I like the cover. It's not exactly Squids in Space, but it'll do.
"Science predicts that rocket ships will soon roar off the Earth on their way to Mars and Venus, and even beyond the solar system. We like to think that years from now cargo spacers will bring us the produce of our sister planets. To guard their cargo, to maintain peace on the star frontiers, a new kind of police force will be needed...the space patrol. This then, is a tale of a patrolman of the future, a man with star-tan on his face. Jet Black, and his boy buddy, the Martian youngster, Jak Tal..."
In "The Thing in the Box," a strange black box from outer space takes over the minds of everyone on Mars, except for Space Ace and Jak Tal. It seems out heroes have just purchased silver helmets that would go well with their dress uniforms, so naturally they are wearing the helmets that can block out the hypnotic rays of the strange box. Then a weird pink egg from outer space lands and out pops a beautiful girl. She is Myrrl -- the alien boxes have conquered her planet,, and one box has been sent to conquer Mars because the boxes prefer a dry planet. Space Ace has to discovery the secret of the box-being, or Myrrl's people will remain conquered and Mars itself will be conquered. Thank goodness Space Ace and Jak Tal are wearing their silver helmets...
On "The Men from Deep Space," our heroes are on patrol when they spy an unfamiliar disc-like vessel. They try to communicate using their thought-propulsor radio but the thoughts of whoever -- r whatever-- is in the vessel remain blank. Then the strange ship sends a ray that slices their ship in half, throwing both Space Ace and Jak Tal into space. The flying disc is occupied by the giant not-really-squid beings from the issue's cover. These critters can live in space, and soon have our helpless heroes in their tentacle-like grasp. Luckily, Jak Tal had been playing with a toy handshake buzzer and that turns out to be the secret weapon against the critters. Space Ace and Jak Tal capture on of the beings -- named Kebbelog -- and force him (it?) back to Earth to be studied. Seems these creatures from deep space came from another dimension, but the space patrol now has the ability to destroy their entire race. And, so (we presume) they do just that. That'll teach them. It' not nice to mess with Spoce Ace and his boy buddy.
In an untitled story, Fan San is an exotic dancer on Mars. She wears a brief feathered tutu and a yellow bra with black stars where her nipples should be. Hubba-hubba. Somebody is trying to kill her. They have already killed her wardrobe mistress and her maid. Space Ace thinks its related to the theft of the Neverfade Emeralds -- the ten biggest jewels on Earth. pace Ace thinks the jewels have been hidden un knowingly with Fan San. He and Jak Tal set a trap for the jewel thief, but the thief get away -- but not before Space Ace recognizes him as Mark Treak, the big game hunter. They track Treak to the asteroids, tiny worlds home to many queer and deadly creatures such as the clawsyer, a pterodactyl-type monster with poison talons, and the horned, saber-toothed swamp panther. Then Treak gets the drop on our heroes. Can this be end? Heck, no.
A strange alien approached an outpost on Saturn. He is carrying "The Harp of Death," whih can overpower armed guards. The alien will not let anything stop him from hunting something that threatened the entire universe. Meanwhile, on Mars, Space Ace and Jak Tal are hunting ghost killers. They come across a body smothered in alien flower. They trace the flowers back to a birdman who has the deadly flowers attack our crime-busting space patrolmen. The alien harpist arrives from Saturn just in time to play his harp and kill the flowers. the birdman tried to kill Yanal (the harper) with a deadly ray gun but Space Ace saves him and throws a punch at the birdman that is sure to give him a beakache. Two more birdmen join the fray but they are no match for Space Ace. It turns out that Yanal-the Haper is also a birdman, just wearing a mask. The other three are the last birdmen of Jupiter (excluding Yanal, of course) and he has been hunting them down to bring them to justice.
In "The Adventure of the Invisible Pirates," Space Ace and Jak Tal are trekking across the merciless desert of the first planet of Proxima Centauri. With no food and half a can of water, and with space pirates on their trail, Space Ace seems to snap. He turns on Jak Tal, attacking him. Space Ace takes the last of the water, leaving his boy buddy to face certain death. Jak Tal is rescued by Nev Ran, the head of the Invisible Pirates, who hopes to use him to find out about the platinum mine shipments. This, of course, was a ply by our favorite space patrolmen to get the drop on the Invisible Pirates. You really didn't think Space Ace was going to leave his boy buddy to die, did you?
Fred Guardineer did the artwork in this issue. Guardineer created the magician-hero Zatara in issue #1 of Action Comics, the same issue that featured the first Superman story. He was also noted for drawing The Durango Kid from 1949 to 1955.
Enjoy.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=88889&comicpage=&b=i
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