[positronic1]

"Why I Did Not Kill Hitler!" ...EVEN THOUGH I HAD EVERY CHANCE! Wow, how could *that* fail to separate dimes from pockets? Timely had Captain America socking Hitler on the jaw, but Fawcett upped the stakes by putting Hitler on the cover, square in the sights of Spy Smasher's sniper rifle. I can only imagine what a kid seeing that cover in 1943 must have felt. While the image on the cover of CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1 captured the height of the action, leaving nothing to the imagination, SPY SMASHER #10 captures the moment of anticipation -- what will happen in the next few seconds?? While some further reflection by any reasonably intelligent kid would tell him that Spy Smasher did not kill Hitler, in fact COULD not kill Hitler, since he was a fictional character, while Hitler (unfortunately for the world at large) was not, Spy Smasher was certainly real enough to kids in the fictional context of these stories. That would lead to the inevitable nagging question -- "WHY, Spy Smasher? WHY!? You had him dead in your sights! Why WOULDN'T you kill him?!" If I were that kid, I couldn't WAIT to get up to the counter and plunk down my dime to discover the answer.

Link to the book: Spy Smasher 10 (paper/9fiche)