Such a deal! For ten cents you can be a member of the SHIELD G-MAN CLUB and get both an identification card and an official SHIELD G-MAN CLUB badge (in red, white, and blue) proclaiming the values of the club: Truth, Justice, Patriotism, and Courage. How can you not join?
Hulking Nazi super-villain The Strangler is in prison with his evil buddy Snowbird (so named because of the white powder he keeps sniffing up his nose) and dreaming of getting revenge on The Shield and Dusty when he gets a secret message from Goebbels reactivating him. I can't say much for the prison system because the guards are all dolts and The Strangler is allowed to retain his Nazi villain costume, complete with monocle, cape, and swastika decorated chest, so escaping is a piece of cake. The Shield and Dusty track the pair down and are captured and bound while The Strangler goes off to do his Nazi stuff, leaving our heroes guarded by Snowbird and his machine gun. A little bit of pepper sprinkled into the Snowbird's powder gets him sneezing and allows The Shield and Dusty to escape. In the end, Snowbird goes back to prison and The Strangle drowns...or does he? The only thing dumber than the prison guards are the Nazis.
In addition to having a chance to join the SHIELD G-MAN CLUB, readers of the comic can also join the "Young Soldiers of America Club." All you need to do is say that you plan to buy Victory Stamps (or a single stamp) and you can have your name and address printed in the comic book. They'll take your word for it.
The Hangman (he has a blue cape, blue gauntlets, blue shorts and a blue mid-calf boots over a skin-tight green costume, and with an orange hangman's rope for a belt) deals in justice, while the Nazis deal in oppression and hatred. He zooms around occupied France kicking Nazi butt. The Hangman is lured to a concentration camp where he is captured by The Hunter (another hulking villain, this time with a leopard skin outfit and a horned skullcap with a swastika emblem -- those Nazi supervillains really like swastika emblems, it's how they recognize each other at lodge meetings). Well, you can't keep a good Hangman down. He escapes and free prisoner Johnny, an American correspondent, showing him a ring belonging to his sister Thelma to prove he is a good guy; The Hangman also happens to be Thelma's best friend. So off they go, followed by many Nazis, The Hunter, and his hounds. They escape a fiery trap set for them by The Hunter, the The Hangman clocks The Hunter with a big stick and has Johnny change clothes with The Hunter. The dogs smell Johnny's clothes on the Hunter and attack him, tearing him to shreds, and The Hangman and Johnny make to Switzerland and safety. All of this displeases Hitler, but, hey, "Nothing, Herr Hitler! Nothing can stop The Hangman from getting to you, for so long as there is a free soul in this world, you must meet your Hangman!"
The Hangman then returns in a one-page text story, "Death Draws a Cartoon." No Nazis this time, just a murderer who gets his comeuppance.
Young Armand Delatour is a student in England while his father fights for freedom in France. Captured, Delatour is scheduled to be executed by the Nazis, but manages to have a note smuggled to his son, urging him to carry on. "Men may die but France will live forever!" John Grayson, the society dilettante who is secretly The Captain Commando, flies to France to rescue Delatour, not realizing that his son Billy and his friends Armand, Sykes, and Janssen have snuck on board to help rescue Armand's dad. The four lads are The Boy Soldiers; it seems Nazis are no match for them. It really makes me wonder why the war went on for as long as it did.
Once again, Danny is in Wonderland. Swimming with his friend Kupkake (who resembles one of Disney's dwarfs), they are about to be attacked by an alligator when Danny's dog, Snapper, saves them. Danny kills the alligator with his magic sword, but Snapper (**sniff**) is killed. All the trees and animals in Wonderland are sad. Mother Nature says she cannot help Danny get Snapper bakc but she knows someone who can...Father Time, whose castle is located on an ever-growing mountain. So Danny and Kupkake embark on the dangerous quest to find Father Time. But Father Time is too busy trying to get Sleepy Town (which is currently 1000 years behind in time) back on schedule to waste his time on one little dog. Danny and Kupkake offer to help get Sleepy Town back on schedule if Father Time saves Snapper. to be continues in the next issue for those who could be bothered.
Sergeant Boyle is on a convoy about to head back to the United States after delivering men and supplies to the Pacific front. He has a week before the convoy is to set sail again, so he and his buddy Captain Twerp decide to check out New York. Boyle has also been providing a comic book with stories about his adventures. Nazis kidnap Twerp, hoping to get information about the convoy. Boyle tracks them down, and with the help of some of Twerp's comic book fans, spoils thing for the Nazis. Have I mentioned that Nazis are dumb?
The Shield and Dusty return in a one-page text story, "Melodies of Murder." The ever-dumb Nazis are using doctored Benny Goodman recording to pass on secret information.
Pep Comics was also the birthplace of Archie Andrews. In these early days, Archie was a bit chubbier and had buck teeth, and Riverdale was evidently close to Boston. (Archie creator Bob Montana went to high school in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire, and based many of his characters on people he knew in high school.) Back then, Veronica's father was named Burton (not Hiram) Lodge and was an elected official in Washington, D.C. When Veronica takes Archie to the airport to meet her father, Archie ends up representing his state on a Congressional committee. It seems as far back as 1939, Washington pols could be clueless.
Finally, Bentley of Scotland Yard investigates when a corpse has been impaled on a church steeple. In an Ellery Queen-like "Challenge to the Reader" moment, you have been given all the clues and can pick who you think was the murderer before you turn the final page: Jim Crivet, Dr. Tagg, the sexton, or Anne Crivet. And, sonuvagun, it wasn't a Nazi!
A jam-packed issue with some pretty good stories, and also Danny in Wonderland. I once worked for a man whose sixteen-year-old daughter would write advertising copy for the company. The copy was terrible but the man thought his daughter did an outstanding job. Since then, our family catch phrase to describe absolute dreck was "My sixteen-year-old daughter wrote this!" Now I'm thinking Harry Shorten, the writer who would soon become the managing editor of Pep Comics, had a sixteen-year old daughter ( he actually had two daughters but I don't know what their ages were).
Check out the issue.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=102154&b=i
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