(Thrilling Comics 006, 1940) The Central Art Museum has a problem: a cloaked figure who creeps through the halls at night, murdering the guards and making off with their bodies. To make things worse, the investigation is being led by the boorish Inspector Cavanaugh, the Woman in Red’s new and very annoying comic foil, who I regret to inform you is a permanent addition to her cast. But speaking of the Woman in Red, she is also on the case. As…
Science for all! Whether they want it or not! Doctor Ivan has been pursuing a scheme in which he is systematically taking out insurance policies on everyone he knows and then having them murdered, and he is extremely smug about it. Now, I’m no expert in insurance fraud, but I have to say that I am certain that it requires a bit more subtlety than that, even if you’re doing it as a one-off. Forget the fact that the Flame…
(Thrilling Comics 005, 1940) Sometimes when I’m writing the original drafts of these entries I’m tired or rushed or the like and I go into Extreme Shorthand Mode, and sometimes that version of the writeup is very charming to me when I come back to it a couple of weeks later. Which is all to say that the younger, rushed version of me wrote “merlin stung by brutal own” to describe how the venerable wizard took being exposed as a fraud by…
Are you ready for some comic book versions of real life and fictional people? I sure hope so! Adolf Hitler: Premier Grahvin of the fictional African country of Cadiwa is a pretty broad pastiche of the Axis leaders, but the sheer speed at which he accelerates into full-blown dictator mode (before Mr Mystic turns up to reveal that he had not, in fact killed the king of Cadiwa and was not, in fact, in charge) must be highlighted. (The Spirit…
(Thrilling Comics 005, 1940) Things are bad in New York City: the city is corrupt seemingly from top to bottom, civic leader Henry Adams has had enough of it, and his zeal is infectious: Doc Strange sets out to clean up the municipal landscape and beats up a wide variety of crooked politicians and businessmen, including: – District Attorney Big Bill Roberts – Lawyer Ollie Saunders – Contractor Alfred Quinn – Brewer Von Strohm – a bunch of unnamed gangsters…
(Thrilling Comics 004, 1940) A wave of kidnappings is sweeping the US! Important men are disappearing left and right! Never fear, however, for the Ghost is on the case, and thanks to his magical acumen he is able to trace the latest kidnappee to the mysterious mansion lair of the culprit: the pompadoured scientist known as Professor Fenton! Professor Fenton’s plan turns out to be unusually, even impractically complicated. To whit: 1. kidnap all of America’s Important Men 2. stash…
(Thrilling Comics 004, 1940) Things get hairy when businessman Ogden Phillips invites a selection of acquaintances to his country home for a seance, only to immediately be kidnapped by a terrifyingly earless phantasm once the lights go out. Bad news for Phillips (victim) and his guests (suspects) and even Police Inspector Dougherty (keeps getting bonked on the head), but great for me because these early Woman in Red comics are structured like whodunnit mysteries (which I love) but the first…
(Thrilling Comics 003, 1940) The Valery family have a problem: they are set to inherit a fortune from their deceased relative John Valery, but on the condition that they all live in the family estate, Valery Grange, for a full year, and danged if a mysterious character called the Terror hasn’t started bumping them off just as they were about to complete the terms of John’s will. Enter undercover police officer Peggy Allen, aka the Woman in Red, once again…
(Thrilling Comics 002, 1940) Metropolitan Hospital* is in trouble! A mysterious masked figure dubbed the Mystery Man** has been conducting a campaign of terror against the august institution that includes both seemingly random and seemingly targeted murders, the installation of a gang boss and his henchmen in one of the wards, and the theft of $100 000 worth of radium! It’s the perfect case for the Woman in Red to make her debut, as undercover police officer Peggy Allen is…
Some real gems here tonite. Executed gangster Black Morger’s four identical sons reconvene twenty-five years after their father’s execution to seek revenge on the four people who they consider to be responsible for his death (and for that of their mother, who had some sort of rage-induced heart attack at the instant of Black Morger’s demise). To their credit, they manage to kill two of them before the Spirit butts in and foils their plot. REVENGE KILLER SCORE: 2/4 (The…