Daring Mystery Comics #4

Jul 27

Jul 27 Daring Mystery Comics #4

Purple Mask

When Assistant District Attorney Dennis Burton witnesses a bank robbery, he decides to go after them. Seeing where they are going to hide out, he acts as though he lost the crooks so that he can change into Purple Mask and ambush them. Buying a wagon cart, Burton disguises himself as a farmer to get close to the property and then sneaks inside. Overhearing the crooks plotting in the cellar, Burton listens as they plan on leaving this location. Burton changes into his Purple Mask costume and attacks the crooks, however they get the drop on him, knocking him out with a chair before fleeing the scene.

The next day in his civilian guise he meets with the sickly Mr. Whalen the owner of the First National Bank that was robbed the day before. Riding with Whalen to investigate the scene of the crime Burton listens on about how ill Whalen is before noticing that he driver is a criminal, but keeps it to himself. Suspicious, he follows the chauffeur who leads him to the hideout of the crooks. Dennis realizes that the crooks must be working for Whalen when they talk about meeting with their employer at the same southernly retreat that Whalen was going to recover at.

Rushing ahead, Burton would ride the same train as Whalen and then posing as a waiter at their hotel, gets the drop on them by changing into Purple Mask. He beats the crooks senseless and then locks them in the room while he goes to get the police. However when they return to the room they find that the crooks jumped out the window. Chasing them on a motorcycle Purple Mask manages to stop the crooks and turn them over to the authorities. The next day, Burton hands over the recovered money to the District Attorney.

Recurring Characters

Purple Mask

Continuity Notes

This is the last Golden Age appearance of Purple Mask. He will return (back in his Laughing Mask identity) in the Twelve limited series.

K-4 and the Sky Devils

After a series a Nazi zeppelin attacks in London, K-4 and his Sky-Devils are charges with a mission to track down the enemy zeppelin and destroy it. Spotting it in a hanger hidden in a mountainside, K-4 sends his colleague Ronald Wolverstone-Clodd down to infiltrate the base. With some make-up and his acting skills Ronald poses as a Nazi worker and learns that the Germans intend to bomb Paris next.

Returning to his comrades they follow the zeppelin by plane, after disabling it's gunner, K-4 jumps onto the enemy craft and boards it. Inside he fights off the Nazi soldiers single handedly and sets the zeppelin to crash, parachuting out in the nick of time.

Recurring Characters

Sky Devils (K-4, Ronald Wolverstone-Clodd, Rene D’Auvergne), Nazis

Monako Prince of Magic

Monako the magician once more comes to the aid of his friend Josie who has once more been targeted by his old nemesis Muro. This time Muro has stolen secret papers that identify secret fortifications set up in the Panama Canal in Central America. Although Monako manages to trip up the man hired to steal the documents, Muro manages to escape with them.

Following after Muro in another plane, they find that Muro carelessly dropped his map letting them know that he plots to take over the fortifications to control the canal. Catching up to Muro's plane, Monako uses his magic to deflect their bullets and create mountain obstacles in their way, causing their plane to get damage and Muro and his minion abandon ship.

Landing their plane, Monako and Josie attempt to confront Muro however the crook catches them at gun point, takes Josie as a hostage and ties Monako to a cactus to die in the desert. Monako manages to break free and rides a vulture to catch up with his foe. When Muro shoots the giant bird, Monako makes himself grow in size and grabs the plane. Muro attempts to make an escape by dropping Josie out of the plane but Monako manages to save her from falling to her doom.

Using his magic to suspend Muro and his accomplice in the air, Monako resumes his normal size and enters the plane with Josie. Before they can deal with Muro he teleports away with his black magic. Monako tells Josie that once they deliver the plans over to the government he must continue his hunt for his old enemy.

Recurring Characters

Monako, Mr. Muro, Josie Nottington

Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service

Whirlwind Carter, interplanetary secret service man for the planet Venus comes to the rescue of a craft shot down by Martian space ships. Rescuing the pilot he learns that it is Brenda Hale of the space army. She tells Whirlwind that the Martians are intending to invade the Earth and that they attempted to stop her from warning people.

As Carter and Hale gather an army to counter attack the Martians invading Earth, the Martians succeed in removing all the humans from Earth and taking over the planet for themselves. Fighting off the Martian crafts, Carter and his men bombard New York -- the central city of the Martian invasion -- with elastic-gas that will smoke them all out.

Carter, Hale and the Venusian army then fight off the Martians and force them to retreat from Earth, reclaiming it for the human race. On his way back home to Venus, Carter is informed that he has been promoted to protecting the planet Earth.

Recurring Characters

Whirlwind Carter, Brenda Hale

Continuity Notes

This story takes place in an alternate reality, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2 has indexed it as Reality-5464

Marvex the Super Robot

Clara Crandall's friend Jim Hansen is sitting on death row for a crime he did not commit. Concerned for her friend she asks her robot companion Martinex the Super-Robot to help clear his name. On his way home, Martinex spots a bank robbery in progress being committed by Spike Green and his men. Thanks to Martinex's interference, Green and his gang are captured by the police and sent to the same prison where Hansen is being held.

Later, Martinex is ambushed by some of Green's men and dumped in the river. However he survives the attempt and overhears how they are plotting to break Spike out of prison because -- as it turns out -- he was the person who is truly guilty of the crimes that Jim has been accused of and that he may be identified while in prison.

Martinex rounds up the gang members and then rushes to the prison where Spike Green is already causing a riot in an attempt to break out of the prison. When Martinex arrives he takes on all the rioting prisoners on his own and while he has superior strength and durability over the crooks he is soon overpowered and strapped into the electric chair. With the chair turned on, Spike and his men leave him to die, however the robot survives and breaks free.

Confronting the crooks in the courtyard, Martinex knocks them all out and then strong arms Green into confessing the crimes that he has framed Jim for, clearing his name.

Recurring Characters

Marvex, Clara Crandall

G-Man Don Gorman

Don Gordon, ace pilot and government agent, has developed a new jet engine that allows planes to travel at 1000 per hour. After busting up some spies seeking to steal the plans for his new engine he meets with Anson Dictor -- purchasing agent for the Nazis. Dictor wishes to purchase the new jet engines, however Gormon refusees to do so as he intends to turn it over to the US government once he has finished his tests.

Although he knows that the engine works on short range trips, Don needs to test the device out in long range travel. Chester Orsen the manager of National Aero has just the solution: having connections with All-State Airlines, he arranges to have a number of commercial planes be used in tests of the new engine for cross country flights. With news about a new jet engine being tested out many of the worlds wealthy starlets purchase tickets on cross-country flights that would take them from one coast to another in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately, all of the airliners with the prototype engines go missing, including on carrying Don's fiancée airline stewardess Betty Nestor. When all 25 planes go missing, Gorman is called to Washington D.C. to meet with military staff. They come to the conclusion that its the work of espionage and Gorman is assigned on the case to try and track down the missing jets. However, on his mission he is jumped by a group of men and taken prisoner. As the nation holds its breath, Gorman is left in a room with a time bomb to be blown up. However, when he is left alone he manages to break through his bonds and escape.

Having learned the location of the missing jets, Gorman calls in to the military and has a squad of fighter jets follow him to the location. Finding that the jets have been impounded by Nazi spies and the passengers shackled up like animals, Gormen and his men storm the area and take everyone hostage. They soon learn that Anson Dictor and Chester Orsen were working together in this plot to steal the engine for the Nazis. Later, Gorman explains that his engines gave off a specific magnetic wavelength that allowed him to track them to their location.

Recurring Characters

Nazis

The World of Savages

Having returned from the Miracle City dimension with Ann Barclay to Earth, Breeze Barton spots a number of soldiers fighting off a horde of primitive savages. Helping the soldiers fend off their attackers, Breeze and Ann learn that it is the year 1995, that 50 years had passed since Barton passed through he dimensional barrier. A devastating war had decimated the Earth and most of humanity has devolved to tribes of savages with a few men clinging to society.

Breeze takes control of the situation, suggesting that they try to rebuild society. After they build a fort, they are soon attacked by a band of savages. After fighting them off, Ann suggests trying to make peace with them. However when one of the soldiers explains that the savages chief would only allow that if someone defeated him in lone combat, Barton decides to do just that.

In a one-on-one fight, Breeze has better fighting skills than the savage chief, and when the chief attempts to cheat by using a weapon he loses the faith of his people. Barton still manages to defeat the chief even with the unfair advantage. With Breeze made the new leader of the savages he tells the people that they will work together to make a new society. The former chief later attempts to drown Breeze in a river, however he is spotted by Ann who shoots him dead. Surviving the attempt on his life, Barton thanks Ann for her help.

Recurring Characters

Breeze Barton, Ann Barclay, Frenchy

Trojak the Tiger Man

Continued from last issue...

With Nazi's setting out near his jungle, the wild man known as Trojak seeks to force the Germans out of his home. As Trojak gathers legions to fight for him, Edith is visited by her brother Jerry who is with the Nazi's. He tells Edith to not resist them and she feels obligated to agree. When Trojak and an army of natives prepare to attack Edith convinces Trojak not to fight.

However, when the Nazi soldiers attempt to detain Trojak, he resists capture. The Nazi general demands that they capture the wild man and take Edith prisoner in order to lure the hero out. Meanwhile, Jerry -- really a spy for the Allied Forces -- begins setting up an explosive to destroy the enemy base. Discovered as a spy, Jerry is also captured although the Nazi's do not discover what he is up to. Soon Trojak himself is captured as well and when they are all reunited Jerry explains what he has been up to.

With the TNT set to explode whenever someone pushes down the detonating plunger, Trojak calls his parrot friend Galu and has the bird bring a message to his tiger Balu so that the tiger can set off the explosives. Balu succeeds in his mission, destroying the Nazi base and crushing the general to death in the debris. With their prison smashed open, Trojak, Edith and Jerry make a run for it.