Small House of Everything

Small House of Everything

Saturday, February 22, 2020

THE GREEN MASK #5 (JUNE 1941)

It's 1941, kiddoes, and like all true comic book heroes of the time, The Green Mask and Domino are busy fighting the enemies of America.

The Green Mask is Michael Shelby, who had been put in a vita-ray machine by a scientist and something went wrong, leaving Shelby a supercharge miracle man with the power to zoom through the air and perform superhuman feats.  As a superhero, he needs a boy sidekick and his is none other than young Don, the miracle boy who can pack a punch as Domino.  They have nifty full-body costumes with capes, nach.

Bring equal opportunity spy-hunters, the two find themselves up against the beautiful (and treacherous) Loo Lan and her evil father Dr. Tsu, who are out to get a new formula for a new steel armor plate from the Navy.  This yellow peril has a wide reach and The Green Mask and Domino must escape death a number of times before putting paid to this Oriental menace.

Then the pair are up against German spy Kurt Ebler and his spy ring, who are ought to get the plans for a new bombsight.  Not only bust GM and Domino fol the plot but they must also rescue beautiful Marilyn Parker, a captured U.S. intelligence agent.

The Germans are a pesky lot and there sure are a lot of them in the U.S.  In the next story, The Green Mask and domino come face to face with Lana Gelb, Nazi spy, and local bund leader Hans Funkel.  Lana has wooed her way into the heart of Charles Peters, president of an aeronautical company.  Lana has bombs planted at Peters' company ready to blow at any moment.  Can Green Mask stop the sabotage before the entire company goes sky-high?  That's a rhetorical question so don't bother answering.

That's it for The Green Mask in this issue, but their are still three action-packed stories to go.

Navy buddies "Spark" Stevens and Chuck Dawson of the U.S.S. Dragon have a brief shore leave in Hawaii before heading out to the Phillipines.  As Spark gets ready for a hot date with the gorgeous Aloita, Madam Kakymamie (great name, that) and her nest of Japanese spies discover when the flotilla is scheduled to leave the harbor and plot to plant mines to destroy the fleet.  By coincidence, Madam Kakymamie and her spies have captured Alita and her father and are using their house as a headquarters.  Japanese spies v.  the U.S. Navy with Spark and Chuck?  No contest.

We shift to China where Chen Chang, the "villainous Chinese plots with fiendish wiles against the white race he hates."  Chen destroys a munitions dump to distract officials from town while Chen and his men rob the bank.  Seeing through this ruse are American adventurer Richard Kendall and New York Chronicle reporter Lynn Rover, who must stop Chen from using the stolen gold to buy rifles for his war on the white race.

The final story takes us below the sea where Navy Jones and Princess Coral of the Undersea Realm go after "pirate" warships out to sink U.S.ships.  Now Navy, Coral, and her kingly father are all human (I guess) and can breathe underwater.  Their ally Captain Nemo (of Jules Verne fame) is human and must use a diving suit and helmet.   The people of the Undersea Realm are green, gilled creatures not unlike the one from the Black Lagoon.  I think I missed the backstory on this one.  The "pirate" fleet are Nazis and Navy and his cronies make short work of the "pirate" submarines while the actually U.S. Navy mop us the pirates' surface ships.  As Navy Jones says at the end, "As long as we maintain a powerful fleet, freedom of the seas is assured!"

Enjoy.


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