| Comments |
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| Fiche scans.
Most of the scans are readable without too much eye strain, except for the text story.
I especially like the unusual page 46 of the scan (numbered page 44 in the comic book)! Death Patrol by Dave Berg.
Too bad it's so hard to get paper scans for the really early and great Golden Age comic books, so I'm grateful even for the fiche scans! |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | January 1942 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: monthly |
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| Cover | The Vial of Death! |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; War | Characters: Nazi officer |
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| They Called Him "Stay-at-Home-Sammy" -- But Now He Leads the Gang ! (1 page) |
| Synopsis | Sammy cannot join his friends since he does not have a bike. A friend suggests that Sammy order a movie cyclorama and show it to his father. He does and it convinces his father to buy him a bicycle. |
| Credits | Letters:?; typeset |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Children | Characters: Sammy; Sammy's friends; Sammys' father; Sammy's mother |
| Notes | Inside front cover. Includes the indicia at the bottom of the page.
An advertisement for Schwinn-Built Bicycles and the promotional brochure for a color movie cyclorama of movie stars like Buck Jones, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and others on their bikes. |
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| Comic Story | The Vial of Death! (11 pages) |
| Synopsis | Blackhawk succeeds in getting a diabolical formula back for a destructive killer germ from the Nazis, who plan to use it to wipe out Allied forces, then takes it on the run as the Nazis concentrate their forces to catch him and get it back. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; War | Characters: Professor Hammel (introduction, death); Elsa Hammel (introduction, death); Pierre (Hammel's assistant); Fritz (Nazi villain); Nazis (villains, many die) |
| Notes | (1) Letterer credit per Cuidera and added by Craig Delich January 14, 2012.
(2) The 3 unidentified members are likely Stanislaus, Zeg, and Chuck (or possibly Boris).
(3) Subtitled, "Army" and "Stories of the Military Action on Land Section 1." |
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| Comic Story | To Kill a Commander (5.67 pages) |
| Synopsis | Bill and Boomerang fight Nazi paratroopers in Iceland. |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; War | Characters: Captain Bill Dunn; Private Boomerang Jones |
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| Synopsis | A brief breakdown of the importance of the .50 caliber machine gun for the United States Army. |
| Featuring | Modern War Weapons |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction | Characters: Private Boomerang Jones |
| Notes | Appears at the bottom of the late page of the Blue Tracer story. |
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| Comic Story | The Invasion of Iceland (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Loops and Banks fight Nazi paratroopers in Iceland. |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; Military | Characters: Banks Barrows; Loops McCann |
| Notes | Oddly, both this story and the Blue Tracer story in this issue involve a German invasion of Iceland by parachute. |
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| Synopsis | Miss America discovers an unscrupulous man who teaches children to steal, and it turns out he is also working with Nazi fifth columnists. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Tim Healy |
| Notes | Joan keeps tinkering with the design of her costume, with the stripes moving from her skirt to her blouse, with stars now appearing on the skirt. |
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| Comic Story | Clothes Make the Men (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Our heroes think they have landed in Scotland but they are thousands of miles away. At least they're able to uncover a Nazi spy ring. |
| Content | Genre: Aviation | Characters: Sam Shot; Slim Shell |
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| Comic Story | The Trap for Jerry Noble (7.75 pages) |
| Synopsis | Jerry and his animal allies break up a Japanese spy ring. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Military | Characters: Jerry Noble; Sam (an eagle); Tami (Japanese clipper ship captain, death); Japanese clipper crew members (deaths); Aki (Japanese agent); Matsiaka (Japanese agent, death); The Master (Japanese spy leader); unnamed Japanese spies; Commander Alcock |
| Notes | Larry Noble is now called Jerry Noble in this story.
Has a secondary title: "Navy" and "Stories of Military Action at Sea Section 2." |
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| Synopsis | The story of the statue of Tecumseh and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. |
| Featuring | Naval Information |
| Credits | Script:? [as Jerry Noble] (credited) |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction; Historical |
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| Comic Story | The Painted Lady Patrol (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | Boris becomes the newest member of the Patrol as it seems Gramps has been killed saving the other members. Boris and the others go up against a female Nazi Death Patrol, whose wiles won't work on the male Patrol, who are all woman haters at heart. In order to escape alive, the male Patrol dons the female uniforms, leaving the ladies to wear the male uniforms, and which results in all of them being shot to death, mistaken for the men! |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Aviation; War | Characters: The Death Patrol [Del Van Dyke; Gramps; Butch (appears to die, but returns in #12); Hank; King Hotintot; Boris (introduction)]; Nazis' version of the Death Patrol (villains, all female, all die); Adolf Hitler (villain) |
| Notes | New member Boris is referred to as "The Borsht Eater".
Writer/artist Berg demonstrates a flash of brilliance in this tale, with a stunning one-page illustration depicting the cross-section of a house with a member fighting in each room. |
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| Comic Story | Potato's Revenge (1 page) |
| Synopsis | The potatoes revolt against being peeled but it turns out to be the draftee's bad dream. |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Military |
| Notes | The last appearance of this feature. |
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| Comic Story | The Fiend of the Wilhelmstrasse (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | The Sniper faces a mad Nazi chemist who is able to turn men into monsters. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; War | Characters: The Sniper; Hans Kronitz (villain, chemist, death); Nazi sentries (some die); Kronitz's captives |
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| Text Story | The Avenger (1.67 pages) |
| Credits | Pencils:? (illustrations) | Inks:? (illustrations) | Colors:? (illustrations) | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Adventure |
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| Activity | Hero Stamp #5 Squadron Leader Roland R. S. Tuck |
| Synopsis | A brief biography of exploits R.A.F. Squadron Leader Roland R. S. Tuck and his actions against the Luftwaffe. |
| Featuring | Hero Stamp |
| Content | Genre: Biography; Military | Characters: Roland R. S. Tuck |
| Notes | Appears at the bottom of the first page of The Avenger text story. A stamp to clip out and collect, listed as worth "5". |
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| Comic Story | Who Is Monsieur X? (9 pages) |
| Synopsis | X succeeds in liberating a German ship filled with prisoners at Calais, France, and, with the help of another British ship, takes out a German destroyer. Although a Parisian newspaper reports that X was lost at sea, he, in fact, dove back into the English Channel and swam back to France to further torment the Nazis. |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction; War | Characters: Monsieur X [un-named French freedom fighter] (introduction); Nazis (villains, some die) |
| Notes | Only appearance.
Although this tale is supposed to be a true story, research tells one that the phrase, "Monsieur X", appears throughout French arts and culture, but a search in the Le Petite Journal (archived on-line only through 1940) yields no evidence of this story represented in McWilliam's tale.
Henri Rousseau painted the "Portrait of Monsieur X" (Pierre Loti, a novelist who died in 1923). It was also the name used by an erotic photographer of the 1920's and 1930's. And in 1948, Edith Piaf recorded a song called "Monsieur X", a melancholy song about a beautiful man who wandered in sadness by the Seine. |
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| Advertisement | 1000-Shot Cowboy Carbine (1 page) |
| Synopsis | An advertisement for the Red Ryder Cowboy Carbine air rifle for $2.95. |
| Credits | Script:? (ad copy) | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Western-frontier |
| Notes | Inside front cover.
An advertisement for Daisy Air Rifles from the Daisy Manufacturing Company, 4912 Union Street, Plymouth, Michigan, U. S. A. |
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| Advertisement | Big New Electronic Football 1942 Model (1 page) |
| Synopsis | An advertisement for the 1942 model electronic football game. Also mentions other electronic games for baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. |
| Featuring | Electronic Game Company |
| Credits | Script:? (ad copy) | Letters:?; typeset |
| Content | Genre: Sports | Characters: Jim Prentice |
| Notes | Back cover. Includes a blurb from Jim Prentice.
An advertisement from the Electronic Game Company, Inc., 6 Ridge Street, Holyoke, Mass. |
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| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
