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| Walter Frehm had assisted Will Giould on Red Barry; interesting to see the early-Gould influence on Frehm's Green Mask story. |
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| I started reading Mystery Men Comics because of a reference on the Blue Beetle radio show to which I was listening on another site. Although I had read about Victor Fox ("The King of Comics") in various comic book histories and biographies, I realized I hadn't read any. I didn't really expect to enjoy any of them. But with 68 pages and a wide-range of heroes, this title has proved interesting to me.
In #2, I realized again that the Chinese mastermind, Chen Chang, was essentially a simplified version of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu from earlier in the century. Richard Kendall plays the Nayland Smith role and, of course, Chen Chang is the notorious criminal mastermind. I really like the realism of Cecilia Munson's inks.
In #1, I had thought that the costume of the Green Mask looked familiar. I suddenly realized it was like that of the early cinematic Zorro. In the first film, it appears that Fairbanks wore a red bandanna and black mask (though both looked black in the bw film), but was apparently all black by 1936's Bold Caballero film. And, although the Green Mask comics feature preceded the Green Hornet comic releases, the idea of an incognito vigilante masquerading as a criminal had already been presented in the Green Hornet radio program of approximately 3 years earlier.
I'm glad that the Ray Dexter stories are in the title. They seem to be a more far-fetched (if that's possible) mix of a reverse-John Carter of Mars with E. E. Doc Smith technology. The episode in Mystery Men #2 has a plot inconsistency that bothered me, though. In one full frame, Dexter has to take his glove off to fire his "destroyer ray" gun. Yet, there seems to be no consequence to him on this irradiated planet. I wonder if that will appear later or if it was a plot point for which the author ran out of room in developing the story.
When I was reading the "Wing Turner" story in #2, I was initially offended at the characterization of the Mexican dialect used by the (apparently, recurring) villain: "wan more plane," "reed of heem," and "weel show" are just a few. Then, I wondered why the villain was Mexican in the first place. After all, Mexico was, at least, an economic ally in World War II and FDR had that "Good Neighbor Policy." Little had I realized till I read this story and it inspired me to do further research that Mexico had nationalized U.K. and U.S. oil properties (as well as 3 million acres of agricultural land owned by U.S. citizens/corporations) in 1938--one year before this volume was published. Who says comic books aren't educational? (Oh, yeah! That was "Dr." Fredric Wertham and the so-called educators and congressmen of the 1950s.)
I'm not sure how I feel about Zanzibar the Magician after reading two installments. Although it seems inspired by the syndicated comic strip that started in 1934, Mandrake the Magician. However, Zanzibar has more magical powers than those of illusion and hypnosis used by Mandrake.
The Inspector Bancroft story was nice, but I was curious about the author, penciller, and inker--Art Franklin. The comicbookdb.com listing gives him credit for art in #1, #3, #4, and #5 but ignores his contribution to this issue as apparently author and artist.
I noticed that the Blue Beetle's "high-powered car" has evolved in this second episode. And, while looking at the art, I discovered why it looked familiar. Not only did it come out of the Eisner shop, but Chuck "Charles Nicholas" Cuidera was the artist on DC's Blackhawk comics and Hawkman features when I was a kid.
I didn't see anything particularly memorable in the Waco Kid story and I was only mildly amused by the fictitious names of Duraguay and Gothland in the D-13 Secret Agent story. I was intrigued by the continuing isolationist message a the conclusion of the latter, though. And I wasn't amused at the "Tonto-speak" of the Indian (not Native American) characters in Captain Denny Scott of the Bengal Lancers. And I couldn't help but wonder why these fisticuff-oriented heroes like Lt. Drake of the Naval Intelligence never seem to have heard of the idea of "back-up."
All in all, I was impressed with the package put together for this issue. An anthology title such as this is bound to be uneven, but even with its unevenness, this title was significantly better than I expected. |
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| I don't think the message of the D-13 story was isolationist. It was written several months before the war began, and carried a message against the military aggression of, and any alliance with, "Gothland" a.k.a. Nazi Germany. It was pro-peace, for avoiding war - but by containing Germany, not ignoring it.
Bob Powell, who wrote and drew the story, was fervently anti-Nazi. |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | September 1939 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: monthly |
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| Comic Story | The Tong War of San Sin (9 pages) |
| Synopsis | The Green Mask, alarmed at the Tong wars erupting in Chinatown, seemingly joins forces with the nefarious San Sin in order to find a way to rescue Fong Lee's daughter from his evil clutches. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Green Mask [Michael Shelby]; "News" Blake (reporter); Chu Fan (antique dealer, death); Foo Young (merchant, death); Sing Tew (merchant, death); Fong Lee (former King of Chinatown, introduction); Lotus Lee (Fong Lee's daughter, introduction); San Sin (villain, introduction); Lo Fang (villain, San Sin's henchman, introduction) |
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| Comic Story | Crisis on Capris (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | A mysterious plague threatens to destroy all life on Earth, and the only cure is radium. But the Earth doesn't have sufficient quantities to deal with the disease. Therefore, Rex and Cynde head to the planet Capris to obtain the valuable material. |
| Content | Genre: Science Fiction | Characters: Rex Dexter; Professor Landar; Cynde (spaceship pilot); The Caprisians (villain, monsters, introduction for all, many die) |
| Notes | Story time frame is 2000 A.D.. |
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| Comic Story | So I close this meeting of junior detectives... (2 pages) |
| Synopsis | Butch and his pal see easy dough by snatching Billy for ransom. |
| Content | Genre: Children; Crime | Characters: Billy Bounce; Butch (villain); un-named crook (villain) |
| Notes | "Norman Lee" was a pen name according to the Who's Who.
For this story only, the Feature Logo is "Billy Bounce, the Kid Detective". |
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| Comic Story | River Lily the Pirate (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | River pirate Chang orders his thugs to capture Kendall and take him to the mysterious River Lily aboard the "Dragon Heart". |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Crime | Characters: Richard Kendall; Chen Chang (villain); Chang's thugs [Wong; rest un-named] (introduction for all); River Lily (villain, introduction) |
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| Comic Story | The Stolen Transport Planes (3 pages) |
| Synopsis | Wing is called in to discover the whereabouts of six missing transport planes. |
| Credits | Pencils:? [as Floyd Kelly (byline)] | Inks:? [as Floyd Kelly (byline)] |
| Content | Genre: Aviation; Detective-mystery | Characters: Wing Turner; Senor Zanko (villain, smuggler, introduction); Chico (villain, introduction) |
| Notes | Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. notes that George Tuska did not draw this story (2009-2-28).
For this story only, the Feature Logo is "Wing Turner, Air Detective". |
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| Text Article | Ben Rosenberg |
| Synopsis | Detective Ben Rosenberg tracks down two notorious robbers that have been commiting crimes on Broadway in 1932. |
| Featuring | Real Life Personal Interviews with Famous Detectives |
| Credits | Pencils: Lee Harris (signed) | Inks: Lee Harris (signed) |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction; Crime | Characters: Ben Rosenberg; Charles "Pal" Palatino (villain); Vincent Ceffelli (villain) |
| Notes | Part text and part spot illustrations.
Harris also signed this feature as "Harris". |
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| Comic Story | Famed Statue Missing (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Zanzibar investigates the theft of the famed statue, the Venus de Milo. |
| Content | Genre: Fantasy | Characters: Zanzibar; Zeus (introduction); Hercules (introduction); Venus (introduction); Greek warriors (villains) |
| Notes | Tuska created this feature. |
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| Comic Story | The Spookington Castle (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Hemlock and the good doctor visit Spookington Castle in order to try and collect a $10 reward for the return of the kidnapped Mrs. Spookington. |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Detective-mystery | Characters: Hemlock Shomes; Dr. Potsam; Dr. Spookington (mention only, introduction); Mrs. Spookington (introduction); un-named criminal (villain, introduction) |
| Notes | Letterer credit by Craig Delich. |
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| Text Story | The Long Arm of Vengeance (2 pages) |
| Synopsis | The crew of the Falcon spot a derelict or ghost ship off the starboard bow and Barney, Marlin and Clark go aboard to investigate, discovering the corpse of the Captain of that ship......a Captain that promises justice for Marlin. |
| Credits | Pencils:? (spot illustrations) | Inks:? (spot illustrations) | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Crime | Characters: Barney (seaman); Eban (helmsman); Captain Clark (death); Marlin (villain, 1st Mate, death) |
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| Comic Story | Wanted: The Waco Kid (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | As the Waco Kid rides along, he spots a wanted poster for himself, wanted for bank robbery and murder. |
| Content | Genre: Western-frontier | Characters: The Waco Kid; Sheriff Elliot; Killer Barkus (villain); Barkus' gang (villains) |
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| Comic Story | Baron Garza's Plan (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Bancroft is summoned by letter to a derelict house, to find a dying man who says he was shot by Baron Garza. Investigating, Bancroft discovers the baron and his thugs are behind a gun smuggling racket. |
| Content | Genre: Detective-mystery | Characters: Inspector Bancroft; Chief Inspector Grainger; un-named man (death); un-named Customs Officer; Baron Garza (villain, introduction); Garza's thugs (villains, introduction for all) |
| Notes | Art identification by Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. (2009-2-28).
Script credit suggested by the Who's Who.
For this story only, the Feature Logo is "Inspector Bancroft, Ace Investigator of Scotland Yard". |
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| Comic Story | The Armored Truck Robbery (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | A group of thugs rob an armored car of its $80,000 payload and capture the Beetle in the process. |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Blue Beetle [Dan Garret]; Mannigin (policeman); Tim (newsboy); un-named chief of police; a group of thugs [Jake; Blackie; rest un-named] (villains) |
| Notes | Blue Beetle has a costume similar to his official one, but wears no mask. |
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| Comic Story | The Peace Pact Problem (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | The airplane carrying Captain Anthony and Sir Norbert is suddenly attacked by other aircraft and forced to land in Duraguay, a South American country interested in an alliance with Sir Norbert's country. Agents of Gothland hope that the failure of Sir Norbert to appear will lead the Duraguyans signing a treaty with Gothland. |
| Content | Genre: Spy | Characters: D-13 [Captain Richard Anthony]; Sir Norbert Chandler (European Statesman, introduction); un-named King of Duraguay (introduction); Von Wenger (villain, introduction); Hans (villain, introduction) |
| Notes | Script credit from Craig Delich. |
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| Comic Story | The Trap of Sula Khan (4 pages) |
| Synopsis | Captain Scott and James enter the town of Gulam, unaware that a sinister figure named Kahn and his men are out to kidnap the boy. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Captain Denny Scott; James (young boy); Doctor Ellis (mention only, death); Sula Kahn (villain, a slave dealer); Afanga (villain) |
| Notes | Art credits suggested by the Who's Who.
For this story only, the Feature Logo is "Captain Denny Scott of the Bengal Lancers". |
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| Comic Story | The Alien Smugglers (5 pages) |
| Synopsis | Lt. Drake is put onto a case involving the smuggling of oriental aliens into San Francisco, and he discovers that the aliens are being sewn into large fish to avoid detection. |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Military | Characters: Lt. Drake; un-named whaler captain (villain); whaler's crew (villains) |
| Notes | Script credit from Craig Delich. |
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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 |
