PEP COMICS #31 (SEPTEMBER 1939)

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

FORGOTTGEN BOOK: GOTHAM: CITY OF MONSTERS

 Gotham:  City of Monsters by Jason Starr  (2018)

A tie-in novel based on the 2014-2019 television series Gotham.  This original novel takes place between the television show's second and third season.

Long before he became the police chief in the Batman universe, Jim Gordon was a detective in the Gotham police department.  Until he was convicted of murdering the city's mayor and sent to prison for life.  Now Gordon is free (don't ask) but is unable to return to the police force; his life is pretty much of a shambles since he was rejected by the woman he loved, Lee Thompkins.

Fish Mooney was an underworld crime figure who had been killed when the Penguin threw her off a roof.  Her body was claimed by mad scientist Hugo Strange, who reanimated her and gave her the power of mind control. Strange had also been using prisoners at Arkham Asylum to create an army of monsters, each different, each powerful, most indestructible, many with a taste for violence and for human flesh.  fish escapes from Arkham, releasing many of Strange's monsters, but the escape automatically triggers a nuclear device set by Strange to destroy all evidence of what he had been doing.  Gordon, who returned to Gotham, he defused the nuclear bomb; although he saved Gotham, it was now overrun with Strange's monsters.  The city issued a bounty on the monsters -- dead or alive -- and Gordon became a bounty hunter.  Meanwhile, Fish Mooney is using her mind control powers to reestablish her hold on the underworld.

Five  months go by and Gotham remains in the grip of the monsters.  

Selina Kyle is a sixteen-year-old thief and one-time protegee of Fish Moony.  Always looking to make a score, she is hired to distract a guard at the Gotham Federal Bank. allowing a crew to come in and rob the bank.  What Selena did not realize was that the robbers included only two humans, plus two monsters, a giant, super-strong, greenish-colored man and a  vicious dog-human creature.  Things do not go well and the monsters start killing people.  By the time the police arrive, the robbers, and the monsters have fled with a large amount of cash and the bank is littered with mangled bodies.  Gordon adds these two monsters to his "wish list," along with two more of the city's most homicidal monsters, a pair called Nip and Tuck.

When the monsters first appeared, Alfred Pennyworth took his young charge, Bruce Wayne, to Switzerland, there to remain for six months.  But now, someone from Alfred's past is trying to kill him and Bruce has become the bait.  Switzerland, it seems, is as dangerous as Gotham.

Bodies begin to pile up.  Jim Gordon, Selina Kyle, and Bruce Wayne all face deadly dangers, and Gotham may never be the same...

A minor story, but well-told, the equivalent of a box of popcorn to keep one occupied at the theater.  As always, I find myself rooting for Selina Kyle, knowing that at heart she's just bad and not evil, and rooting for Jim Gordon, knowing that he will retain his high morality no matter what is thrown at him.

Jason Starr (b. 1966) is the author of numerous crime novels, including the award-winning books Tough Luck, Twisted City, and The Chill.  With Ken Bruen, he wrote the best-selling Max and Angela series for Hard Case Crime.  Starr is also the creator of a number of comics and graphic novels, including Wolverine Max, The Returning, Red Border, Casual Fling, and Silicon Bandits.  His tie-in work includes Ant-Man:  Natural Enemy and a previous Gotham novel, Dawn of Darkness.

SUSPENSE: THE BLACK CURTAIN (NOVEMBER 30, 1944)

Cornell Woolrich's classic 1941 mystery novel of a man who wakes up with three year's of amnesia, finding himself accused for a crime he can't remember, filmed in 1942 as Street of Chance, made it to radio two years later under the novel's original title, and starring Cary Grant, taking over Burgress Meredith's role from the film.

The mysterious "Man in Black" (Joseph Kearns) introduces this episode of CBS Radio's Suspense, produced and directed by William Spear and written by George Corey.  This episode also features Cathy Lewis, Hans Conreid, Bea Benaderet, and William Johnson; Elsa Maxwell can be heard shilling for the program's sponsor, Roma Wine.

(Almost two decades later, the story was adapted for a famous episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour [November 15, 1962], directed by Sidney Pollack and starring Richard Basehart, Lola Albright, Harold J. Stone, and James Farentino.)

Be careful walking.  You might slip, fall, hit your head, and find that the past three years were nothing but a Black Curtain...

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY9RES1Yl6g&t=314s

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: ICU

 "ICU" by Edward Lee  (first published in 999:  New Tales of Horror and Suspense, edited by Al Sarrantonio, 1999; reprinted in The Best American Mystery Stories 2000, edited by Donald E. Westlake [Otto Penzler, series editor], 2000; and in Lee's collection Carnal Surgery, 2011)

A disturbingly dark and uncomfortable story, not for the faint of heart...

"It chased him; it was huge.   But what was it?  He sensed its immensity gaining on him, pursuing him through unlit warrens, around corners of smothered flesh, and down alleys of ichor and blood...

"Holy Mother of God.

"When Paone fully awoke, his mind felt wiped out.  Dull pain and confinement crushed him, or was it paralysis?  Warped images, voices, smears of light and color all massed in his head.  Francis 'Frankie' Paone shuddered in the terror of the nameless thing that chased him through the ra.bbets and fissures of his own subconscious mind.

"Yes, he was awake now,  but  the chase led on:

"Storming figures, Concussion.  Blood squirting onto dirty white walls."

The room Paone was in was a blur; somewhere he had lost his glasses and now couldn't see three feet past his face.  There were metal poles with blurred blobs, a line descended to his right arm.  IV bags.  The smell of antiseptics and isopropyl alcohol...he was in a hospital.  He tried to move, but could not.  He was restrained.  He looked at his left arm; there should have been a hand there, but it was not.  On his right leg there as a stump just below the knee.

A figure approached.  A  nurse, cold and clinical.  She checked his charts, called him by his name.  Slowly, he began to remember what had happened.

Paone was a mob middleman, working for Vinchetti, the largest dealer of illegal films on the East Coast, especially of child pornography.  Paone would pick up the masters from the creeps who would film the stuff, and deliver them to Vinchetti, who would dupe hundreds of copies and then sell them worldwide through his illicit contacts.  Paone would closely examine the masters before turning them over, ensuring that the quality of the films were high.  He was not concerned about the morality of his work; money was money and the customers would receive the films one way or the other.   It was a sweet gig; Vinchetti's only competition in the illegal refused to be involved in kiddy porn, although he dealt heavily into snuff films, necro, beastiality, and S and M, leaving the entire kp market for Vinchetti alone. Two years earlier, Paone had served sixty-two month on distribution of child pornography charges.

Paone had been on a pickup:  five master from a real lowlife named Rotz and two grand a master.  While Paone was inspecting the goods for quality, Rodz was scanning the money for any trace of chemicals added to the bills that would mark them for the feds.  All ,looked well when the door burst open and the police burst in.  Rodz was killed instantly in the firefight.  Paone managed to kill two state police officers and a Justice Department agent before bullets left his hand and leg in shreds.

Now Paone was in a hospital, an ICU.  He was alive and this state had no death penalty.  Life inn prison held no fear for him.  As a cop killer, he would be elevated to the elite among the population and need not worry for his life.  He was looking forward to the best result of a bad situation.

Then the nurse turned on the radio.  The news had a story about the raid and the death of three law enforcement personnel and of Rodz.  The story concluded with the note that Paone had somehow managed to escape and was the subject of a statewide manhunt.  Escaped?

Paone's nightmare was just beginning...

As I said, the story is both dark and uncomfortable.  A surprising addition to Penzler's annual Best of the Year anthologies.  Author Edward Lee stated that he wanted to probe deeply into the psyche of a sophisticated modern sociopath, and to do so, he did "quite a bit of research involving the technical mechanics of child pornography, its statistics, its distribution, etc."  Better him than me.

"Edward Lee" (Lee Edward Seymour, b. 1957) is an extreme horror writer whose works include more than 40 books, many of them small press-limited edition hardcovers that have become collector's items; many others were released as mass-market paperback originals.  Among his works are Ghouls, Dahmer's Not Dead (with Elizabeth Steffen), and Goon (with John Palen ).  His short story "Mr. Torso" (from Hot Blood:  Deadly After Dark, edited by Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett, 1994) was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, and he has received the J. F. Gonzales Lifetime Achievement Award from KillerCon.  Two of his stories have been filmed as movies.  For those who are into extreme horror, Edward Lee is essential reading.

THE ADVENTURES OF SMILIN' JACK (1943)

 Smilin' Jack Martin anchored the longest running aviation comic strip in history, 40 years, from October 1, 1933 to April 1, 1933.  Created by 27-year-old aviation enthusiast Zack Mosley, the strip was originally titled On the Wing and the character's original name was Mack Martin, neither of which appealed to Chicago Tribune editor Joseph Medell Patterson, who in a nod to the strip's creator, renamed the character to Smilin' Jack Martin (Mosley's nickname was Smilin' Zach), and retitled the strip to The Adventures of Smilin' Jack later to be shortened to just Smilin' Jack.  The Smilin' Jack of the comics strongly resembled Roscoe Turner, a notable air racing star of the time.

In the 1943 Universal movie serial, Smilin' Jack is portrayed by Tom Brown (Judge Priest, Anne of Green Gables, Buck Privates Come Home).  It's 1941, and Smilin' Jack wishes to resign as an advisor to the National Chinese Army in order to enlist as an aviator in the American military buildup prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The Chinese, however have discovered the existence of a "secret road" from India to China that will be crucial in the Allied war effort.  Working against Smilin' Jack, and determined to gain the secret for themselves are both "The Black Samurai" -- Japanese espionage agents -- and Fraulein von Teufel, a German agent posing as an American newspaper reporter.

Also featured are Rose Hobart (A Lady Surrenders, East of Borneo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) as Fraulein von Teufel, Edgar Barrier (Journey into Fear, Phantom of the Opera, Tarzan and the Leopard Woman) as Tommy Thompson, Marjorie Lord (Sherlock Holmes in Washington, Boy, Did I Get the Wrong Number!, and television's The Danny Thomas Show) as Janet Thompson;  Keye Luke ("Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan films, Kato in the Green Hornet Serials, Master Po in television's Kung Fu) as Captain Wing; Sidney Toler (Charlie Chan  in 22 films, Blonde Venus, Dark Hazard) as General Kai Ling, Turhan Bey (Background to Danger, The Mad Ghoul, Adventuress of Casanova) as Kegeyama, and Jay Novello (Pocketful of Miracles, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, The Man from the Diner's Club).

Directed  by Lewis D. Collins (Don Winslow of the Coast Guard, Secret Agent X-9, Lost City of the Jungle) and action specialist Ray Taylor (The Royal Mounted Rides Again, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, Tarzan the Mighty).  Written by Morgan Cox (Gang Busters, Drums of Fu Manchu, Zorro's Fighting Legion).

The link takes you to all thirteen episodes.  Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2968

HYMN TIME

 Kori Withers and Friends -- Playing for Change

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_R6Gw9A-xA&list=RDb_R6Gw9A-xA&start_radio=1

SECRET AGENT X-9 (1936)

Secret Agent X-9 was a comic strip distributed by King Features and created by Dashiell Hammett and originally drawn by Alex Raymond.  It ran from January 22, 1934 to February 10, 1996.  Hammett wrote the first four story arcs (through April 20, 1935), and was replaced by Don W. Moore (April 22 - September 21, 1935), Leslie Charteris (September 23, 1935 - March 28, 1936), "Robert Storm" (a "house" name hiding the identity of the real author; March 30, 1936 - sometime in 1945), Mel Graff (1945 - March 19, 1960), Bob Lubbers (March 21, 1960 - January 28, 1967), Archie Goodwin (January 30, 1967 - February 2, 1980), and George Evans (February 4, 1980 - February 10, 1996).

Alex Raymond drew the strip through November 16, 1935, followed by Charles Flanders (November 18, 1935 - April 9, 1938), Nicholas Afonsky (April 11 - November 5, 1938), Austin Briggs (November 7, 1938 - June 1, 1940; Mell Graff (June 3, 1940 - March 19, 1960), Bob Lubbers (March 21, 1960 - January 28, 1967), Al Williamson (January 30, 1967 - February 2, 1980), and George Evans, (February 4, 1980 - February 10, 1996).

Secret Agent X-9 was one of many Big Little Books published by Whitman Publishing, beginning in 1932.  They were juveniles, often featuring popular radio shows, films, movie actors, comic strips and pulp novel characters.  The  cheaply printed, hardbound volumes measured about 3.5 by 4.5 inches and could carry up to 400 pages or more, with text on the text on the left and full page illustrations on the right.  Authorship of Secret Agent X-9 was credited to Charles Flanders, the artist for the strip at the time of publication.  Whether Flanders wrote the text for the book is unknown.

In the beginning X-9 was an unknown agent who worked for an anonymous agency.  Hammett gave him the name Dexter -- "it's not my name, but it'll do" -- and he was occasionally referred as Dexter during the early year of the strip.  In the Forties (long after this book appeared), he was given the name Phil Corrigan by writer/artist Mel Graff.  During the run of Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson, the strip was retitled Secret Agent Corrigan.  the anonymous agency employing X-9 was eventually revealed to be the FBI -- that is, until the 70s, when the FBI's reputation fell rather sharply and X-9's agency once again became anonymous.

This time around X-9 is after a gang of counterfeiters headed by the mysterious "Fang," who appears to have inside information about the operations of the secret service.  For this case, X-9 is teamed with Sally Ray, a young woman of whom we know little.

A bit about the link.  Somebody screwed up the page order of the book.  Page 1 of the comic books Plus link is actually page 168 of the book.  If you start at page 134 (the actual front cover of the book) and go page by page from there as the pages are actually in order.

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=72621