Venus #2
Way Out West!
A swarm of press reporters have swooped down on the offices of Beauty Magazine, trying to get an interview with Venus. The goddess has secretary Della Mason send them away. This angers Della who feels like she is nothing more that Venus' servant. Della is determined to fix it so that Venus gets fired from her editor's position with the magazine.
Meanwhile, Venus waits for a telegram from her employer Whitney Hammond to give her an assignment, while he is out of town searching for beautiful women to feature in his magazine. When the telegram arrives, Della gets it first. She reads that Mr. Hammond has requested for Venus to go to Atlantic City to cover a story about a beauty pageant occurring there. Della decides this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of Venus for good and alters the telegram so that it reads "Cactus City", a small town in the middle of nowhere, hoping that having Venus unknowingly botch the assignment will get her fired from her job.
Finding it strange that her employer would send her out to Cactus City, Venus rushes off anyway, totally falling for Della's trick. When Venus arrives at a local airfield to take a flight to Cactus City she arrives just as the plane is taking off. However, one of the pilots spies her through binoculars and becomes totally smitten, turning the plane around so that Venus can climb on board.
When Venus arrives in Cactus City she finds it nothing more than a sleepy town and when she finds no sign of Mr. Hammond around, she decides to check herself into a local hotel. There she changes into some plain clothing and walks around town, catching the every eye of the men in the city. Before Venus knows it, there is an entire group of men following her around trying to get a good look at her beauty.
Later, when Mr. Hammond returns to the office he is furious that Venus didn't arrive in Atlantic City. Della tells him that she left the country, however, Venus returns to the office shortly thereafter. Before Mr. Hammond can be angry, she shows him a front page story from the Timely Sentinel which proclaims plugging their magazine with a story about how women can be beautiful even in ordinary clothing. Hammond thanks Venus for helping his magazine again, much to Della's chagrin.
Recurring Characters
Venus
Whitney Hammond
Della Mason
Venus Stops the Presses!
Mr. Hammond is heading to the printing plant where Beauty Magazine rolls off the presses. Interested, Venus convinces Whitney to allow her to accompany him. When they arrive at the plant, all the workers instantly take notice and become smitten by Venus. When the plant foreman, Jim Brown tries to get his men to snap out of it and go back to work, he too suddenly falls for Venus and accidentally sets the printing press going, running copies of the magazine off like mad.
Hammond protests enough to snap Brown out of his trance and he shuts the machine off. Hammond then drags Venus back to New York before she causes any more trouble. However, when they arrive back at the office they find a telegram from Jim Brown, asking Venus to come by the plant at any time as her appearance there caused his workers to boost their productivity.
Recurring Characters
Venus
Whitney Hammond
Della Mason
Between Two Worlds!
Della Mason is once more furious over Venus' position as a magazine editor and begins wondering where the so-called goddess disappears to from time to time. When Venus meets with Mr. Hammond again, Della finally decides to do something about it and leaves the office. Della pays a visit to the owners of the Peerless Private Detective Agency and hires them to find out where Venus goes for $100.00. When the two down-and-out detectives learn the fee she is willing to pay, they eagerly agree to take the case.
Meanwhile, at a fancy restaurant, Della's query about Venus' disappearances are the same as Mr. Hammond's, who asks Venus where she disappears to. Venus once more tells him that she returns to her home on the planet Venus, but Hammond refuses to believe such a tall tale. That night as she goes to bed, Venus wonders why nobody will believe her when what she tells them is true. The following Sunday morning, Venus goes out for a walk and is tailed by the two private detectives hired by Della, who are instantly taken by her beauty.
Venus suddenly notices that she is being followed and ducks behind an alley. She is able to blend into a poster advertising women's fashions, making the men think she disappeared. As they turn to walk away, she pops out of the poster and calls their attention. Before they can figure out how she got behind them, they are shocked when Venus suddenly vanishes in a puff of smoke. Venus, in reality, has transported herself back to her kingdom on planet Venus, where she decides to use her powers to see what the private detectives made of her disappearing act. She sees that they have convinced themselves that they were seeing things, and have gone to an optometrist to have their eyes checked out. Turning her attention to finding out who hired them, Venus views Della Mason meeting with Whitney Hammond and telling him that she will have proof that Venus is working for a rival magazine.
Realizing that Della was the one who hired the private eyes, Venus decides to turn things around on her rival. Returning to Earth, Venus then confronts the private detectives, who cower in fear from her. However, she convinces them to help out with a little prank to play on Della. Soon at the office of Beauty Magazine, the two private detectives arrive to return Della's $100. They then tell her, right in front of Mr. Hammond, that they could not find another employer who would hire her as editor. This shocks Della and angers Mr. Hammond when suddenly Venus appears and tells them it was all a prank. She warns Della not to rival her again as she will defend herself, and tells them snooping into her past is ridiculous and once more insists that she comes from the planet, Venus.
With order restored, Mr. Hammond takes Venus out on a date, and Della -- to punish herself, pays the detectives $100 to spank her with a paddle.
Recurring Characters
Venus
Whitney Hammond
Della Mason
Continuity Notes
This story shows Venus using her powers to "enter" a poster to hide from the private detectives. This contradicts the last issue which states that (other than teleporting back home) Venus does not have access to her powers while on Earth. The closest explanation is given in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12 profile on Venus. It suggests that a spell, possibly placed on the Earth by Zeus limited the powers of the gods, as opposed to outright removing them, while they were on Earth during the 1950s.
