GREEN HORNET COMICS #10 (DECEMBER 1942)

ON THE AIR
IN THE MOVIES

Yep, it's the Green Hornet, great-nephew of the Lone Ranger and champion of justice.

We open with the "strange tale of two people, caught in the web of a tragic killing...into which is woven the the hand of the laughing killer, THE CLOWN...and the cunning of THE GREEN HORNET...when he smashes the case of THE ONE-EYED MONKEY!"  At the end of the tale, The Clown gets away to fight The Green Hornet another day, but the Hornet is able to free an innocent man from death row.

Then, West Point cadet Gary Blakely dons the (ridiculous) costume of The Spirit of '76 to battle America's enemies in Major Ralston's tale of a torpedoed boat, a nest of Nazis, and a battle with a wild jaguar in the jungles of Brazil as The Spirit of '76 fights to save his girl friend and her brother.

Next up, tough guy Mike Lancer (a prototype from Mike Hammer) stars in "The Syndicate of Death," a six-pager written by Mickey Spillane.  Wall Street executives are being murdered and Mike Lancer notices a similarity between the murders and the work of the supposedly late Marty the Rat.  But Marty the Rat wasn't dead -- at last not until Mike Lancer got hold of him.  Before he died, Marty the Rat named "Cropper" Langwell as the man behind the Syndicate of Death and Wall street big  wig Claridge as the man putting the hit on his colleagues.  Bodies pile up as Mike kills his way to the conclusion, saving the father of Mike's beautiful client.  (The somewhat crude artwork by Harry Sahle shows that Mike Lancer does not sport Mike Hammer's trademark porkpie hat.  Don't know if that was Spillane's decision or Sahle's.)

The Blond (note the spelling) Bomber is actress Honey Blake, who cracks a Nazi spy gang run by Little Adolf while filming a movie in "Sabotage on Parade."

Then, The Green Hornet returns in "The Career of Farmer Filcher."  Filcher is the country gangster chief who runs a city slicker gang.  The Hornet's alter ego, publisher Britt Reid, is frustrated because there is no direct evidence indicating Filcher as the crime mastermind.  The Green Hornet, however, is determined to put Farmer Filcher behind bars.

The modern day Robin Hood (Dr. Fairbanks) and His Gang (including Friar Tuck and Big John) tackle with a murderous gang who have targeted recently released a gangster in an attempt to gain stolen loot.  Some comic book heroes strain credibility.

The Zebra is an ex-con who has donned his striped prison shirt, tight shorts,calf-length boots, yellow gauntlets,  a mask, and a red cape to fight the baddies.  Of course The Zebra (a.k.a. John Doyle) had been framed.  The Zebra goes against a gangland kidnapper trying to ransom a child for the bad guy's brother's freedom.

Also included in this issue are acouple of text stories and a six-page comic story featuring The Mighty Midgets, a group of very small army guys -- Please do not confuse with the title characters of the 1998 film SMALL SOLDIERS.

Enjoy.


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