THE COBRA WOMAN (OCTOBER 1944)

 Here's a one-shpt. pocket sized Australian Comic book  containing two adventure stories.

"The One-Eyed Man" is a Shado McGraw adventure.  "Professor Dare, having discovered a formula for the production of an article of world-wide importance has photographed the formula on a sensidised eyeshade.  By this means he intends sending the formula overseas by a messenger wearing the eyeshade, hoping to evade a group of spies who are pout to obtain the formula.  Professor Dare has selected Shado McGraw yo act as the one eyed messenger."  Well, that's pretty vague, but not vague enough to realize that some shady work may be afoot.  And shady work there is!  It is discovered that someone has stolen the formula and substituted a gloating message in its place on the eye shade.  McGraw determines that two rival spies have been at work, Count Zaroli and Tony the Boney -- but which of them actually stole the formula?  This leads to a chase, with McGraw uttering the immortal line, "Hey!  Taxi!  Follow that car and make your old speedometer do its stuff!"  For reasons that make no sense to me, Tony the Boney's assistant Skeleton Jim has been disguising himself as McGraw.  Black hands reach out of a doorway and grab McGraw -- it's Moonshine, Tony the Boney's Negro thug (who, sadly is drawn to represent a large ape).  All this folderol means that Count Zaroli is the one who actually stole the formula, and Twisty (Tony the Boney's "information runner") knows where to find him.  McGraw grabs a handy dandy machine gun and holds Tony the Boney's crew at bay until the police arrive, but Tony the Boney "presses the wall -- a door opens and he disappears through it -- crayfish fashion"  Tony the Boney is going after Count Zaroli and the formula!   McGraw takes Moonshine with him and follows through the dark passage -- but Moonshine (doing his best Mantan Morland imitation) is afraid of the dark.  (During this passage, the dreaded "N" word is used.)  Zaroli tries to escape by plane, dropping a grenade on McGraw, but ends up wrecking his pane.  It's now up to McGraw to discover what Count Zaroli did with the formula.  Not to worry.  He does.

"The Cobra Woman" is billed as the first adventure of "Red" Steele...British Agent!  A dying man staggers into Red Steele's apartment and collapses, a knife in his back.  He is Captain Batlow of the British Intelligence Service in Aden.  His mysterious dying message, only that the Cobra-Woman will be in Aden that night.   Batlow's Arab slave boy Abdul had little to add.  Steele contacts the British Resident in Aden to inform him of the death.  Batlow's effects contained no papers.  Steele doubts that he had been killed by Arabs because the knife used to kill him was not curved and clues point to Batlow having come from Africa.  Steele guesses that Batlow had been investigating the "Assyrian affair."  Batlow had been the third man sent to investigate the frontier fights between "the Italians, the British, and so on" -- no two are dead and a third missing.  Steele is anxious to get his hands on whoever killed his friend.  In the meantime, there's a ball to be held at the residency that evening and Hedy Menar -- the riches woman in Africa, and possibly the most beautiful -- has been added to the guest list.  Could she be the mysterious Cobra Woman?  Of course she can.  And she's wearing a chain that belonged to Batlow!  Hedy Menar captures Steels, and threatens him with torture, but Abdul learns that she has captured Steele and brings help.  A few Sudanese (again, the "N" word!) were killed willy-nilly, but eventually (SPOILER ALERT!) the Cobra Woman is brought to day.

We are promised further adventures of both Shado McGraw and "Red" Steele, presumably in other one-shots from the publisher.

We are also treated to two one-page humor (excuse me, humour) strips, both by Eric Potter:  "Young Bill" and "Wombat Flat."

As you read this comic book, be aware of the sensibilities of both the time and place.

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