1953 Nov

Tomahawk 20

During the revolutionary war Tom is sent somewhere  along the coast to lead a force of men who had just lost their leader. He is shown some British forces, apparently sitting ducks, and he hastily calls a retreat. His new men question it, but eventually they move back. They lose two cannons while retreating, but Tomahawk says they hold where they are for a rest then continue their retreat, though his men want to bring the fight to the redcoats. It is uneasy battle to make their way further inland, and they lose their last cannon to swampland. Finally, cold, wet, tired, and on the loose footing of the swamp Tomahawk says they’ll attack.

Of course he had a plan, another troop of  men had been following the British who followed them, and they trapped the enemy between them. One of the dissenters from Tomahawk’s men sneaked up behind him, intent to kill. Tom was ready though, as the man had slipped, and revealed information he ought not to have known. He then explained that he had been ordered to sound the retreat by General Washington, so others could sneak in and steal the ships the British left behind.

2

One day Tom and Dan see a troop of redcoats retreating in a hurry, and lament the fact that they had not fallen for a trap, as the news had been spread by a newspaper in the area. Coincidence of coincidences they come across the the writer of the article just a little bit later. They bring him to a fort where the general there wants to have him locked up, as he was either a fool or a spy. But Tom vouches for him, saying that properly conducted the idea of a paper was sound. Like a puppy who has been shown kindness he follows Tom and Dan, wanting to write about where they go next. But he is quite a hindrance to the frontier’s men.

Tom allows the reporter to write out his story, but not to send it. This seems to be a mistake the next day when the three are captured by redcoats, and they send the story and Tom’s report, intending to use the advantage of knowing their enemies movements. Oddly Tom thinks he can still make this good news. When the sun rises the next day the writer says he wants to write of the current situation, and is allowed to by the Brits. Spraying he leader in the face with ink he causes the man to drop his sword, and Tom frees himself.

Dan ran to the nearby Fort and enlisted help from the men there. But even if Tom hadn’t been able to fix the situation it was just fine, as he had switched the labels on the carrier pigeons so the letters had gone to the wrong people. Getting the story instead of the okay the general had known that something had gone wrong, and was prepared for the British to know the plan. Does that make sense? It’s late so I’m not sure…

3

We start off seeing some strangers transporting goods along the Mississippi. They are set up on by pirates in the second panel, much to their shock. The cargo ships are left destroyed, their crews killed and their goods stolen. This is not the last time either. Ship after ship is taken, and we now see where the ships were meant to go, to be used as trade with a native tribe further up river. The chief suggests they call Tomahawk to help, as he will surely know what to do. With a chain of smoke signals the two are summoned. They ask for a few braves to help them, and with those men he would take back the trade route. He ambushed the pirates on the next shipment and as they fled Tomahawk called pursuit. They found the pirates had hold of a fort, so Tom and Dan step forward to investigate their force. But while Dan is counting cannons he is captured. The villains tied the boy to the mouth of a cannon and cried put a warning that an attack would mean Dan’s death. The group is led inside, but Tom has had one of the tribesmen wear his clothes so he can dramatically declare his position. He had used the time the other man gave him to lessen Dan’s ropes and to lock most of the pirates in their rooms. Now free of their need to help Dan the party attacks, and the criminals find they are helpless before the skills of Tomahawk and the Braves.

1953 Nov

Superman 85

Clark was off dealing with a cut cable in the ocean, (I think the phone lines go through those?) and a building began to fall in Metropolis. Since Superman is away you would think that a bunch of people would die right? But they are saved by the most unlikely of heroes, not someone from the JSA or any other DC hero, but the notorious Lex Luthor. He steps out of his rocket and announces that he has had a brain surgery to remove his criminal tenancies and now wants to make up for all the evil he has done. And it seemed to be true. Luthor was saving people left and right, and even capturing wrongdoers himself.

Superman doesn’t believe it for a second. He wonders just how the genius is able to get to all the disasters he does, and decides to follow him. Lex erects some dykes around a dam and tells the people it is bound to collapse, he would take their valuables with him, so they could focus on saving themselves. Clark tells Lex there is nothing wrong with the dam, but as he speaks, the dam breaks. His first thought is that he must apologize. But then he sees traces of TNT on the dam as he repairs it. Clark catches up to him when he is creating an earthquake with a giant drill. He stops the disaster and then goes after Luthor, who had used the promise of a quake to ‘protect’ a collection of jewels. Superman brings them in, tells the evidence and the world is back to normal.

2

The Publisher of the planet has stepped away for a time, leaving his sister in his place. She has some very different ideas about what a newspaper should be however. She thinks it should be more dignified, stately. She even orders a change of dress and speech in the members of the staff. Lois is really funny about it, hard headed and brash as she can be.

Clark catches her use an odd term of Speech and looks into her past. He finds out the new publisher had once run away to join the circus, though her family had hushed it up. He figures she is extra prim to make up for her past escapade.

A swindler turns up and, using flattery, gets the publisher to run a feature promoting donations to raise a ship. Superman knows the man plans to just take the money himself so he raises the ship himself, and takes away the need for donations. But the swindler isn’t one to give up easily. He comes up with another ‘worthy cause’ for the public to fund. Superman does that too, and informs the man he will do any worthy cause he can think up.

He pulls aside his friend to talk up a new plan, but the way Superman has arranged the room they were in made it so their words were brought straight to the ears of his new boss. Pissed off the woman takes to the decorations around them and trounces the men with a cry of “Hey Rube”. Finding out from the next days papers that she as being hailed as a hero and not looked down upon she swiftly changes the Planet back to normal.

3

We open upon a man who has achieved his dream of getting a professorship at a prodigious school. Feeling successful, he asks his girlfriend to marry him. She tells him that while she likes him he is too meek, especially compared to Superman. After that every mention of the Kryptonian brings the poor professor anger. So he decides to become as strong as Superman. He announces his powers to his students, and when he is not believed he pulls up a tree and then flys home. It isn’t long before the Planet gets a hold of this news and Clark goes out to investigate.

He finds that the man truly is powerful, stronger in fake than he. But he suspects a gadget as his clothes were lined with lead to keep Superman from looking under them. His lab too is lead lined, but by diving underneath he is able to see through the floor and get the answers he needs. The powers he had gained were due to the fact it was a robot doing the feats. Of course a normal robot would not be as strong as Clark, but there is kryptonite in the thing’s alloy. (Where did he manage to get that?) Clark might even let the farce go on, if it wasn’t for the fact the prof didn’t have the control he needed for such power.

And so Clark undertook the task of making it seem like the real prof had the powers of a kryptonian. Believing it almost at once he destroys he robot, not wanting any evidence he once used it. He went to take his girl out, and slightly scares her by using powers he didn’t mean to (because it was Clark). She tells him it is too frightening to be out with him and she wished he were his normal self once more. Since he believed he had gained his powers by thinking he had them, he was able to “imagine” them away. The story ends with a wedding.

1953 Nov

Detective Comics 201

Batman

A man’s life has been threatened, and he is warned not to publicly tour Gotham. The man is frightened, but feels as though he must go through with his tour, or be branded a coward. But a solution is given to him in the form of a man who would be his body double. (Not the human target introduced in the 70s) Batman looks into it and sees he has no criminal record, and an obvious reason as to why he needs the money, for his daughter requires expensive surgery. The tour goes on and Batman and Robin take in some attempted assassins. When a killer breaks free a few days later the two head to protect the man that had given the final testimony on the killer. They find their possible victim has already been replaced with the human target.

Once more Batman and Robin are able to stop the murder, and bring the one responsible to jail. Then we see the target’s real face for the first time, and his sweet daughter, for whom he is risking his life almost daily. There is a montage next of a series of men he takes the place of, with narrow escapes each time. News begins to leak out about the man who’ll risk his life for yours and a criminal who had overstepped his bounds in his gang decides he’s going to use the target.

Having made the money he needed, the target heads home to celebrate with his child, Batman, and Robin. But that is not what happens next, his daughter has been kidnapped and he is forced into a role that could very well mean his life. Lucky for him our detective watches some surveillance that has the target on it, and as he did not have an allergic reaction to flowers (as the real gangster would have) Batman suspected it was him. They slip in to see the target an get confirmation on the situation. Then Batman takes the place of the gangster, and sends Robin to check likely hiding spots where the man’s daughter might be.

Batman heads to where the target was to meet with one of the gangsters men, but spots a trap at once. He ‘trips’ and renders the trap unusable in one simple motion. Meanwhile Robin has found the girl and the law has gathered up this branch of the gang. But Batman wants to get them all and goes back under cover. But his life quickly is in danger, and the target pays him back for all the times he was saved, by distracting them as ‘Batman’. It gives Bruce enough time to k.o. the bastards, and the target leaves with his daughter to get the operation she needs.

Roy Raymond, Tv Detective

This is Impossible but true, but they have renamed the feature. Worry not you will still see Roy on all his disbelieving glory.

Roy is going through frauds and features not interesting enough to have on the show, and finds nothing he can use. He heads out for lunch with Karen when a man speaks up from next to him. Not unusual, except for the fact the man could not be seen. He wasn’t hiding or anything, but actually invisible. The man goes about his day after letting Roy know about himself, and that’s that. Until the next morning when the invisible man is chilling in Roy’s house, handing him his hat and coat. He explains that he wasn’t always invisible, he was a scientist that had discovered a chemical to cause a person to vanish. But he didn’t have the funds to research a way to bring himself back to the visible spectrum.

He asked Roy to get him a loan from the bank, as he couldn’t do it himself legally, and he didn’t wish to steal. He told Roy that if he did not help, he would have no choice but to do so. Roy’s fame at seeing through frauds made it easy enough to get the money, but while they were driving Roy seemed to have figured something out, and told Karen to whisper. Soon they heard the voice again, but the man didn’t seem to notice that Roy had a group of cops with him, and a direction finder to seek the area of a transmission.

The explanation was a bit odd. Apparently all the movement had been done by magnets, and the man had coated Roy’s coat and hat with a light metal spray. The voice of course was from a tiny radio concealed in Roy’s watch. I really don’t think this would work in real life. Anyone want to Mythbust?

Robotman

A car crash, and a quick switch of a box in the mail truck and some crooks have stolen Robotman’s new body and have replaced it with one of their own making. Excited about his new body he changes at once, and soon has to go out to stop a crime. But the body doesn’t obey him as usual, and makes him rush into a fire. However this doesnt seem to be to harm him as water spouts automatically appear and put out the flames. His new form continues to make him quell the fires around him, makeing it so he has to let the crooks go. At the next crime this new body was programmed to pump out poison gas from the air instead of going after them. (Um I think he might have done those things anyway, I mean would he really leave a room luck of people in a room where they are breathing poison?) He tries to unwire the modifications, but it is too well done. He dare not go out for fear of what they may make him do, and it will take months for a new body to arrive. As he muses he is called into help a plane land, as it has run out of fuel and is in danger. We then see the gang that has caused all this trouble. They laugh as they loot the airport, glad their sabotage of the plane had gone well. Meanwhile Robotman finds himself unable to use his arms. He changes his legs into wheels and catches the aircraft on his back, as living landing gear. He then runs after the gang, freed from their modifications by an electric eye? Not sure how but okay.

1953 Nov

Black Rider 19

A tailor is asked to make a new outfit for the Black Rider, and he gladly does so only to find it was not the real Rider who came to pick it up, but a group of criminals. The tailor protests, and tries to take his work back, but he is old and outnumbered. They take him to the desert to die. Doc Masters gets called to see the tailor’s wife the next day as she is in a state about her husband going missing. He is given a note that says he’s going off with the Black Rider, but obviously Doc knows this is bullshit. He finds the poor tailor, who manages to tell Masters what had happened before submitting to his wounds and lack of water.

Soon tales of  the Black Rider turning to crime bleed across the land, and only those who know him best refuse to believe it. The crook made a big mistake though when he went for the Lathorp’s ranch. Bobby, being the only one who knows that Doc Masters is the Rider, went to confront him after the fake kidnapped his sister. Doc, being in love with Marie (Its a very Superman/Lois/Clark relationship) runs to her aid. The fake is shocked by how quickly his men were taken down. He shot the man’s guns out of his hands wanting to beat him with his bare hands, and then he tossed the fake over a cliff.

2

One day a Comanche man brings his son in to see Doc Masters, as his son had been bitten by a rabid wolf, and was dying. But supplies are low in this tiny western town, and there was not enough to cure the boy, even if there was time remaining. He gives the boy the first shot, and studies hard the next few days to see if there was anything that could yet save him. He found that a crude vaccine could be made from the brain of the diseased creature that had first bitten the child. And so he changed to the Black Rider, and set out to find the beast. He finds the poor creature and after a fierce battle, that the sickened wolf could never have won, Doc is able to cure his patient.

Two-Gun Kid

Long time no see Two-Gun! It might have even been before I started this blog! Well anywho; he is one of the fastest guns in the west. At the first of the tale he has been challenged, and soundly beaten another man in this skill. One of the watchers commented “Two bullets in the heart and only one hole. Brother that’s shooting.” So Two-Gun decides to outride his reputation, not wanting people to keep seeking him out, or else looking at him with fear. But, even far from those who know of him he winds up face to face with trouble.

He is mistaken for a rustler, but one of the men calms his brother, pointing out the our gunhawk could easily have killed them both instead of shooting the guns from their hands. Well maybe he wasn’t that far away. The young boy on the ranch idolized the Two-Gun Kid. How much you want to bet this ends up as a ‘convince the kid an outlaw is an evil scum bastard you don’t want to be that’ tale. Also, I think the angry Brother is one of the rustlers. He wants his nephew and brother to leave town, try to make a home for themselves somewhere else.

But Two-Gun can never stand to see people in such a state and promises to bring back the cattle. As he rides he berates himself on doing this to himself again, but he can’t brood long as he soon finds a sentry and takes him out. He was able to kill the rest of the gang by causing a stampede of the stolen cattle. I think that was quite just. And Booyah! I was right the brother was evil! All Two-gun had to prove i was a chewed upon stick, like the man had a habit of doing but he confessed right off and tried to kill Two-Gun. Our boy knocks the gun out of his hand and pummels him. Hm, I mean in the end the kid did understand that the life of an outlaw isn’t fun, but it wasn’t the center of the story. Cool.

Black Rider

A carriage was ambushed on its way to its destination, unluckily for the attackers the Black Rider saw this occur. He raced over and took out all the men. He then stopped the carriage horses from their crazy bolt, and opened the door to find a woman. As she has passed out he takes her to Doc Masters, chamges identity and cares for her. Marie saw the Rider go in and so investigates. Though he is now in normal clothes she feels a twinge of jealously when she sees how he is looking after the strange woman. Oddly she doesn’t seem nervous or startled about her ambush, just askew for her purse. When Did checks what is inside he finds a small gun. Later that night he goes to check up on the woman, only to find she is gone. Marie has decided to leave town (because she was jealous? I dont really know it doesn’t make sense as thw only reason) and Doc, worried about her traveling alone, with a carriage transporting gold, joins her. Hos misgivings were not for naught, as soon enough high jackers ambushed them. Surprises of surprises it is the lady patient who leads the crew. Because of his kindness she allows him to walk, but she keeps Marie. As soon as he is far enough away he changes clothes, and calls his steed. He rode into the group, killing many. Only Marie and the woman live, to be taken back to town.

1953 Nov

Superboy 28

An  editor of some magazine decides that they are going to run a story about the luckiest people. There were a number whose lives had been unlikely saved, or else discovered riches, but none seemed more lucky than a boy in Smallville called Clark Kent. So the entire article became about him, the luckiest boy in the world. Of course you and I know that he’s not really that lucky (besides being found by the Kents) and he feels a bit bad about it since he can never tell the real stories of his ‘narrow escapes’.

On a whim on of his neighbors asked him to help him choose a place for a well, and another for him to find the money she had dropped. Of course he felt like he had  to help and soon his reputation was legendary. Soon things got big enough that he was forced to step in as Superboy. A man bought the right to use Clark’s name by donating a thousand dollars to Smallville’s charities. When Clark found out that his name was to be put on lucky tokens, that would do nothing and therefore swindle the people he knew he had to take it back somehow.

He planned to make it so that the man would not want his name anymore. So at the grand opening he walked under a ladder and broke a mirror and then but putting a tiny bit of his strength against a tree he was leaning on he was able to make it fall. As reporters were led through the factory, Clark made sure to reveal flaws in the factory with his ‘unluckiness’. Then Clark pulled his final bit of lucklessness. He stood atop the dam and as he planted his feet firmly the dam kinda crumbled beneath him (It needed replacing anyway). As Clark ‘fell’ he changed and pulled some more acts to make it look as though his luck is truly gone.

2

A Conman (called Foxy) finds a group of scientists with a machine that one man claimed made rays stronger than Kryptonite. So Foxy stole the machine and called up the biggest names in crime, having them all be there in  the morning. In order to put Superboy on ice the crooks drop their stolen gold and jewels, as that is what the machine run on. Really he was just trying to steal the goods for his own, but as Superboy flys by to stop a brush fire the machine sends out a ray that knocks him out of the sky. He gets up, but is weakened by the blast. Foxy and the men he called before send out a plea for more fuel for the machine, to take SB out for good.

Worried the people of Smallville try to see how weakened he is, and Superboy tries desperatly to seem as strong as before. But the crooks had arrived and Foxy as ready to blast our young hero again. But he shows the crooks what he had been hiding before; that he truly was unharmed, and it was  a ruse to get as many criminals as possible to Smallville. He had overheard Foxy talking earlier, and already knew about the machine as it was to be used in an entertainment later on.

3

A new boy has moved to town and has taken a shine to Lana. Poor lad, she only has eyes for Superboy. He learns of her theory about Clark being SB, and sets out to disprove it, thinking she might gain an interest in him if she knew Clark was not the Kryptonian.  He sets it up so Clark to be at a dance with Lana when he is due across town as Superboy. But such a trick is easy enough to pull for him; he’s had enough practice. Using static electricity he blows a fuse at the dance and uses his super hearing and super ventriloquism to carry on a conversation with her in the dark.

Foiled the boy came up with another plan. He set up a record of cries for help to play when Clark and Lana would be in class. The record player was hidden in an area laden with lead, so he would be unable to see the trap. Clark escapes class by melting the cage a mouse was in, and after catching it, was told to get it out of there. He returned to class after finding the player, and Lana decided to prove once and for all his identity, by putting herself in danger. He overheard her plan and so to save her he stepped in front of a car as Clark, and faked an injury. With all his friends coming to see him, he has little to no chance to leave to tend to crimefighing duties. He uses his powers from his bed to do what he can while being watched.

But Superboy wasn’t showing up…. So Clark inflated a dummy of his other self and hurled it at a crook, while Lana was watching the thief. She saw Clark and ‘Superboy’ at the same time. And so the issue comes to an end, with Lana saying she still won’t go out with the boy, because she liked Clark for himself.

1953 Nov

Wonder Woman 62

*edit: the leader of the gang in this story is “Angles” Andrew a character who only just makes my tagging requirements and is also the first Angle Man

Silly Crooks! In order to discover Wonder Woman’s secret identity they place shoes that very like hers in a window, proclaiming they had been found and WW could turn up any time to get them.What they didn’t take into account was that many people would give their eyeteeth for something their hero owned. As each girl entered the shop her picture was taken, and the flash scared them off before they could grab the shoes. First they went after a young actress, who wanted the shoes to help launch her career. They wiped her off the list when the real Wonder Woman saved the girl from their gunmen. The second girl was a reporter, who was lured to an airport by the promise of a story. As she was almost pulled into a jet Wonder Woman lassoed it and flipped the plane, while sealing the jet.

Well finally they went after Di. But, as she has done many times in the past she runs fast enough the are shooting at her after image, and she is able to save herself and prove to them that Diana Prince is not Wonder Woman. Then she explained she was able to follow and help the girls as the trap had been obvious. I thought so too, I mean wouldn’t she notice she hadn’t lost any shoes?

2

For once Diana is having a peaceful morning, when suddenly she gets a mental radio call. She finds it is her dear friends the leprechauns calling and swiftly soars to their side. When she arrives she finds most of the people sleeping. Only the king remained to explain. Their magic lamp had gone out, and should she fail to relight it the leprechauns would be helpless before their enemies.

As is wasn’t a normal lamp, it couldn’t be lit by normal means. She needed to catch the dust of Halley’s Comet, and have that burned with the heat of the sun. She goes first to Sol, and passes as close as she dares, swinging the lamp from her lasso into a solar flare. She then goes for the further object of her search. The Comet was out near Neptune, and she sent her plane after it faster than the speed of light. By the time she arrived though, the lamp as barely filled with the sun’s flame and so she needed to go into the comet’s tail herself. It was only the speed of her plane that kept her from being harmed as she stepped onto it’s wing to gather the dust.

3

Okay two things real quick Diana works for the military, but Wonder Woman also writes an advice column in a paper called the Daily Globe. Second, I think we are about to get our first retcon. In case you don’t know what that is, it is when the writers retroactively change something in a story, in this case the origin of Wonder Woman’s earrings. It used to be they were a gift from the Queen of Venus that would allow them to communicate. I guess we will be either not be seeing any more of that version of that species, or they will communicate via mental radio. She is written a letter asking to explain their origins and this is what she tells him.

During a tournament on Paradise Isle. To make sure that people will not assume favoritism WW makes each task almost impossible to do. Being bound from hand to foot for the high jump, for example. But the games are put to a halt due to the appearance of the Martians. (Yes they are from Mars, the planet, but they are the workers of Mars the God and are not the race we get to know later. Also I always laugh at the planes of the Amazons. Besides WW’s they are shaped like rubber ducks.) The god’s men shoot down the planes with their polar rays, there for freezing the pilots. Frozen though  she was Wonder Woman used her breath to steer her plane. She sped it fast enough to defrost herself via friction, but while she was gone her mother was captured.

She allows herself to be tied with the lasso, only to find the Duke of Deception (who was leading the attack) had not caught Hippolyta after all. They place her in a tube and begin to pump the air from it, as they know she can’t survive that. Then they send the pod into space. She took gold from her tiara and made earrings, and then pushed them against her bracelet to pressure the ferric oxide into them. This somehow let her breath while she wears them??? Does she breath through her ears? She frees herself and stops the Duke but really?????

1953 Nov

Adventure Comics 194

Superboy

Another genius who could have greatly helped he world if only he hadn’t turned to crime. This one is very Luthor-esk and wants not only to use his new lightning gun for crime, but to prove himself smarter than Superboy. He moves himself and his minion to Smallville as soon as the gun is tested. They first rob a bank, and when SB steps in they shoot him with the gun. As we all know a little electricity is nothing to a Kyrptonian, but Clark knew that merely his being around others with his new electric field was dangerous. First our clever boy solves his problems from afar, forming a giant shovel to carry the crooks, but they simply shoot out a bridge while in transport, making him leave them to fix it.

Clark then flew out to Pluto and worked off the power that clung to him, and he goes after the crooks again then they strike that night. They cut off the powerplant, but SB used their own weapon against them by making himself into a giant light bulb with the help of his new blast of electricity. While fleeing the town the criminals come across Superboy standing before them, glowing. They pull out the gun and try to charge him enough so he must leave, only for it to fly out of the boss’s hands into the sky where the real Superboy had coiled metal around himself so as to make himself into an electromagnet. The version on the ground was made a metal, and given just enough of the energy to glow. Superboy then showered bits of electrified metal around the crooks, left to work of the rest of the power and soon returned to bring the men to jail.

Aquaman

Our boy was just drifting along on the back of a walrus when he sees a ship being attacked and so he heads on over to see what he can do. Imagine his shock when it wasn’t some random pirate, but an actual armada of enemies. So the crooked navy gets away with that ship’s cargo, but Aquaman is ready for them with the next ship that passes by. He has called up his friends, and put up a ‘smokescreen’ by having the octopuses release their ink and then the whales sprayed it into the air. Next torpedoes were sent after the ship Aquaman was protecting, but some of Aquaman’s friends simply nudged them back toward the shooters.

So they closed in, deciding to fight hand to hand. Aquaman scared them off though, with legions of turtles, painted to look like mines. They still made off with the gold from the ship though. Except it wasn’t gold, but a radio, to bring the coast guard to the leader of the thieves. He set up this trap on the first ship, by mentioning that the other was going through, and there was a bug that relayed that to the crook. I wonder why he decided to drop that bug though, and how Aquaman knew about it.

Johnny Quick

Johnny, Tubby, and some adventurers find a lost city (I think it’s in South America, but they don’t say) Tubby’s biggest worry is that the natives believe it haunted. There seems to be something to the rumor as well. Statues coming to life, and people hurling spears at them before vanishing. But when the adventurers stumble upon a sacrificial pit (Johnny saves them) that has paths and tunnels around the bottom he thinks he may have found how the previous events had happened. While exploring these (and nearly dying again) the four find stacks of gold. Modern gold, as it had mint marks and the like.

The gang comes after them, but Johnny quickly (haha) chases them back, and when they block the tunnel the speedster digs them out in seconds. The criminals are then trapped in a thrown together cage of spears.

Green Arrow

Our story begins by seeing the duo going after some bank robbers. The crooks end up running into a scientist’s lab where he is exploring the relationship between light and time. The entire party ends up in the future where they witness another bank robbery, and the Archers are greeted by a cop. Oddly not only did the people from the future know them, and even expect to see them, but GA knew about special arrows they had in this time, and how to use them. The bank robbers here were the same ones from the past, just changed in their methods and what they planned to steal. Just as in modern (or not so modern as it’s the 50s) times they escape briefly, but GA and Speedy are able to find them again with the help of the police.

The crooks try to escape again in a rocket, but the archers use Anti-atom arrows to kill the reactions in the jets. Still using fantastic (and most likely impossible) arrows they capture the crooks and then wake in the lab.

1953 Nov

Captain Marvel Adventures 150

Billy hears that workers from a broom company are vanishing and when he goes to check on this he finds out they are vanishing in a certain order. So he watches the next man on the list and sees him being taken away by a witch! He chases her, but when he reaches her hideout there is only a young woman there, captured like the rest. Scared to go home, lest she be taken again Cap takes her to Mrs. Wagner’s boarding house where Billy lives. She is given the room right next to his.

We of course then see her turn into the witch once she is alone. The next day she claims she is too frightened to leave the house with Billy, so he calls Cap to take her out and be her body guard. This continues, and soon all the town thinks they are not just a couple, but engaged! Turns out she was going to exploit the ‘can’t testify against one’s wife’ clause to keep herself safe from him. He felt like he had to go through with it, or else break her heart and be seen as a giant heel for backing out.

But while Cap is busy being blindsided Billy has everything figured out, and he tricks the girl into showing him her true form. (Yeah… Billy and Cap are definitely not the same person, but two who kinda share a body) Cap simply didn’t show up on time knowing that at midnight she would change to her true form and everyone would know why he didn’t marry her.

2

Sivana finds a new mineral with radioactive properties and names it Sivanium. He enslaves the natives from the place in Africa where he found the mineral and forces them to mine for Sivanium. But Sivana isn’t kept hidden for long, and the news of the natives’ enslavement is brought to Billy, who promptly calls Captain Marvel. But Sivana had figured out a way to keep Earth’s Mightiest Mortal at bay. He had mined the land with bombs that were somehow set to go off it Cap got to close. Of course, he could not be harmed, but the people that lived there sure could.

Naturally he goes in as Billy instead, as he didn’t trigger the bombs. He finds a mp with all the bombs’ placements and looks over Sivana’s plans. Then he goes to dig up the bombs and leave the path clear for Cap. But he is caught on camera and Billy is set upon by the evil scientist. Billy was tied up, and though his mouth was free the boy would not cry Shazam, even as Sivana approached him with a knife. After playing with Billy for who knows who long he lets him free, as he has a plan to make Captain Marvel himslef a slave.

Billy was left by himself as Sivana went to take over the world, and he got free and rushed to follow him, changing to Cap as soon as he could. But it was to no avail. The machine Sivana had formed was a molecular rearranger and it changed all the citizen’s head to look and think like Sivana’s. (How dumb is he? A planet full of Sivanas would be a nightmare to rule.) Still, Cap is invulnerable, so how could Sivana change him? Why by adding the Sivanium to a Shazambolt. But, as I predicted, twisting Cap to think like Sivana made it so the new version of our hero dethroned and took over the world from the original Sivana.

For once it is Sivana who goes to Shazam for help, and begs him to change him back to Billy. It worked, and so Cap was no longer a threat to Sivana’s rule, especially since Billy knew should he call the bolt again to would once again make him the evil Marvel. But Billy is not one to give up and so he asks Shazam to send the gods from whom his powers come, and they destroy the machine that adds the Sivanium to the Shazambolt. So He is able to change without fear. He captures Sivana and uses the Sivanaium to change the people back to normal.

1953 Nov

Plastic Man 43

Plas and Woozy are headed into an area known as Vampire Valley. They have been called in to dispel the rumors that there is an actual vampire residing there. The rumors are spurred on by the fact that there have been many murders in recent months. While simply driving up to the house of the man who called them in they came across a body and a man dressed as a vampire was standing over it. Plas went for him, but had to leave in order to save Woozy’s life. Stopping in at, well it didn’t really say, by the sheriff was there and people were drinking beer…. Anyway he told them about the body up the road and told them they were F.B.I..

That night a lynch mob came by to attack the man with whom Plas was speaking. Since he was a count from Transylvania people naturally thought he was a vampire. To protect him Plas and Woozy decide to stay the night. When Plas left to patrol though, Woozy sneaked back into the kitchen. But he didn’t get his midnight snack as he ran into the count there. Scared he fled back to the room, pursued by the count.

Poor Woozy was even more frightened when the killer from the road flew in the window. The Count had got in through the barred door, and then the two were fighting over Woozy. As you might have guessed it hadn’t really been the count since Woozy met him in the kitchen, but Plastic Man. Having found this out the killer flys out the window again, where the mob still is. They shoot at him and the balloon that lifted him was hit. It was actually the man who was riling up the mob, who wanted to drive down the prices so he could by the uranium loaded land.

2

Plastic Man and Woozy are sent to bring back the leading expert on volcanoes from his work trip as there has been evidence that he is really working for the Reds. Well they head to the lab that has been set up and a being made of magma rises from the pool of lava nearby and is all “who dares invade the domain of the Lava King.” Quite bravely Plas asks the being if he knows where the scientist is, and is told he is in the pool, where Plas can look for him. Even being close to the lava beast is melting Plastic Man, and Woozy is as always no help. He fills his hands with air and windmills his arms, cooling the area and hardening the lava, which cracks off; revealing the scientist in a special suit.

Plas takes the plane he and Woozy came in on and stirs up the clouds, making snow on high, and then dropping a giant snowball in the volcano. Since it began to steam the scientist thought his volcano was about to erupt and ran for it, and hand full of snow, Plas cooled his hot head. Then they flew away with their prisoner.

3

Woozy Winks is set to return from vacation, and when he does he seems to have shed several pounds. But far more importantly there is a robbery going on, with a strange device that attracts rubber like a magnet does to metal. Quickly Plas and Woozy are sent down there. Obviously Plas has the same problem of being dragged to the rubber magnet, but he is able to pull a lamp post with him and wreck the machine. But in order to save Woozy-who had been drawn in by his new girdle- he had to let the would be thieves left.

Plastic Man’s boss promptly pulled him off the case, knowing this man and his machine were the most dangerous thing to his key crimefighter. That didn’t stop the crook from going after Plas, via Woozy, who he kidnapped. His feet go caught in one magnet, but rushing to save his friend his hands get caught on another. Or so it seemed. Truly he let some fake arms he made be trapped, while his real ones turned off the machine. The criminals ran for it, but were killed by the machine and Plas destroyed the other one, making it’s secret go to the grave.

1953 Nov

Strange Adventures 38

A bunch of people have been going missing, and Captain Comet has figured out that the only connecting factor of these missing folks is their remarkable eyesight. As he himself has the keenest vision on Earth they come for him as well, a race of green spacemen. Of course he knows his futuristic body would most likely be able to overcome their ray guns he pretends to be helpless, so he can find the people they have taken.

Adam listens to the mind of the leader and finds out that a star near the planet the kidnappers came from had gone nova, and the radiation was making them go blind. They found Earth and decided to make humans their seeing-eye beings. They were put in a communal building at night, and Adam broke the chains, trying to lead them to a nearby ship. But an alarm was triggered and he told the humans to run for it. He is shot at, but he is unharmed. Then he speaks to the leader of the spacemen, and tells him it was evil and wrong to enslave the humans, and that any intelligent race would be able to adjust. And so the Earthling return home, and we wish the best to the blind aliens.

1953 Nov

Action Comics 186

Superman

Clark has been having the oddest feeling that some big disaster was going to hit the world. Focusing really hard he is able to recall hid father, Jor-el mentioning a great event that would strike the Earth. Clark begins to search for any signs of huge natural disasters, before realizing in might be space related. So he heads upward to look for danger. He finds that a dark star is passing by our home, far enough away not to suck us in, but but increased the speed at which the Earth turned.

Hurrying back to Metropolis Clark finds that every one has developed super-powers, well not really, but the increased speed made things weigh less, so people could lift more, run faster, and fly. Superman warns them of the danger, but they think he simply wants to be the only Super person. He and Lois are sent to see how Superman plans to slow the Earth to normal. First he simply pushes against the ground, but he breaks through it. So he makes a large break pad, but it breaks under is pressure. During this time he must keep up the illusion that he is also following behind himself with Lois. (Also Lois gets in danger a few times, but he can save her as Clark now and it’s cute okay, sue me) Finally he was able to make a giant blast of steam that went against the spin of the Earth to bring us down to normal speed.

Congo Bill

One thing before we start, did they used to call rhinos hippos? cause that’s no hippo.

I’m really bothered by this guys. But, well, it was the 50s? Anywho, Bill has this friend that wrote a letter to his wife that he was hurt and dying, and sent her his book to sell. The publisher said the feats the man claimed to do were impossible and he required pictures as proof. So Bill decided to replicate them so the book could be sold. First he had to fight a hippo (or a rhino) with no weapons. He cut off the tips of it’s horns while it slept, and went to the next task, chasing off a pack of gorillas. He did this by making a lion chase him as he ran after the primates. (No explanation as to how he got away from the lion.)

Then he just had to put a 65 pound pack on top of a hundred foot bamboo. Now if you have seen episode 315 (It took me way long to find out what ep it was) of Detective Conan you know how he did this. (Its a great show guys) But Bill did not have to do this as he found said pack on the bamboo and cut it down. Inside was a note that told the true story. The man had been captured by people who wanted to use the uranium mine he had found, and planned on keeping him til death. Bill found the men, freed his friend, who apologized for having him do the other tasks first, the pages had gotten mixed up in the mail.

Tommy Tomorrow

Are there still hot jetters? or is that something that has faded? I wouldn’t know, my hobbies include reading old comics, and other similar things. But on Earth-one while Tommy is active apparently they are still active, but, you know, in space. In case I’m talking weirdly and people don’t understand me again, Hot Jetters are people who soup up their vehicles and have races, like in Grease.

Anywho, Tommy is pulled off a ray-gun smuggling case to take care of the rampant jetters. Just as he was about to ground the whole group, a former ‘speed-bug’ offered to set up an area of space for the racers. But this didn’t end the problem as one refused to stay in the area. One day Tommy waited for the racer to split and sent the rule abiding racers after him while he went as well. It was the former speed-bug, and he had been using the jetters as a cover for his ray-gun smuggling.

Vigilante

Greg has been asked to referee a several day race, recreating the settling of a certain town. Well, not Greg, Vig, but same diff. It started off alright, until the lead man had a tire shot out, and he almost crashed. Vig and Stuff assumed that there was a grudge against the man, and kept an eye on him. But then the guy who had taken the lead next was attacked as well. Why would someone kill for a 50$ prize? Stuff asked Vig, and you have to admit, it seems a bit much.

Though it was dangerous the two disguised themselves as contestants that night, and easily took the lead with the vigcycle. They narrowly escaped being blown up, but the fools were close enough to Vig for him to place a tracker upon them. So he was able to follow to a cave along the race course where a gang had been hiding it’s loot. They had hoped to delay the race long enough to move the contraband. It was a good thing the racers came along soon though, because I doubt the two fighters would be able to take on the whole gang.