Daring Mystery Comics #8

Jul 27

Jul 27 Daring Mystery Comics #8

V For Victory

As World War II rages on, Adolf Hitler orders the Nazi forces to attack Belgians and Dutch peoples. Opposing this would be the British military, and among their ranks Lieutenant John Watkins. During a battle in Dunkirk, Watkins unit is forced to flee back across the English Channel. While they are fleeing, a Nazi plane takes shots at them, hitting Watkins and sending him falling into the water, and being left for dead. Washed ashore, Watkins is found by a French fisherman who nurses him back to health. Fully healed and feeling great power growing inside him, Watkins has his friend help smuggle him back into Britain. Meeting with army officials, Watkins accepts an assignment to return to Europe and rally the citizens of occupied France to resist against their Nazi oppressors. To this end, Watkins develops the identity of Citizen V, and decides to leave him mark the letter "V" as in "V for Victory".

In France, Citizen V attacks Nazi soldiers and learns where strategic ammunition depots are, marking them with luminescent paint so that the R.A.F. can bomb them. His activities earn the ire of Hitler himself, while giving the people of France renewed hope that their country will one day be free once more.

One night, Watkins knocks out a Nazi Colonel and steals his identity. Deciding to have some fun with it, Citizen V uses his stolen credentials to get into Nazi Germany and seek an audience with Hitler himself. Asking the Fuehrer for an autograph, Citizen V would take the distraction to land a solid punch on the German dictator. V would then tag Hitler with his own signature, his trademark V, before fleeing into the night.

Recurring Characters

Citizen V, Nazis (Adolf Hitler)

Terror Reigns On the High Seas

German U-Boat captain Eric Von Wolff -- aka the Barracuda -- has taken great pleasure of sinking civilian ships across the Atlantic, gunning down all those who survived. After sinking an American ship and killing all those who attempted to escape, the Barracuda would order his vessel to submerge again.

The carnage would attract the attention of the Fin, who seeks to get justice for the vessel. Forcing his way aboard the U-Boat, the Fin fights off the crew and leads his way to the captains quarters. Listening in to Barracuda's conversation, the Fin is horrified to learn that von Wolff took great pleasure in killing everyone aboard the ship and even laughs at how he made a woman and her infant drown. Angered by this, the Fin rushes into the room and beats the Barracuda and his men into submission. With the Nazi defeated, the Fin would then radio to a nearby British destroyer and have them collect the Nazi crew before returning to the ocean.

Recurring Characters

Fin, Nazis

Death Rides the Air Waves

The air waves are the start of a strange murder spree, when radio broadcasts are interrupted by the constant transmission of a Morse Code with only one message: the letter D. This queer turn of events attracts the attention of FCC agent Jerry Cartstairs begins listening to the pattern. When he hears the Morse transmission during a radio broadcast of popular singer Mary Graham, Jerry decides to follow after her as the Thunderer. Watching her as she enters her home, the Thunderer witnesses as she is shot by a gun rigged into her radio set. Spotting a car fleeing from the scene, the Thunderer follows after it and finds that there is a gang of thugs inside that are communicating to their employer via a two-way-radio.

Spotted hitching a ride on the car, the thugs stop and attempt to fight the Thunderer but the hero is more skilled than they are and easily beats them into submission. He then forces the crooks to take him to their leaders base. There, he finds their leader is a deformed dwarf named Gore. Gore feigns a willingness to surrender so that the Thunderer can get close enough to fall through a trap door. When Gore sends his men down to deal with the Thunderer, he once more beats them into submission and goes up stairs to fight with Gore again. Their fight causes a short in some of Gore's radio equipment causing a massive blaze.

The Thunderer beats Gore into submission and is forced to flee the burning building with his enemy. Outside, Gore dies of the injuries he sustained in battle, telling the hero he went on his murder spree to get revenge on the society that mocked his deformed appearance.

Recurring Characters

Thunderer

Mahomad, the Sinister Spiritualist

Millionaire widow, Mrs. Danting goes to see Effendi Mohammad, a medium who supposedly can contact spirits. To her surprise it appears that he summons the ghost of her late husband, who instructs her to trust Effendi with her financial affairs. Effendi tells her that she must trust him with $10,000 and that he will be by her home at midnight that night, and to tell nobody of their arrangement. However, Mrs. Danting cannot keep the tale to herself and tells her son Dennis. Dennis believes that Mohammad is a fraud and decides to hire a private investigator to look into things. He chooses PI Dan Hurley, however he only meets with his secretary Betty Barstow, who tells him that someone will investigate his case soon.

Betty decides to look into things as the Silver Scorpion, and goes to see Effendi Mohammad on her own. Leading him to believe that she has believed in his spirit summoning she gives him a number of jewels upon his orders. However she comes back at the Silver Scorpion to spy on him and learns that Mohammad is really conman Eddie Lorey. Lorey instructs his minions to storm the Danting home and pretend to rob him at the right time so that he is not implicated in the theft of the $10,000. That night when Lorey and his men attempt to pull off the heist, they are stopped by the Silver Scorpion who beats the gang into submission while Dennis calls for the police. When the police arrive to arrest Lorey and his gang, they inform Mrs. Danting that Lorey is a conman who has been pulling his "spirit reading" con on people across the country. With the case of the Silver Scorpion departs, leaving Dennis Danting smitten.

Recurring Characters

Silver Scorpion, Dan Hurley

The Thirty-First Century Blitzkrieg!

Peace has finally been achieved in the 31st century, however this is short lived when suddenly Washington D.C. is attacked by a strange ship. Captain Daring leads the counter attack, forcing the men in the attacking ship to parachute to the ground. Following after them, Daring is shocked to see that they are none other than Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Von Schalz.

Hitler explains that they have survived into the 31st Century thanks to a chemical ice invention created by Von Schalz to keep them in suspended animation until the 31st Century. He explains that as the Nazis were losing the war in 1941, he, von Schalz, Goebbler and Hermann Goering would stash their fortunes and put themselves in suspended animator. Revived in the year 3051 AD, they would work to continue their attempt to conquer the Earth, and then later conquer the universe.

Daring then realizes that Goering is not among the revived Nazis, and is knocked out from behind by the Nazi second in command. Hitler tells Daring that he intends to use Daring's military knowledge of the 31st Century to his advantage and has Von Schalz hypnotize Daring into submission. Daring then is forced to join the new Nazi regime in their full out attack on the Earth, which creates high levels of casualties.

This story is continued next issue...

Recurring Characters

Captain Daring, Nazis (Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goring, Von Schlaz)

Hypnotized Ghosts

Professor Morrow is busy working in the anthropology room of the museum, working on casting recovered bodies of ancient Mongolian aboriginals in plaster. As he works, he recalls back about how he recently got his powers from a mysterious blue diamond he found in the Antarctic, when it was blown to pieces and it's bits embedded in his body. With his new found powers he became the costumed hero known as the Blue Diamond.

Recently, a number of military officials have gone missing in the community, leaving people to wonder who is responsible. Hearing radio reports about this, Morrow decides that perhaps it is something for the Blue Diamond to get involved with but wonders where to start. Just then, the bodies laid out on slabs which were supposedly Mongolian aboriginals suddenly rise from the under their sheets and storm pass Morrow despite his attempts to stop them. He is shocked to find that none of them have blood in them when he strikes one with a spade.

Changing into the Blue Diamond, Morrow follows after them, and is led into the museums basement where this horde of "ghosts" is breaking through to the Federal Reserve Bank next door to the museum. Beating the "ghosts" into submission one of them tells the hero what is going on: He explains that they are all victims of the Nazi master of hypnosis Dr. Eric Karlin, whose hypnotic powers dry out their blood and make them appear as ghosts. The victim tells the Blue Diamond that on top of killing prominent citizens, Karlin's goals were to also steal Nazi funds that have been frozen by the American government following the outbreak of World War II.

The Blue Diamond decides to pay a visit to Dr. Karlin in his lab and when Karlin is unable to harm the hero he attempts to flee. During their struggle, the Blue Diamond knocks Karlin into a vat of acid killing him. Searching Karlin's home, the Blue Diamond learns that Karlin used the very same acid to kill his victims and kept their remains in jars that he kept on display in his lab. Horrified by this, the Blue Diamond feels that he brought a measure of justice to these poor victims by slaying Karlin.