's character, but both this and the way he gloats about killing the people he blackmailed even though they paid really makes him come across as a good villain you want to see again. Both he and Mr. E also have really cool costumes, Mr. E's being rather reminiscent of the Green Hornet. The plot could've been a bit less generic, but the story as a whole really made me want to see more of these characters.
The Laughing Mask
"For generations the men of the Burton family were connected with law enforcement. The latest Burton to take up the cause was Dennis, young assistant district attorney. Recently it became difficult to convict gangsters due to crooked politicians. To overcome this new evil, Dennis Burton decided to take the law in his own hands. Thus was born the Laughing Mask - dread of the underworld."
The train "Limited" crashed when the wheels on the locomotive collapsed, sending the locomotive hurling from the tracks with the rest of the cars following, killing over 20 passengers. The Daily Star reports that this is the fifth such wreck now, and that the public service commission places blame on faulty equipment and threatens to revoke the railroad's franchise. Dennis Burton is conducting some research on his own, investigating a fragment of a locomotive wheel in his laboratory and discovering it was sprayed with corrosive acid. This was no accident. He disguises himself as an oiler and goes to the railroad yard, where he snoops around and discovers two suspicious-looking characters talking. He eavesdrops on them and hears them talking about how they don't take care of freights, only passenger trains, with the next one being the Streamline Express. They then mention they have a date with their boss and get in their car, so Dennis sneaks up to the car and hangs on to the spare wheel on the back as they drive off. The car arrives at the gang's hideout, and Dennis looks through the window to see one "Lester Deeks" discuss his plan with a group of thugs. They'll spray the wheels of the Streamliner with acid, and also place a bomb at the Rapid Falls Bridge two of the thugs, Ben and Hank, will detonate if the train hasn't crashed yet when it gets there. They then helpfully spell out to the eavesdropping Dennis that this will surely cause the public service commission to revoke the license, allowing Deeks to buy it for a song.
Just then one of the thugs spot Dennis outside the window. They rush out to get him, and Dennis starts fighting back, but is eventually overpowered. One of the thugs pulls out a gun and prepares to shoot him, but Deeks stops him, saying that since they can't use this house as a hideout any more, they'll just tie Dennis up in the attic - that'll take care of him. Sure. "Good idea, boss." says a rather dumb thug. So they tie Dennis up, put him in the attic and leave, and only one panel later Dennis has managed to free himself by overturning the chair, which loosened the ropes. He takes off his clothes and reveals the red outfit he was wearing underneath, then puts on a mask. Meet the dreaded Laughing Mask.
The Laughing Mask then, in some unexplained manner, figures out where Deeks and his thugs have relocated, and spies on their new meeting through a convenient skylight. After overhearing Deeks mention that "Chuck and Joe" have gone to the yards to fix the Streamliner while Hank and Ben went to the bridge with the dynamite, he drops a mask resembling his own into the room. He then climbs down the drain pipe and quickly smashes his hand through the window and flips the light switch. The mask he dropped into the room was luminous and tied to the skylight with strings, so the gangsters suddenly see the glowing devil mask grinning towards them in midair. They shoot at it as the real Laughing Mask enters the room and starts gunning them all down. They try shooting it out with him, but are unsuccessful, and soon Deeks is the only one left alive. The Mask tells him he'll pay for the lives lost in the wreck. Deeks begs him not to shoot, but the pleas fall on deaf airs as the Mask shoots him dead.
The Mask then jumps through the window and runs off towards the railroad track. There, Chuck tells Joe to get working on the Streamliner, but before Joe can start, the Mask shoots the can of acid out of his hand. He storms in and punches Joe in the face, and Chuck grabs the chance to leap into the cab on the Streamliner and gets the train started. The Mask shoots Joe dead, then runs over to another locomotive and tells the driver they need to catch up with the Streamliner. The locomotive starts chasing it with the Mask on board, and since it doesn't have any cars to hamper it, eventually catches up. The Mask manages to jump from the front of the locomotive to the rear end of the Streamliner, then climbs to the roof of it and starts running across the top of the train. He eventually reaches the cab and jumps in, then throws Chuck out of the speeding train to his death.
Next, he stops the Steamliner before it reaches the bridge, then gets out of the train and runs to the bridge on foot. Hank and Ben, the only remaining gangsters, are there with the dynamite, but he catches them by surprise and shoots one of them. He then tackles the other gangster and starts choking him, telling him he'll only let him live if he signs a full confession. The frightened gangster agrees and the Mask takes him to the police station after returning the Streamliner to the yard. He then leaves the limp figure of the gangster at the front steps to the police station, with the signed confession pinned to his chest. The police find him the next day, and later that day the district attorney tells Dennis what had happened. He wonders who the Laughing Mask is, and Dennis replies that he doesn't know, but the guy sure saves them a lot of trouble. The dreaded Laughing Mask goes into action again in another thriller in the following issue of Daring Comics. Don't miss it!
The concept here is the same as the Phantom Bullet. A guy is fed up with how crooked politicians make it too easy for criminals to avoid getting punished by the law, so he puts on a costume and runs around murdering random criminals - this time not even bothering with the fact that the bullets could get traced to him. Unlike the Phantom Bullet, however, he doesn't really have a personality, and the story isn't very well written, with unexplained details (how did the Mask find the second hideout?), overly conveniently dumb criminals ("let's not shoot him, let's just tie him up and place him in the attic") and just poor storytelling in general (Why is Dennis the only one that bothers investigating the broken wheels?). They never even explain who Lester Deeks is, he's just namedropped by the narrator as if the reader should know who he is. The plot is a standard "sabotage rival company out of business" deal with absolutely nothing unique to it, and even the hero's costume looks rather dumb. The only thing that makes it stand out is the fact that the hero just goes around killing people like crazy even when they beg for their lives, and when that's all you have going for you, you're not a good comic.
As a whole
This is a definite improvement over last issue, and it feels like more effort went into actually finding quality material this time. Zephyr Jones stands out as the best feature, while Phantom Bullet and Mr. E are both relatively promising despite the flaws in their first (and unfortunately only) stories. Trojak and K-4 are both serviceable, if not overly impressive, and even the text story is good. The Laughing Mask stands out as rather poor, but it's thankfully also the shortest story in the book.
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