Marvel Comics gets a name change after only one issue. It's worth noting that despite both the cover and indicia now says the book is titled "Marvel Mystery Comics", all mentions of the book's name in both the book itself and in other titles will always refer to it as just "Marvel Comics" or "Marvel". The same happens with their next book, Daring Mystery Comics, which will never be referred to by that name on any interior page. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the term "mystery comics" was used as a collective term for the kind of action-adventure comics these anthologies contain and the name change was just to give readers a rough idea what kind of book they were buying.
The cover features the Angel in an illustration that's interestingly enough not based on the Angel comic in the issue, but rather the text story, which also stars him this time around. The cover also promises "The Angel, Submariner, Human Torch, American Ace, Kazar the Great and other action features", but since the Angel features in the text story, there's actually only one other action feature this issue, the Masked Raider. Ah well. The American Ace is the only new name here, more about him later.
The inside front cover is rather noteworthy, featuring an ad for Silver Streak Comics #1, which I believe also contained material from Lloyd Jacquet's Funnies Inc., the comic book "content supplier" for Timely's earliest publications. I won't be going too heavily into behind-the-scenes, but this ad is rather notable for being for a comic book by an entirely different publisher. Silver Streak Comics #1 likewise contains an ad for Marvel Mystery Comics #2 (referred to in the ad as simply Marvel Comics, as noted above), which interestingly enough gives Ka-Zar the most attention.
The Human Torch
We start off with a summary of last issue's events, told as a series of typed reports from the late Professor Horton. Since they're told from his perspective, the skip over most of the stuff involving Sardo, simply noting that Horton found the Torch "in (a) blazing home", since he wasn't there to learn what really happened. But wait - the "late" Professor Horton? Yep - as a woman in the stands at the track for the Tipton Classic auto race reading about these events in a paper tells the stranger besides her, at some point after last issue, the Torch burned down Horton's house and killed him. She calls it an awful crime, but the stranger points out that it might have been Horton's own fault, the Torch obviously didn't approve of him wanting to make money off him. She asks how he knows this, since it wasn't in the papers, but drops the subject once she sees the cars warming up. The stranger is, of course, the Torch himself, and this bit about him having gone back and murdered Horton thankfully gets retconned a couple years later. The Torch killing nasty criminals instead of turning them over to the police and saying it was well deserved, fine, whatever, but Horton was seriously not presented as a bad person neither in last issue or this one, his recap report even mentioning seeing "possibilities to make a legitimate fortune" and that the Torch misunderstood his views. Yet we're apparently meant to agree with the Torch that he deserved to die.
The race starts and the cars are off, but during the third lap, car 7 is forced off the track and explodes. The Torch leaps from the stands and dashes towards the car, putting on his fire (and burning up his clothes) as he runs to save the driver, but he's too late and the man is already dead when he gets there. As he turns towards the track, he sees two more cars burst into flame, and then a third, just as a plane flying above the track swoops above it. He makes the rather obvious conclusion that the plane is murdering these racers on purpose, but just then the winner of the race, a man named Ross, rushes towards him, telling another guy to get the cops as he saw who put the cars on fire. An officer arrives on the scene and Ross accuses the Torch of being behind the burning cars, so the policeman places the Torch under arrest despite his protests about the plane. Being innocent and believing he has nothing to fear, however, the Torch turns off his flame and comes willingly, even after accidentally melting the handcuffs the policeman slapped on him before waiting until his body had cooled enough.
The Torch is thrown in jail, where his cellmate immediately introduces himself as Johnson and tells him he knows he was framed. Johnson used to be in the racing racket run by Blackie Ross, the race's winner, until he crossed him, and explains that Ross "always" uses a plane to pump incendiary bullets into competing cars to make sure he wins the races easily. So apparently, every time Ross enters a race, he wins the race while a ton of competitors get killed in mysterious explosions that happen to occur just as a plane swoops above their car, and nobody has ever thought of this as somewhat suspicious. ...If you say so. An angry Torch says he'll get these guys, then turns on his flame, runs straight through the steel bars in his cell door, then escapes the police station as he throws up walls of flames to prevent the cops from grabbing him. They fire at him with machine guns, but the bullets just melt before they can even touch him, and as they send a police car in pursuit, he simply melts their tires with a fireball and leaps away.
Not having any real leads on Ross, the Torch has to settle for just attending random races and hoping he can find anything there. Thus, we find him a few days later at the Anita Classic. The police are at the gate watching for him, but security is lax enough he can just climb a tree and watch the race from there. The race starts, and suddenly the plane from Tipton comes flying in. The Torch turns on his flame and leaps at the plane as it dives and fires bullets at a car, killing yet another driver. The Torch lands on the wings, immediately melting them as he places his hands on the motor to do the same to it. The burning plane lands and the pilot jumps out and makes a run for Ross' pit, but the Torch stops him by lighting the grass around him on fire with a thrown fireball. The pilot says he'll do anything the Torch says, but the plane unfortunately explodes at that moment and the pilot withdraws his offer, knowing that all the evidence towards him just got destroyed with the plane. Fire trucks show up to take care of the fire and the Torch runs off to avoid questioning.
Hours later, the Torch is sitting in the lobby of a local hotel frequented by racing drivers, hoping to pick up another lead. The police aren't there looking for him for some reason, but one of Ross' men, Red, recognizes him and calls Ross to alert him. Ross wants the Torch dealt with before he can cause more trouble and a female member of the gang, Lola, comes up with a plan. Shortly after, she shows up at the hotel and sits down next the the Torch, crying, and when the Torch asks what's wrong, she tells him the driver that got killed during the race was her brother and that she knows Ross is responsible. When the Torch tells her he's after Ros as well, she tells him he hangs out at the Elite Garage and kindly offers him a ride there. They arrive at the garage, but when the Torch forces open the roll doors and walks in he finds himself falling straight into the open basement and into a vat of water as Ross stands there laughing. It was a trap!
The vat is loaded on a truck and Ross instructs his driver to go to some old lime pits some hours out of town. Once they get there, they load the vat onto a cart, turn a switch, and send the cart shooting into a rocky cave until it hits the end of the track and dumps the Torch into a boiling lime pit. Ross and Lola approach the lime pit to gloat, but Ross gets creeped out when he thinks he hears laughter. Lola assures him it's just the wind, no one can laugh in boiling lime, and the two take their leave to get ready for their two day drive to Auson City and the Birmingham Handicaps, where Ross promises Lola he won't have anyone killed. But later, the residents of a nearby village see flames shoot out of the lime pit, and when they go to investigate they find an entirely empty, burned out lime pit and burning footprints coming out of the cave. And in the village, a very much alive Torch is walking around looking for a newspaper to skim for racing news. He finds one, learns about the race in Auson the next day which has a 20,000 dollar stake, and knows he has to be there, since Ross will most certainly be. Unfortunately Auson is two days travel away and the race is tomorrow, so he has no time to lose - he turns on his flame and starts a mad dash towards the city, taking any shortcut he can by leaping over streams and bridges.
He almost makes it, but not quite - as he enters the city and makes it towards the race track he can hear the cars warming their motors, and shortly after the race begins. The Torch crashes straight through the fence and runs onto the track, then starts passing race car after race car in an attempt to single out Ross'. He finally spots him and leaps onto his car, which causes Ross to lose control of it and smash into his own pit. The two men that make up his crew shows up and start shooting at the Torch to distract him, then escape into the grandstands as the Torch gives chase. The stands catch fire as the Torch runs onto them, though, and the Torch stops his chase, realizing he's about to cause a ton of innocent spectators to burn to death. Letting out a long, weird yell - "Yerrooo" - the flames and smoke disappear completely, "knowing their master's voice". With the spectators now safe, the Torch once again sets off, having seen Ross' men carry Ross into a car and drive off while he was busy putting out the fire.
Ross and his men speed through the streets with the Torch running after them, eventually swerving into a the entrance to a steel mill. The gang runs out of the car and into the mill as Ross orders everyone to put on asbestos suits and grab water hoses. When the Torch enters, he's hit with powerful jets of water from three hoses, forcing him backwards into an open converter. One of them men opens a chute and molten steel crashes into the converter, covering the Torch completely. The Torch is now clearly done for, and Ross tells his men all they have to do now is wait for the steel to harden and then dump the entire block in the sea. As they try moving the converter, however, it starts spurting like a volcano and the Torch leaps out, his body glistening with hot steel. The three men run as the Torch crashes to the floor, the weight of the steel preventing him from even standing upright. As he melts the steel off his body, he tosses a ball of flame in front of the fleeing trio, causing a fire so hot they have to back away from it despite their asbestos suits. Having rid his body of the steel, the Torch points his fingers at one of the men as he desperately tries to say he's not Ross. The Torch tells him he was just as involved in the murders as Ross was and shoots fire right into the glass protector in the man's suit, shattering it and blinding him. This one guy doesn't appear again after this panel, so I'm not entirely sure what we're meant to assume happens with him, if the Torch permanently blinded him or what. As for Ross and the other man, the heat causes a portion of the wall in the mill to collapse, so they run back outside and into the car. The Torch just stands there watching, letting the get into their car knowing they stand no chance, but the joke is on him as the car turns its back towards him and sprays a smokescreen straight into his face, letting the two killers escape with no way for him to know where they're going. Well damn.
As the Torch stands there wondering what to do next, a police car shows up. The Torch is about to escape, not wanting to get arrested again, but the man in the car tells him to stop. It's Johnson, his old cellmate. The Torch explains what's been happening since he escaped from jail and Johnson tells him they must be on their way to the airport - and as the Torch asks him how he got out of jail and threatens to take him back, he reveals that he's actually an undercover cop that's been working on this case for a while, meaning the police apparently found those planes a bit suspicious after all. The Torch and Johnson set off for the airport, which is located 5 miles away past a wooden bridge, in Johnson's car, hoping Johnson's hunch was right, but the Torch finds the car too slow to his liking and leaps off, turns on his flame, then runs for the airport on foot. After leaping across the wooden bridge to prevent it from burning he soon reaches the airport, where he asks some random guy if he's seen Blackie Ross around. The guy hasn't, but notices that it's his plane just taking off from the runway right now. The Torch was too late.
He has one last chance, though - he throws a fireball into the air, makes it pass the plane, then turn around and hit its propeller, melting it entirely and forcing the plane to land. Lola the plane's pilot and a third guy all exit the plane to find out what just melted their propeller, and as they spot the Torch coming towards them, they make a run for it. The Torch simply moves his hand in a circle and causes flames to shoot up around them stopping their escape, but as he enters the circle, the flames parting as he walks through, he notices Ross wasn't actually there. He asks the pilot where he is and the rather suicidal pilot tells him to go burn a hole in the ground, getting a flaming punch in the jaw for his attitude. Ross and his henchman arrives at the airport just then anyway, Ross wondering why his plane is surrounded by flames. He then spots the Torch and decides it's going to be either the Torch or him, then stupidly attempts to run him down. His henchman is smart enough to have had enough of this and leaps from the car as the Torch toys with Ross, jumping out of the way every time Ross comes close to hitting him.
Having had enough fun, the Torch decides to finish things, and rips the hood off Ross' car as he dodges another attempt to hit him, then shoots fire at one of Ross' tires, blowing it up and sending the car rolling over. It lands upright and Ross, still not having learned his lesson, once again tries to hit the Torch. This time the Torch burns a ditch in the ground in front of Ross' car which sends it flying as it hits it at full speed, exploding in a mass of fire as the gas tank explodes. Ross gets pinned against the wheel and screams for his life, and the Torch offers to help in exchange for a signed confession. A desperate Ross agrees and the Torch pulls him out, telling him to stop yelling, he's still wearing his asbestos suit and can't be hurt by the fire anyway. Because burning cars don't explode anymore or something. Ross signs his confession, Johnson and the police commissioner show up shortly afterwards, the Torch explains everything and hands the commissioner Ross' confession, and everything gets cleared up. Having read the confession, the commissioner turns to apologize to the Torch, but he's already gone - all that remains are two flaming footprints. And next month we get another Human Torch picture-action story!
It's so blatantly obvious what Ross' plan involves that the Torch realizes it right off the bat and the police ARE onto him, yet they still let him go on murdering people without apparently ever bothering to investigate the plane. The police arrest a man that can put himself on fire and melted the handcuffs they put on him, then toss him in a regular jail cell with steel bars. Ross has framed the Torch for the murders, yet goes on to commit more at the next race. Johnson claims to be undercover and you'd assume he got planted in the Torch's cell to tip him off about Ross, yet the police legitimately seem to think the Torch is guilty until they receive Ross' confession. Despite mysterious exploding cars at all recent races that were won by a particular driver, nobody seem to consider canceling some upcoming races or taking any real measures against this stuff. And then there's the bit about Torch killing Horton, which apparently doesn't make him a murderer. Yeah, it's not the tightest plotted story out there. But it's still fun, with lots of action and a villain that seems to get the upper hand a couple times, culminating in a nice showdown at the end. It's good stuff.
The Angel
"The mysterious enchantment of the China Sea is broken by the low moan of the fog-horn on the S.S. Oregon as she docks at Hongkong. One passenger, Jane Framan, stands wistfully watching the dark, unknown city..." Jane has come to Hongkong with orders to "report fully on the lost temple of Alano for the Smithsonian Institute", which she thinks of as an awful, big order. As she turns towards the wharf, she sees a "gruely" looking stranger staring directly at her for a bit, before ducking into an alley as the gankplank is lowered, much to her relief. She orders her baggage sent to the international hotel, then boards a rickshaw, while another stranger boards another one and tells his driver to follow Jane. Not long after, Jane is attacked by the "gruely" guy from the docks, as he leaps out of an alley and knocks her rickshaw to the ground. He produces a knife and is about to stab her, but the other stranger, the one that was following her, stops him with a punch to the face, then keeps beating on him as he backs down across the street and eventually falls off the docks into the water.
Jane's rescuer then returns to her, where yet another stranger is making sure she's okay - one the rescuer seem to recognize beneath his disguise. They both thank the rescuer for his help, and the newcomer offers to take Jane wherever she wants to go. She says it's just up the street, but the newcomer won't take no for an answer and helps her into his car. Her rescuer, meanwhile, picks up the bag she dropped, but quickly scribbles a note on a piece of paper and sneaks it into the bag before handing it back to her and watching the two drive off. The rescuer mumbles to himself that the newcomer made himself a bit too obvious in his attempt at getting on Jane's good side, having a hunch that "the curse on the map to the treasures of Alano is not a curse, but a well worked out plan to get its treasures". And in the car, the newcomer tells Jane he's been in this country for many years and that she should not hesitate to let him know if there's anything he can do. Jane replies that there's nothing at the moment, but that she might have something later, as she opens her bag and finds the note from her rescuer: "Be careful - Your worst enemy may act as your best friend! Guard the map of the treasures if you value your life! Signed, The Angel". And as the car arrives at the hotel, she bids the newcomer farewell as the overeager man hands her his card and says he'll call tomorrow to discuss how he can help her. "Too obvious" indeed.
The rescuer that gave her the note was, of course, the Angel, and down at the waterfront he removes his outer garments to reveal his Superman-esque suit before climbing a building to search for the man he threw in the water. The man eventually climbs back up on the street and darts into an alley, and the Angel follows him from above until he spots him entering a building. Two other men there asks if he got the map, but he says someone interfered before he could do so. The other men tell him the boss won't be happy about that, but as they settle down at the table, a cold wind blows through the room. The man from the docks goes to investigate and, as he opens the door, once again gets punched out by the Angel. One of the other men draws a gun and fires, but he misses and the Angel mops the floor with all three of them.
Meanwhile, at the hotel, Jane worries about what happened earlier and starts thinking there might actually BE a curse on this map to the temple she's in possession of - everyone else that came to get these treasures has apparently died - then decides her best course of action is to see the American consul about the best way into Tibet. Just then the man that gave her a ride, Mr. Sumner, walks in from her balcony door, demanding the map. Realizing the Angel was right, she moves backwards to a trunk and pulls a gun from it, but Sumner throws a knife at her hand and knocks the gun from it, calling it a trick he learned in India. Taking the map, he orders her at gunpoint to get dressed, saying he has no intent to leave her her free to call the police, he's going to take care of her the safe way - the same way he took care of the others. As she gets dressed, Sumner uses the phone in her room to call what he thinks is his men, telling them to get ready: He's got the map and will be down with the girl in a little while, so they should prepare to get rid of her. Of course, the men he thought he was calling were the same men the Angel just beat up, so it was actually the Angel that picked up the phone.
Sumner leads Jane at gunpoint to his car, then orders her to drive where he tells her to, since he wants to keep watch on her. She does so, but after a while she suddenly swerves and crashes into a lamp post. Sumner pulls his gun to kill her there and then, but a policeman shows up, so he pulls her into an alley, nearly breaking her arm as he leads her to the hideout. But as he opens the door, the Angel grabs him by his neck and throws him through the room, orders Jane into a corner, then beats the hell out of Sumner before he has the chance to shoot. He takes the map and returns it to Jane, telling her she can travel safely to Tibet now, then explains that the "curse" on the map was just Sumner.
As the Angel explains, Sumner's real name is Lelong, and he was part of the original expedition to the temple, where the expedition's leader Dr. Landin found the map to its treasures, but refused to show it to the other members out of fear "that the lust for wealth would destroy its treasures". Lelong made up a rumor that the map was cursed, then killed the other members of the expedition one by one, but wasn't able to kill Landin before he had sent the map to Washington for safekeeping. He made himself "mysteriously disappear" just like the other members of the expedition, took on the fake identity of Sumner, then took to hang out in Hongkong, waiting for Washington to send someone else with the map there so he could steal it, kill them, blame the curse, then use the map to locate the treasures in the temple. But the Angel "put two and two together and played a hunch" to put a stop to it all, telling Jane to have the police give Sumner a shave and a haircut to discover the "dead" Lelong. Another thrilling adventure of The Angel will appear in the next issue!!!
Yeah, the entire plot gets infodumped on the reader in three text heavy panels at the very end of the final page of this 8 page story, but this is still probably the best written story in the issue. It's an exciting adventure in an exotic setting, with some nice action sequences. The Angel is once again presented as a mysterious hero that just shows up to help when needed, this time with the story outright stating that he did his investigations off panel, while the reader is almost just as clueless as Jane to what's really going on until the Angel explains everything at the end. It's effective and I like it a lot.
The Sub-Mariner
This story picks up exactly where last issue ended, with Namor diving from the plane after sending Dorma on her way. "Along unchartered lanes through the sub-sea he spurts! What is his destination?" He doesn't actually seem to have one in particular, but still eventually arrives in New York City. Gazing with wonder at the skyline, he cautiously swims into the harbor to investigate, but suddenly finds himself sucked downwards, towards an illuminated building he was looking at. He tries fighting the current, but is eventually sucked into a tube. As he's drawn through it, he manages to brace his arms against the tube's sides to stop his momentum, then changes position so he can shove at a spot in the wall with both arms. He eventually pushes through, creating a huge hole in the side of the tube that sends him and a geyser of water bursting into the interior of a powerhouse to the shock of the workers there. The workers quickly turn valves to shut off the water as Namor watches from the girders the burst shot him into. The workers eventually spot him and a frightened Namor gets to his feet to escape, but trips on a live wire and gets electrocuted. Angry and thinking the shock was an attack by the men down on the floor, he starts ripping loose entire girders from their rivets and hurls them towards workers and machinery, smashing equipment and demolishing the plant as the workers flee. And then, as the roof starts collapsing, he dives through a window and makes his escape.
He flies through the air until he reaches Central Park, where he spots a lake and dives into it to be back in his familiar element. But the alarm is out for him and a policeman that spotted him land in the lake whistles for him to surrender. Namor ignores him, so the officer pulls out his gun and opens fire as Namor ducks below. He gets curious about the bullets and returns to the surface, catching one in mid air with his bare hand as the policeman approaches him in a rowboat. He ducks back underwater to examine the "pebble", laughs at the idea that this man thought something like this could possibly hurt him, then capsizes the rowboat in anger towards these men for daring to attack him before flying off again, leaving the policeman and the oarman clinging to their boat. Soaring across Fifth Avenue, he reaches East River and drops into it, then follows it until he spots a sewer outlet - an "aperture in the sea-wall". He walks through the sewers until he comes across a drunk tramp greeting him and asking what he's doing there. Namor rudely blows him off, then threatens him and tells him to shut up and take his clothes off. Twenty minutes later, Namor is again walking through the sewers, this time dressed in the tramp's clothes and looking for a way out. He eventually spots light from above and climbs a nearby ladder, lifting a manhole cover to find himself in the middle of Fifth Avenue.
He runs off the street, miraculously avoiding getting hit by a car, then goes down a side street. Realizing he should get some nice looking clothes than this, he approaches a fancy house "in the 80's" and knocks on the door, telling the butler that opens that he'd like to see his master. Pinkerton the butler and his rather amusing British accent directs "the likes of Namor" to the service entrance, but the lady of the house sees the scene from the stairs and tells him to let the visitor in - "He looks all right". Just then, she accidentally touches her dress with the cigarette at the end of her fancy cigarette holder and it goes up in flames. Namor has never seen fire before, but can clearly see the woman is screaming for help, so he leaps towards her only for his own clothes to catch on fire as well. But "the heat brings forth stored-up water in his system, and his entire body acts as a "sprinkler" - water spurts from his pores and drenches both himself and the unconscious girl!" The butler asks what just happened, but Namor tells him to hurry and call a physician, the woman obviously needs medical attention. As the butler calls, Namor wraps himself in a silk curtain and takes his leave. He doesn't like to leave the girl, and there are riches to be found in the house, but he'd rather avoid any questions from the butler at this point.
While he sneaks out the window, he decides he'd rather take the girl with him, so he leaps to a roof overlooking the front of the house, waits for the ambulance to arrive and the attendants to enter the house and carry the girl into the car, then leaps on top of it as it races off, sirens screaming. The police spot him riding on the roof of the ambulance, but are unable to do anything about it, and the ambulance arrives at the emergency ward. The girl is carried inside the building and Namor follows. He approaches the medical staff tending to the girl, telling them to stand still or he'll kill them, then punches out a guy that didn't listen before tying up the rest and grabbing the girl. She will apparently be useful to him in his crusade against these murderous Americans. Not realizing she can't live under water, he flies off with her towards the waterfront, but people spot him and the police follow him there.
He lands at the dock and removes the curtain he wrapped around himself in preparation to dive in, but a bunch of police officers arrive before he can do so. They recognize him as the guy that wrecked the power plant and open fire, but the bullets deal no damage. As the policemen are stunned, Namor rushes towards the nearest car and throws it at the five officers, killing three of them. He then grabs the girl and dives into the water, the two remaining officers courageously leaping after him. The first officer swims towards Namor and he releases the girl to fight back, giving the second officer the chance to grab the girl and swim to the surface with her before she can drown. Namor kills the second cop and looks for the girl, but she's already been taken to the surface and is receiving CPR from the single surviving policeman. His lieutenant arrives and he gives his report, as the lieutenant wonders what kind of creature this creepy humanoid could possibly be. "And so, only a few bubbles on the water's surface show where the Submariner was last seen - Where will he turn up next? And will he continue his evil deeds? Watch for the next episode!"
Namor is almost like a wild animal here, with the narrator voice explaining how he reacts to unfamiliar things, almost like this is a nature documentary, though it feels a bit inconsistent in how much Namor knows about surface people and their lifestyle. Last issue he knew what a lighthouse was and what it does, but here he has no idea what fire or guns are? Once again it's setup: There's not much story here, mostly just Namor causing some minor damage and establishing his power level, but it definitely does its job in making you want to see what happens next.
The Masked Raider
"Nestling in a valley protected by rocky mountains lay the headquarters of a town of wanted men - for years they have been harassing and robbing the ranches and nearby towns of Rawhide Range." This town of criminals is ruled by a "short, powerfully built, vicious killer" named "Hook" Tebbs, who has a hook in place of one arm, and he's just worked out a plan for holding up a gold bullion train at Prairie City. He tells a guy named Tex he'll need a couple men for this, so Tex sets off for Prairie City where he contacts Shorty, one of Tebbs' men stationed there. Shorty tells him there hasn't been any strangers coming by lately, at least not gunmen, but shortly after a mysterious stranger does indeed ride into town. It's the Masked Raider, undercover - he's heard of Tebbs' gang and plans on acting like a fugitive and work his way into it.
The Raider stops by the saloon and enters, pretending to look like he's in a hurry, and Tex has Shorty check his saddlebags while he looks him over. The undercover Raider pulls his guns at Tex the instant he approaches and asks if the law is after him, then "admits" to this being the case. Tex says he could tell, then tells the strange he knows a good spot to hide if he needs one. As they're talking, Tex overhears a very loud and convenient conversation between the sheriff and some other guy at the street where they mention a lone bandit robbed the bank at Rodeo and made off slick with 10.000 dollars, which the undercover Raider claims to know nothing about when Tex asks. As the two leave the saloon, Shorty comes over and whispers to Tex that the Raider has money and sacks with the Rodeo Bank's name on them in his saddlebags, so Tex buys the entire bluff and offers the stranger a place in "Hook" Tebbs' gang, which he accepts.
Tex leads him to Tebbs' hideout, telling him that people Tebbs turns down never come back, while showing off both their sharpshooter guard and the skeletal remains of a U.S. Marshall that tried infiltrating the gang. Tex leaves the undercover Raider outside and reports to Tebbs, talking up the new recruit, but as Tebbs steps outside he finds the Raider sitting defiantly on the steps, not rising to greet his new boss. Tebbs brings him to his knees and starts manhandling him, but the Raider knocks him into a barrel and draws his guns on the gang before anyone else has the chance to do so. Tebbs tells the Raider to put up his guns, he's exactly the kind of guy he wants in his gang, then invites him to eat with him and Tex that night. Tebbs tells the Raider about the train job and explains that he'll take orders from Tex until then, and as the night falls an unsuspecting Tex tells the Raider, who has now taken the name Streak, about this city of Outlaw Gulch. The gang sleeps outside that night and the Raider takes the opportunity to sneak off back to Prairie City, past the sleeping and rather ineffective guard, to inform the sheriff everything is going according to plan. The Raider is going to find out where the gang keeps their loot, then take care of the guard and send a signal for the sheriff and his men to come in and get the gang... all of which sounds like things they could have just agreed on in advance so the Raider wouldn't have needed to pull this risky escape.
The Raider returns to Outlaw Gulch, where his escape has gone unnoticed. The next day a gang member named Miguel tries mocking him over being ordered to carry pails, gets a pail in the head in return, then a flying tackle once he pulls out a knife. Tex stops the fight and tells "Streak" Tebbs wants to see him while he, Miguel and ten others ride to Prairie City. Tebbs shows "Streak" around while they're gone, which includes telling him about their storage vault at the bottom of a well, but once Tebbs returns to the ranch house, the Raider makes the rather ill-advised decision to sneak down the well for a look at the storage. Tebbs is down there waiting for him, having entered via another entrance, and holds him up, saying he was suspicious of his new recruit. The Raider is tied up rather than shot on the spot since Tebbs wants to wait for the gang to return, but once Tebbs leaves, the Raider frees himself off-panel, sneaks out of the well, knocks out the guard and lights a signal fire for the sheriff as agreed on.
The sheriff sees the signal and rides for Outlaw Gulch with his men, but Tebbs has also seen the fire and set a trap for the sheriff together with one of his remaining men. But the Raider, now in costume, sneaks up behind them and captures them, then waits for the sheriff to arrive. The Raider, the sheriff and his men then prepare for Tex and the rest of the gang to arrive, and once they do, the Raider stops them and tells them they're surrounded, so they'd better surrender. "You'll never take me alive" says Tex, who recognizes the Raider's voice as Streak, and the gang makes a run for it. One off-panel battle later and Tex is shot dead, Tebbs is dying from being "shot too badly" even though he wasn't even anywhere near the shooting, while the rest of the gang is going to hang for their crimes. The sheriff thanks the Raider on behalf of honest people. "Now we c'n live in peace again".
Having an undercover Raider infiltrate a gang could've made for a decent story, as could the idea of a "town of wanted men", but after the setup the story just ends without going anywhere and almost all the action takes place off-panel. That long scene with Miguel that feels like setup serves absolutely no purpose either, and I have no idea when Tebbs is supposed to have got shot. Poorly written and disappointing.
American Ace
New strip! Just like the Sub-Mariner story in issue 1, this story was also originally made for Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly #1, which makes you wonder why they didn't put it in the first issue instead of the standalone Jungle Terror.
The story begins with the history of Queen Ursula of Castille d'Or: Not so many years ago a bloody conflict waged in Europe, one if which more than fifteen million humans died. When the war had ended, all of humanity vowed in unison that there would be no more wars. That is, all except one person - queen Ursula. Her dreams of an empire had been shattered, her colonies had been lost and she herself had been banished to an island in the Atlantic. Through her years in exile she had kept in regular contact with loyal followers from her old country, followers who eventually became the most powerful men in Castile d'Or, with a mighty army. They eventually smuggle Ursula back into the country, where she is ready for revenge. First on her list is Attainia, the country that took her colonies almost twenty years ago... but she'll need an excuse to declare war on them. And that's easy enough to create: Castile d'Or has a minister in Attainia unaware of her plans, so she arranges for a professional killer dressed in the uniform of an Attainian soldier to assassinate him in full public view... This is starting to sound rather familiar.
The killer hides behind a tree, shoots the minister as his car passes by, then escapes in a waiting car before anyone can stop him. Shortly after officials from Castle d'Or show up and demand an exorbitant compensation for the man's death, with threats of war if their demands are not met. The world at large speak in fear of the start of a second world war - imagine THAT - and as Attaina fails to meet the demands, queen Ursula is reported to have come out of exile out of a heartfelt desire to avenge the minister's death. She sways the populace of Castile d'Or with a fiery speech and the country goes to war as the Attainian monarch bows his head in sadness as he sees his throne tottering.
That's the backstory, and we now join American mining engineer Perry Wade as he's flying to Attainia on business, unaware of the war that just broke out. As he arrives in the capital, which apparently doesn't have a name worth mentioning, he finds it turmoil as soldiers are departing for the front. He takes a side street to avoid the crowds, where he's immediately met by a gang of poor kids begging for pennies. He tosses out a handful and the kids dive at them, but just then the drone of engines approaches, a siren sounds, people yell and a soldier comes running, telling people to take cover. It's an air raid, and Perry looks up to see bombers from Castile d'Or drop three bombs straight towards him and the kids. He yells at the kids to get away, but it's too late: "Agonized screams rend the air and the tiny mangled bodies are hurled forty feet in the air!" Beautiful buildings collapse, Attainian anti-air batteries get blown to bits in their futile attempts to save the city, and a fire breaks out. Wade got knocked out in the explosion that killed the kids, but now crawls to his feet, ready to see the death and destruction around him... in the next issue, because that's where the story ends for now.
So in short, an American travels to Europe only to watch innocent kids get bombed to death right in front of his eyes. Fun for the entire family. Yeah, it's not a happy story, and it's pure setup for next month, but what's here is very intriguing and I can't wait to see what comes next. I've read these early issues before, but I honestly don't remember the continuation here. And I really can't understand why this wasn't in issue 1, it's way way better than Jungle Terror.
Death-bird Squadron
It's night in the Polish town of Grybow... which is an actual place, mind you, I wonder how many readers at the time knew that. Poland is at war, but the town is still going about its business as usual - until an air raid siren sounds and everyone dashes for cover, everyone except one blue-clad figure: The Angel, once again "on the prowl in his neverending campaign to wipe the international war-mongers from the face of the earth". Bombers soon show up and start bombing the town, but before they did so, the Angel had flexed his muscles and jumped straight to the top of the highest building in sight. Uh, I'm not so sure he can do that. When the bombers pass overhead, he once again makes a massive jump and manages to catch on to the wheel-pants of the leading bomber. Fighting the slipstream, he manages to climb up onto the wing, then punches straight through the body of the plane (I'm VERY sure he can't do that), grabs the pilot (who speaks a bit of German for the benefit of particularly slow readers), and throws him at the gunner, crushing the skulls of both men. He then grabs the machine gun in the turret and shoots at the closest bomber, which bursts into flames and falls downwards, conveniently enough hitting another bomber that was flying below it. Finally he points his plane towards the last remaining bomber, locks the control and leaps out, landing easily on the street below as the two planes explode in the air. People stare at the sky, wondering what had happened, but the Angel just smiles, knowing this was just another of his many heroic deeds he'd never be thanked for.
World War 2 "officially" started with the German bombing of Wieluń September 1st 1939. This book was on sale in October 1939, so this short story must've been written pretty much instantly after that in order to make it into the book in time. It even inspired the cover. It's actually a pretty cool read, and historically interesting as the first of Timely's very very very VERY many anti-Nazi stories. Just a bit of a shame that writer David C. Cooke seems to be confusing the Angel for Superman or something.
Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great, from the famous character created by Bob Byrd
The adaptation of the first Ka-Zar novel continues, picking up where last issue ended and adapting chapter 10, 11 and 12. Ka-Zar follows Zar to his cave, where Zar makes it clear to his mate Sha that Ka-Zar will remain with them. Time passes, and Ka-Zar soon "became but another beast". One day, upon seeing his reflection in Ka-Zar is reminded of the mirror he saw in De Kraft's camp and decides to return there and take it. On the way, he hears the crashing sounds of Chaka and his tribe of apes, and once he reaches the now rotted tent, he hears sounds inside. Raising the flap, he finds Bardak, one of Chaka's apes, holding the mirror. Ka-Zar demands the mirror, but Bardak refuses, and Ka-Zar meets his challenge with his knife. But after Bardak grips Ka-Zar's wrist and forces him to drop the knife, Ka-Zar gets Bardak in an arm lock and forces the ape to surrender and admit that Ka-Zar is his master. He lets him go, sparing his life, then returns to the cave with the mirror to tell Zar, who doesn't much approve of such acts of pity.
Time passes, with Ka-Zar making weekly pilgrimages to his parents' graves, never forgetting his hate for De Kraft. Sha grows more and more unapproachable, and one day Zar suggests he and Ka-Zar take a trip, so Ka-Zar suggests the go find Trajah and his elephants. They do so, but as they stop in a ravine to drink from a stream, they hear a loud crashing ahead of them. Zar scrambles up the side of the ravine and signals to Ka-Zar that he should flee as well, but before the boy can do so, an elephant appears in the ravine and charges at him. Ka-Zar scrambles up into a tree, but the elephant throws itself at it and eventually makes it topple by pulling its roots loose with its trunk. Ka-Zar times the fall perfectly and manages to swing away, making it to another tree despite the vine tearing loose, then rejoins Zar, wondering why this elephant had violated the code of the jungle - to kill only for food. As he ponders this, he hears more crashing, and a herd of elephants comes walking down the same way, led by Trajah. Ka-Zar introduces himself and asks Trajah why one of them just tried to slay him when they came in peace. Trajah explains that that was Tupat. "The madness has come upon him!" Trajah eventually comes to realize that Ka-Zar was to be a valuable friend, and Ka-Zar and Zar return to the cave, this having been Ka-Zar's first encounter with mad elephants. Back at the cave, Zar learns that he has become a father of two newborn cubs. Ka-Zar attempts to touch them but receives a blow from Sha instead, and Zar advises him to stay away from them. And that night the two sleep outside the entrance, to guard the cubs inside.
As the cubs grow, Bardak keeps thinking of the mirror Ka-Zar had taken from him. The most desirable female in the tree, Ganya, taunts him about his defeat, and Bardak decides the only way to restore himself in her eyes is to get the mirror. For days, he hides in a tree by the lion cave, and as he notes Ka-Zar isn't carrying the mirror, deduces it must be inside. So when Sha one day leaves with the cubs, he sneaks in to search. He finds Ka-Zar's bed of branches and moss, but there' no mirror there. Hearing Sha roar, he remembers the dangerous position he's in and exits the cave just as Sha appears. As he leaps for a nearby tree a mad impulse hits him and he snatches Zoro, one of the lion cubs, and carries it into the tree with him, barely missing Sha's lunge. Sha snarls in rage and is eventually joined by the roars of Zar and Ka-Zar, which frighten Bardak.
Ka-Zar and Zar join up with her as Chaka and the entire ape tribe chuckle at them. Zar orders Bardak to return Zoro or his entire tride will pay, but Bardak refuses and Chaka likewise refuses to assist Zar despite threats of war. Ka-Zar orders Bardak down and reminds him that Ka-Zar is his master, but Bardak only tells him that in that case, Ka-Zar can save his brother. Ka-Zar tells Bardak he'll die this time, as Bardak hurls Zoro from the top of a tree in an attempt to kill the cub. Ka-Zar catches it, saving its life, then climbs the tree to confront Bardak. Realizing he needs to get above his enemy, he jumps to a higher branch, the edges out towards Bardak. Preparing for the branch to give way, he waits for it to do so, then lands on Bardak's back and stabs him in the chest with his knife. Climbing down, he tells Chaka that whomever molests his brothers dies, and the apes depart as Sha comes to thank the boy, finally accepting him. Next issue: "Trajah comes for help"
"The law of the jungle is that you only kill for food", Ka-Zar says, a few pages after being admonished by Zar for not killing Bardak and a few pages before actually killing Bardak and not treating this as anything bad. No, this inconsistency isn't there in the novel. The adaptation as a whole is better done than last issue, but there's still all kinds of issues caused by important bits being left out. If you treat this as a standalone story rather than part of a novel, the bit with the elephants also feels very random and unrelated to the rest of the story. Once again, you're better off just reading the novel itself rather than this illustrated and shoddy summary.
All in Fun
The inside of the back cover has more one-panel gags from Ed Wood, author of the ones from issue 1
*A guy is turned away from state prison on a rainy night and finds this unfair
*A guy has goldfish in his water cooler, saying he's just keeping them for a friend
*Two goldfish in a fishbowl look at a cat watching them, and one says "I don't trust that cat, let's leave"
*The driver of a "We fix wrecks" car hits another car and his boss is happy, saying their business has doubled since they hired him.
*A milkman wears a bunch of fake legs around his waist so a woman's angry dog will no longer bother him.
The one with the dog actually made me chuckle. The rest are pretty lame, but at least they all made sense.
Loony Laffs!
More one-panel gags on the back cover.
*A ventriloquist has crashed his car. His dummy is in the passenger seat and a policeman asks which of them was driving.
*A sailor looks inside an empty diving suit and tells his captain he thinks seaman Jones has deserted.
*A mountain climber tells his two partners it looks like they have to turn around and go back as the two partners are already in the process of falling down the mountain.
*A magician is held up by a mugger and raises all 6 of his hands.
*A Siamese twin tells the other "your nose itches".
All five are tremendously unfunny. No loony laffs from me.
As a whole
Ka-Zar still suffers from being poorly adapted from a much better novel and Masked Raider is still pretty bad in general (if I remember right, it never gets particularly good). The rest is fairly solid, with American Ace having a very strong start.
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