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[K1ngcat]

Space Detective 1

[ - well, this is Wally Wood!]

So, we have three stand alone stories which are also chapters of a longer story.

I appreciate the art and craft that went into it. However, I really do get this impresssion thatl it was an idea for a continuing series that was rejected at some stage,hence only four issues.

Hi Panther
Thanks for your detailed appreciation, so you do accept Wood's involvement? You had me chasing wild geese with your mention of Sid Check, I did a whole night yesterday binge-reading Sid Check stories on CB+ thanks to the site's nifty "Enhanced by Google" search facility, which was eye-opening in itself.

I'm inclined to the opinion that when drawing very ordinary things, war action, cowboys & Indians etc., his style is scarily close to Wood's; but when drawing things requiring more imagination he doesn't imagine things quite the way that Wood would. So I stand by my assessment that the sexy women and somehow slightly squat spaceships are evidence of our Wally.

The three stories showing the pursuit of the same villain is an ongoing feature as it appears in the third and fourth issues, the thing that isn't ongoing is Wood's involvement.

#3 has a rather garish cover by Kinstler, and a lovely b/w contents page, and interior art by Tex Blaisdell which doesn't look quite so good as the b/w work. I don't know if this is due to the scan, the colours seem awfully harsh by comparison with the first two issues. Overall, for me, it doesn't hold up as well as #1 & #2 artistically.

#4 features art throughout by Gene Fawcette, and for me, though it's an acceptable job, it doesn't come anywhere near the content of the first two issues. I know it's standard comic book behaviour to have the first issue or two with strong artwork before passing the job on to "lesser mortals" and hoping it'll still sell but it doesn't work for me with this character, and maybe it didn't work for comic -buyers of the day. I'm still rueing the day The Fly went from Simon & Kirby to John Rosenberger. 

#2 has Wood in the first of the three stories, who else could have given us the Bat Women? Vicious, imbecilic, yet somehow kinda hot - reminds me of a wife I had once!  But who took over the art on the other two stories? No-one's credited and I don't immediately recognise the style. Any suggestions?

Anyway thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed review, I look forward to seeing your opinions of #2.

All the best
K1ngcat

[The Australian Panther]

Hi Kingcat,

Not having a go at you here, just answering questions. So.
You asked the question,

any opinions on the artwork? Is it really Orlando/ Wood, or is some of it Wood/Orlando? Or maybe just Wood? And where does the Wood stop and other hands take over?  Interested in your views.

I am perhaps too succinct in my posts, and I answered,

Sid Check?

Meaning, 'Sid Check' may have been one of those, 'Other hands'. Never meant to imply that Wood wasn't involved at all. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
But, I have to admit, I like to take the opportunity to introduce others to more obscure creators like Sid Check. Myself, I love to increase my knowledge bank so I assume others do too. I only found out about Sid Check through CB+, which has increased my knowledge bank enormously.         

I'm inclined to the opinion that when drawing very ordinary things, war action, cowboys & Indians etc., his style is scarily close to Wood's; but when drawing things requiring more imagination he doesn't imagine things quite the way that Wood would. So I stand by my assessment that the sexy women and somehow slightly squat spaceships are evidence of our Wally.

Nice Observation!
Both Wood and Kirby are renowned for their unique visual machinery and architecture concepts to fill up the panels. They were quite unique. Unmistakable.
Cheers!

[Robb_K]

Rod Hathway - Space Detective 1
My impression of this group of related stories was similar to Panther's, as he stated above, that it appears that these stories were originally planned for a series by another publisher (perhaps EC) and, at least, the different very short "stories" were planned as chapters of the same longer story (or saga) to be printed in a succession of several books.  The problem for me is that, although the main characters are the same in all the short stories (except the "filler" story, just added with different lead characters so the series could qualify for the significantly lower-cost postage rate), the backgrounds for each of the individual chapters aren't developed much, and the plots of each aren't developed much, or paced adequately, due to lack of enough pages and panels.  So there is little suspense built up, and resolution of the problems in the each "story" is unsatisfying, and the characters just keep on moving on to another extremely short, very unsatisfying "story".  It's like reading a bunch of half-page story scenarios, written for the editor to decide whether or not to agree to commission the writing of the story - meaning they are barely the bare bones of the setting and the non-detailed introduction of the main characters, the bare bones of the climax action scene, and an unsatisfying resolution, that the main villain is thwarted, but gets away, and we read that the heroes will track him down again (and after a few more stories, we KNOW that they will find him again in the next story.

It seems that the colourist made an error in not colouring Maag's hands green, to match his head.  Everyone in the late 1940s and 1950s KNEW that Martians were green.  Maybe they were chlorophyll-based, and they had evolved from plantlife?

Again we have the problem of almost no science in the so-called "science fiction".  Apparently the scientists of the day knew a LOT more than the writers of "science fiction", and, I believe that a lot of the reading public did, too.  But, maybe the editors of comic book series, wishing to keep their jobs and get the highest circulation possible, ordered their writers to not fill their stories with too much real science, (e.g. 'dumbing down" their stories to reach the largest possible readership), playing up the sexiness of the young women, and the combat action, assuming that their potential readership was mainly pre-teenage, early teenage/adolescent boys.  Thus, we got mainly escapist fantasy.   

All the stories have errors in them that give the reader the impression that the writers didn't take the time to think about the logic of their plots and elements very much at all, and the editors didn't take much time in reading them and looking them over before approving them for printing.  The artwork is pretty good, in general, except for the way the bodies move a few isolated cases in action scenes.

I liked the Lucky Dale, non-Sci-Fi story best, because of its artwork and its more straightforward story. But even that had its logic problems and lack of details, including not letting the reader learn how and why the gang hid their loot on the houseboat.  And, again, the short number of pages made the writer start off in the story's middle, and have no pauses between action (e.g. practically every panel is involved with heavy action).  So these so-called stories are just vignettes, showing some of the main action of a climax scene, with a tiny setting panel or two at the beginning, and a tiny epilogue of one or two panels explaining the result of the climax, with a hint of the future.

[K1ngcat]

Hi Kingcat,

Not having a go at you here, just answering questions.

Geez, Panther, I didn't know I was that scary!
Have I been overplaying my Grumpy Old Man card?
No offense meant, sincerely.
Appreciate all your input, thanks for making me look harder at Sid Check, it was a rewarding experience.
Still looking forward to your thoughts on #2

All the best
K1ngcat

[Robb_K]

Thanks Panther, for your reference to "All You Zombies" by Robert Heinlein.  It is a great Sci-Fi short story. Especially entertaining for me because I'm a big fan of time travel stories (I've written a few myself).  I enjoy thinking about the many conundra (is that the plural?) related to it.  It has a very interesting plot, just as the concept of travelling back in time to murder one's grandparents so that you can't possibly have been born.  So, did you ever exist?

[The Australian Panther]

When I hear 'Hathaway' I think 'Anne'!

cheers!

[bowers]

 Another good choice for the group. I downloaded all four issues years ago but never got around to reading them. So here we go...
Quite enjoyed issue one and I agree that it does have a bit of an EC-like quality. I did like the trilogy concept, although I'm not sure why the four year gap between the first and second stories was necessary. Typical 50's characters acting in a typical manner- the good guys were good and the bad guy was bad. No moral dilemmas here! Nothing new, but still quite entertaining. Great art and lots of action kept the stories moving right along. A few discrepancies, such as "no one in the inhabited worlds" knew the identities of the famous interplanetary crime fighters. Wasn't this guy a well-known philanthropist? Did he live in seclusion so nobody had ever seen his face? Oh well... I really enjoyed the Lucky Dale story- quite "noir" looking art and good writing. Did seem a bit out of place in this book, however.
Moving on to issue two- scantily-clad women (always a plus!) and a rubber-masked villain! Who could ask for more? The art seems to have deteriorated a bit but still passable. Again, sort of an interplanetary trilogy. Ok, so they track the escaped Gargoyle to Mercury where they not only find vicious batwomen, but also the beautiful winged Ahla and her all-girl flying patrol.(Possibly a tip of the hat to Ray Cummings' "Tama of the Light Country" which also took place on Mercury? Any pulp fans out there?) The Gargoyle is at last unmasked That must have been one damned fine mask to cover such a huge, misshapen head and make him quite a handsome chap! Of course he escapes -it wouldn't be a trilogy if he didn't, would it? So it's off to Mars to deal with some deadly robots and aliens similar to ERB' Tharks of Barsoom. You know what happens next- so it's off to the slave-markets of Saturn. The Gargoyle enlists a ferocious female pirate captain (scantily-clad of course) to hijack a shipment of slave girls. Slave girls (including Teena) sold, stolen, freed. Gargoyle captured- all is well. Last story is nothing special.
Glad I finally got around to reading these. Cheers Bowers

[K1ngcat]

Thanks to Robb_K for your detailed review, I appreciate where you're coming from on your comments, and they are quite accurate. But of course sexy women, combat action and escapist fantasy are exactly what appealed to a 12-year-old me, and the nostalgia still hasn't worn off.

I don't expect for a minute that the writers thought too much about science, logic, or the laws of physics, they were probably more concerned with whether the few dollars they were earning were going to pay their rent and leave enough for coffee and a doughnut. 

I'm glad you enjoyed the artwork (mostly) and the noir-ness of the Lucky Dale story, thanks for being so patient with my not-quite-yet teenage kicks.

And to bowers, thanks for finally getting round to reading these!  and glad you enjoyed them. You're quite right, the tales are everything you say, and not much more, but they're the kind of thing that started me reading comics, so I owe them a tremendous debt for a lifetime of not-so-guilty pleasure.

You're not the only one to notice the deterioration of art quality in #2, I think the first story must still be Wood if only because of the Bat Women and Ahla's winged girls.  After that I'm sure there's someone else holding the pencil, but I'm darned if I know who, any informed guesses welcome!

Why Rod Hathway (got it right at last) is never recognised as The Avenger is a question that's troubled comic fans through the ages and I have no better an answer than anyone else. But, as you say, Oh Well... that's what makes comics comics. Thanks for posting.

K1ngcat

[The Australian Panther]

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=14907
Space Detective #2
Kingcat said,

You're not the only one to notice the deterioration of art quality in #2, I think the first story must still be Wood if only because of the Bat Women and Ahla's winged girls.  After that I'm sure there's someone else holding the pencil, but I'm darned if I know who, any informed guesses welcome! 

In the comments under the book, bruceb wrote,

Yup... Wally Wood art with Joe Orlando Inks 

and that information is in the Additional Information section as well.
And trust me, I've missed the obvious myself more than once!
Aha! But is this correct? The mystery deepens. Stay with me to the end!
Re the cover - Was Wood lefthanded? The way he's holding that gun looks awkward.
Was this the first appearance of the term 'Batwomen?' 
Actually Wood's design of them [in the frontispiece] is pretty cool. DC should have used it.
And I love those BnW frontispieces in these books.
Batwomen of Mercury!
This is definitely not Wood's penciling. The cover and the frontispiece is definitely Wood. Look at the Batwomen. They have human faces, breasts and human figures. But of course. Wood!
The ones in the story are more Bat than woman.
This is more likely to be Pencils by Orlando and Inks by Wood than the other way around.
The layouts and designs in this story are definitely not Woods.
The designs for "the Avenger' and 'Dot' are Woods.
Implication, he designed the comic for Issue #! and then for whatever reason, dropped it, and the editor tried to keep it running for another 3 issues.     
Story. The bit with the masks is quite clever.
The winged women put me in mind of Flash Gordon.
The Metal Murderers of Mars! Part 2 of the narrative.
So we have the Gargoyle again and Bank Robberies again - this time Robots - definitely not Wood's robots or technology. - and a one panel introduction of a Slave Girl. 
Teena gets kidnapped again. Gargoyle escapes again. On to episode #3
Slave-Ship of Saturn!
Now we know why we were introduced to Zara in the last episode. And of course Teena has to go undercover as a Slave.
Gargoyle has seen Teena often, but he doesn't recognize she is 'Starling'?  We missed a lot when we were kids, didn't we?
We have a brief 'Catfight' and then Gargoyle gets locked up again, ready for the next issue.
Slavery.
Panel 2 of the first page states, ' A ship of the legal slave trade suddenly is attacked'
So the writer has definied the trade as legal and 'Avenger' as saving the Slaves from whatever unknown fate awaits them. Awkward tho, I admit.

I began thinking of how common it is for sci fi cultures to accept the institution of slavery as a given.
From Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon onwards through Starwars, its a common enough theme.

Most of these stories accept slavery as a cultural given, but also define it as something to fight against and eliminate. That's all I will say about it here, except to point out that for comic artists and movie makers it's also an excuse to depict scantily-clad women. Slave Leia, anyone?
I can't make a definite identification of the Artist (s) but in story 2 and 3 some of it, particularly the faces, have a Lou Cameron feel to them. Will probably remain a mystery.
The Case of the Sub-Sea Bandits - Tales from the Shadow Squad
2 way Teievision phone booths is an interesting narrative device. Somewhat complicated plot for a short comic story. Art is a let-down after the Avenger stories. Was this a series from another book?
[Returned to this post after co-incidentally looking at an EC collection.
Seems EC had a book called 'International Crime Patrol'.
I think H. C. Kiefer worked for EC at times, so was 'The Shadow Squad' originally intended for that book?]     
Seems not to really belong here.
Thank you Kingcat. Looking forward to your next choice in a month.   
   




 

[crashryan]

Space Detective #1:

Like most of you I too thought this guy's name was HathAway. Guess I was too distracted by Teena's spacesuit to notice. I also thought he had three names: his given name, The Avenger, and Space Detective. But I see now that though he's a space detective, nobody calls him by that name. I don't see why Rod and Dot need superhero names since (as has already been pointed out) they make no effort to disguise themselves. Maybe they vibrate their facial muscles like the Golden Age Flash used to do.

This issue is all about the art. So I'll talk about the stories first. I'm always complaining that GA comic stories are too short so I was excited to see a book-length story. But it isn't really a book-length story. It's just three typical short stories connected by having the same villain in each. Pfui.

You just can't expect real science in Golden Age space titles. The editors were only interested in the pulp-fantasy angle. The stories are basically the same stories they used for western and crime books with spaceships and nonsense concepts like "electronized invisibility" thrown in. In issue #2 our heroes go to Mercury. Even in 1950 anyone who could read knew that Mercury was incredibly hot. Yet we visit the Forest City of Mercury. Whatever!

Artwise, this is prime early Wood. Or rather Orlando-Wood. Wood dominates the design and the ink style throughout. A couple of years later when he drew solo stories for EC Orlando started off heavily influenced by Wood, though he gradually developed a personal style. I don't think we'll ever be able to sort out who did what in these O-W strips. Both men talked about how they literally passed pages back and forth as they worked. At this time the two worked together, but it was too early for a Wood shop to form. Occasionally other artists may have dropped in to lend a hand but I'm pretty sure this was Joe and Woody cranking 'em out. Take a look at Youthful's Captain Science #4, from the same period. Orlando and Wood signed their work, in that order, and it looks very much like this Space Detective work. One last artistic note: the passenger spaceship at the top of our page 6 is like an over-the-top parody of Wood's spaceship designs. All those blisters and rocket tubes!

A word about Teena. Though in her first appearance she's a bit whiny ("...and Teena!") she gets to do quite a bit in this issue. She takes the initiative several times and even finishes Rod's thoughts. By the next issue, though, she is back in standard you-Tarzan-me-Jane mode. Maybe they were having relationship trouble.

The Lucky Dale filler story is notable for Warren Kremer's art. He makes good use of shadows and camera angles. He also gets maximum mileage out of Lucky's wet dress! Give the man an honorary Fredric Wertham Award. There's a funny effect on the last story page. The cop standing on the right side of panel 3 is seen again in the next panel, but closer to the camera. The cop's arm and back almost line up in both drawings, and without a panel border it looks as if the cop's bottom half suddenly swelled up. Inflatable harbor police?

We'll tackle issue 2 tomorrow...

[K1ngcat]

Re the cover - Was Wood lefthanded? The way he's holding that gun looks awkward.

Batwomen of Mercury!
This is definitely not Wood's work. The cover and the frontispiece is definitely Wood. Look at the Batwomen. They have human faces, breasts and human figures. But of course. Wood!
The ones in the story are more Bat than woman.
This is more likely to be Pencils by Orlando and Inks by Wood than the other way around.

Thanks for your comments AP. As far as I know Wood wasn't left handed as later in life he complained of loss of vision in his left eye and lack of control over his left hand yet he continued drawing. But the cover, with both characters shooting left-handed does look a little strange.

The bat women in the frontispiece are quite human and attractive, reminding me of Serra Venta, the bat winged dancer in #1. Not like the vicious and imbecilic creatures described in the actual story.  Could the frontispiece have been drawn when the story was still in a planning stage?

After looking at Captain Science #4 (thanks crash!) the idea of the artwork being Orlando/ Wood rather than vice-versa seems quite likely, but those nasty bat women are still pretty...em... uninhibited.    Even through the black and dark blue, their figures are fairly clearly defined, maybe still a Wood influence there?   

For whatever reason it seems like Wood and Orlando both bailed on the project fairly early on, as I noted before the following artists didn't seem to have quite the same impact.

Anyhow, it seem that overall you enjoyed the two issues, which gladdens my curmudgeonly old heart. Thanks for all your input

All the best
K1ngcat

[K1ngcat]

Like most of you I too thought this guy's name was HathAway. Guess I was too distracted by Teena's spacesuit to notice. I also thought he had three names: his given name, The Avenger, and Space Detective. But I see now that though he's a space detective, nobody calls him by that name. I don't see why Rod and Dot need superhero names since (as has already been pointed out) they make no effort to disguise themselves

Artwise, this is prime early Wood. Or rather Orlando-Wood. Wood dominates the design and the ink style throughout.
I don't think we'll ever be able to sort out who did what in these O-W strips. Both men talked about how they literally passed pages back and forth as they worked.
Take a look at Youthful's Captain Science #4, from the same period. Orlando and Wood signed their work, in that order, and it looks very much like this Space Detective

The Lucky Dale filler story is notable for Warren Kremer's art. He makes good use of shadows and camera angles. He also gets maximum mileage out of Lucky's wet dress! Give the man an honorary Fredric Wertham Award.

Thanks for posting, crash. I'm inclined to subscribe to the previously voiced opinion that the comic's working title may have been The Avenger but it was changed to avoid confusion with another title. But we'll never know. 

Thanks for pointing out the similarity to Captain Science #4, which I'd never seen before, and it's very like Space Detective, how good of them to have signed their work on that!

And glad to see you enjoyed Kremer's work on the back-up, I love his use of shadow. Looking forward to your comments on #2.

All the best
K1ngcat

[crashryan]

Space Detective #2:

Did the quality ever slide on this title! After a fabulous cover and IFC by Wood the artwork drops to "blah" and stays there. I don't know who drew the Avenger stories. The guy(s?) are not without ability but they ain't Orlando and Wood. In fact the only panels that look like Wood (e.g. our page 12, panel 3) are swipes from the previous issue. Undoubtedly the editor gave the artist stats of Orlando-Wood pages and said, "Do it like this." The art isn't terrible. He pulls off some good effects, like the TV image of the Bat-Women on page 6 panel 3, but he's taking over from one of the giants of 1950s science-fiction art...a tough act to follow.

Speaking of swipes, I was amused by the bottom image on Wood's inside front cover. The slave market picture is lifted from one of Dean Cornwell's two-page color paintings for the Biblical novel The Robe. Wood seems to have copied rather than traced it, since the perspective and many details are different. But he didn't fix Cornwell's drawing blunder: the hand holding up two fingers, which is positioned in such a way that it seems to belong to the pointy-helmeted guy. It doesn't--helmet guy is stroking his chin with that hand--but at first reading it appears he has an impossibly long arm. Here's the original painting (from an appreciation on a gay magazine site, no less):



Lest you think Woody was the only one who appreciated this painting, in 1961 Filipino artist Noly Panaligan appropriated the left half for a Romansa Komiks cover. He changed the foreground figure to a woman but the guy holding up two fingers is still there. I note he also covered the butt of the lady at the lower left. The nude woman standing above her appears to have been whited out, or at least heavily retouched. Probably Noly stayed a little too close to the original for the publisher's taste.



But back to the comic. The stories are still junk. Like I said in my last post, these are basically generic crime stories mixed with pulp fantasy and overlaid with eavesdropping rays and control projectors. Hundreds of years in the future, the capacity to travel between planets, and the crooks still hold up banks and steal the payroll. Paid in dollars, no less.

The best thing about this book--surprise!--is the filler story about The Shadow Squad. The author actually put some effort into world-building. He or she imagines future commerce, touches on politics and diplomacy, and comes up with unusual advanced technology. Admittedly, the tech doesn't always make sense, like the actinic alarm lights, which blind people and cause auto crashes. But at least the author tried, which is something the Avenger writers never bothered to do.

Henry Kiefer's art looks a trifle old-fashioned but he turns in a serviceable job. As far as I can tell this is the Shadow Squad's only appearance. Incidentally, so soon after the end of World War II you'd think the author would come up with a team name that didn't have the initials S.S.!

Thanks, K1ngcat, for suggesting these books. Good fun!

[The Australian Panther]

Great find, Crash! I love it when the reading group pulls out info like this!

Monday is back to Robb or whoever he may nominate in his stead. Can't wait!

[SuperScrounge]

Comparing Cornwell's original with Wood's... variation it appears like Wood took the black woman from the left side and moved her behind Teena with a change of arm position & hairstyle.

[K1ngcat]

Space Detective #2:
Speaking of swipes, I was amused by the bottom image on Wood's inside front cover. The slave market picture is lifted from one of Dean Cornwell's two-page color paintings for the Biblical novel The Robe.

Lest you think Woody was the only one who appreciated this painting, in 1961 Filipino artist Noly Panaligan appropriated the left half for a Romansa Komiks cover.

But back to the comic. The stories are still junk. The best thing about this book--surprise!--is the filler story about The Shadow Squad.

Thanks, K1ngcat, for suggesting these books. Good fun!

And thanks for the terrific art-detective work, crash! Fascinating to get a glimpse behind Wood's work.
I take it that you think that the illustrious Walter Gibson was no longer writing for the title?  No, seriously, of course they're junk, so many comics of the time are, but still charming for all that.

Glad you found things to enjoy in it all, and thanks for posting.

In fact, thanks to everyone who contributed, it's greatly appreciated.  Looking forward to my next guest-hosting in a month's time, see you then if not before.
All the best
K1ngcat

[Robb_K]

Rod Hathway - Space Detective 2
First of all, I had a hard time reading the all-bolded text.  It was tough on the eyes.  That also made me aware that there was much too much text in both dialogue balloons and narrative boxes.  In many panels it is difficult to find the action, with the artwork crammed into one corner. Most of the complaints I had about issue #1 are valid for this book as well - almost no real science.  Fantasy just for the sake of making the settings "other worldly".  But those settings are too ridiculous for people who think that the rules of physics and chemistry we've discovered on Earth should work similarly all over The Universe.  As stated above by a few posters, the plots are basically criminals doing things to steal wealth the way it was done in the first half of The 20th Century, being defeated by this superhero couple, but the arch villain escaping during the climax, to appear operating a similar sort of scheme to steal wealth, possibly using a different "gang", and stealing from a different group of people.  The artwork is decent, but the artist of "The Space Detective" Stories was not very imaginative or creative.

The Batwomen of Mercury
Of course, the extremely low-paid writers had little or no time to research their subjects, and so, their so-called "Science Fiction" stories' settings were ridiculous for anyone who had any smattering of education.  "The Forest City of Mercury!!???  Even as an 8 year old, in the early 1950s, I knew that the side of Mercury that faced the nearby Sun was always as hot or hotter than the surface of Venus, and the side that faced away from The Sun was always much more frigid than Antarctica.  So what kind of forest could grow even on the boundary line between eternal sun and eternal shade???  And people who seek fantasy want to see places that are very different from those they are used to seeing.  So, drawing that forest of very unearthly plants would be a perfect chance to do that.  But no, these authors couldn't take the time to describe weird, unearthly-looking plants and land formations.  And the poorly-paid artists chose not to draw such a forest at all.  I was very disappointed.  The Bat women, who were supposed to be beautiful, but evil, were depicted so dark that we couldn't see if they were beautiful or ugly.  Again, false advertising.

And there are physical situations that are impossible, all because the author and/or artist didn't take the time to think properly about what he or she was trying to claim and portray.  The Gargoyle's face was shaped in a way that had his potruding jawsticking out forward so much, that with his bones unmovable, would make it impossible for him to look like the Human (or Humanoid) William Reet, simply by putting a thin mask of the latter's facial features over his own face.  He'd have to saw off his entire jaw to do so.  Injecting "waxite-plastic" under his skin could only make the face thicker, building up bulk, not thinner, removing bulk.
Of course Gargoyle escapes because his gang rescues him from a distance, conveniently using a "gravity ray".

The Metal Murderers of Mars
In this story, on another planet, Gargoye has a different gang.  Instead of using imbecile-brained, evil bat-women to do his bidding, he uses diabolic robots!  The Famous Avenger and his sidekick, Teena don't wear masks or disguises, but nobody recognises them.  A famous person who nobody recognises, in the distant future, with amazing technology that can work miracles, and no one has seen this very famous person (apparently only heard and read about him)  And nobody knows what the wealthy philanthropist Rod Hathway, and his secretary look like???  The plot (robots on Mars are revolting against their owners (masters) - a common theme.  They are stealing money and jewels.  It is interesting that it appears that Gargoyle's gang members shoot a ray from a ray gun type of device, carrying a suggestion in sound form, that compels the robots to do Gargoyles evil bidding.  But The Space Detective has a ray gun that shoots high-voltage rays that burn out the robots' ignition wires.  The Gargoyle's main plan is to rob the Federal Mint.  So, in The Netherlands in these days of 2022, I never use cash money.  But in the distant future of The Space Detective's time (certainly Long after 2022) the people are still using metal coins!  Interesting!  Of course, The Gargoyle escapes again.

The Slave Ship of Saturn
The Captain of The Slave Ship is a woman wearing a bikini swimsuit!  The other pirates are dressed like 17th Century European pirates, brandishing swords (cutlasses from that period) (the cliche, of course).  In the desert of Saturn (which we now know as a planet of frozen gasses) the capital city of Saturn (that entire planet has one government) has a slave market.  And we also know that temperatures on Saturn would be lethal for Humans without some kind of artificial heating, and, of course, even when this book came out, I and all my friends knew that Humans couldn't breath the atmosphere on any other planet in our Solar System.  But, the author makes it conveniently hot there so the artist can draw the young women slaves wearing very little clothing.  Interesting that the people in the desert of Saturn look just like Arabs, and the slave caravan has them camping in tents.  But they look like European or American circus tents, rather than Arab tents.  The Gargoyles ride horses with dog heads (the only attempt to inject unearthly items to the story other than the alien Gargoyles).

Tales From The Shadow Squad - Case of The Sub-Sea Bandits
This story has an interesting, imaginative plot, with Spanish revolutionists financing American shipping companies hiring Spanish sailors to bring munitions from America to Spain.  The story was interesting, but the ending and most of the actions were predictable.  No real surprises.  Still, I liked this better than the so-called "Science-Fiction stories.  They were too ridiculous and insulting.