June 1939: More Fun Comics #45

Cover by Creig Flessel

'Wing Brady' (by Tom Hickey): Last month, Wing Brady and the marshal's daughter were kidnapped by goons seeking to hold the girl for ransom. In this chapter Wing and the girl escape. Basic stuff, but as usual with Tom Hickey it's well done. I'm not certain if this story is finished or not, but I suspect that there's more to come.

'Detective Sergeant Carey and the Crimson Cargo' (by Joe Denohee): Carey investigates the murder of the Archduke of Moronia and the theft of his priceless ruby. It turns out that a general of Moronia was the culprit, and I feel like a complete Moronia for wasting my time on this nonsense.

'Biff Bronson' (by Koppy): Biff and his friends find a gold mine in Mexico, but have to deal with the Mexican bandit known as El Capitan. This isn't very good, but it does feature some people being blown up with dynamite.  It's little things like this that get me through this project.

'Incident in China' (by Jack Anthony): In this prose story, an American doctor trapped in China during a war is asked to deliver a wallet full of money to a general. This one is to be continued, but it didn't make much of an impression on me either way.

'Gary Hawkes, Knight of the Skies' (by Rob Jenney): Gary and his reporter pal Scott fly out to sea to cover a battle between an arms smuggling ring and the US coastguard. It ends with these guys in a permanent partnership, which I guess is a better premise than "there's a pilot".

'The Magic Crystal of History' (by Homer Fleming): This month the crystal shows the reign of Charles II of England. With plagues, fires, war against Holland and tons of religious unrest, this is much more entertaining than most installments of this series.

'Lieut. Bob Neal of Sub 662' (by B. Hirsch and Russ Lehman): While Bob and his friends are on vacation they get mixed up with some diamond thieves. The only interesting thing about this story is that it treats one of the thieves hitting a girl as a worse crime than diamond thievery. (I agree, incidentally.)

'Rex Darrell, The Flying Fox' (by Terry Gilkison): Rex Darrell tries to take a vacation, but instead he is kidnapped by counterfeiters who are trying to build their own air force. Frankly, the opening caption which describes him as having spent weeks clearing Mystery Island of pirates sounds much more interesting.

'Marg'ry Daw' (by Creators Unknown): Last issue, Luther Daw's death was prophesied by a talking frog statue. In this issue the weirdness escalates, as Luther and Marg'ry have dinner with a mysterious figure with a frog for a head. It's not exactly good, but it is bizarre, and that counts for a lot.

'Red Coat Patrol' (by Wade Hampton): O'Malley goes up against a gang of masked crooks who are using scare tactics to force people to give up their ranches. This is a story with five pages of build-up to a confrontation that lasts five panels, which is never going to be satisfying.

'Radio Squad' (by Siegel and Shuster): In this story Sandy is framed for the murder of a crook and sentenced to death in the electric chair, which is a hell of a hook to kick off with. Sandy escapes, and tracks down Dirk Stevens, the guy who framed him. Their inevitable fight ends when a comically random bear shows up and mauls Stevens to death. I actually laughed out loud when the thing appeared out of nowhere, so mission accomplished Siegel and Shuster.

'The Buccaneer' (by Bernard Baily): Dennis escapes the bomb planted by Doctor Killmen last issue, and returns to his ship. But the doctor is lurking in the ship's hold, and starts a mutiny. When the mutinous sailors tell Stone that they're taking over, he just cold slaps the leader to the ground, and that's where it ends. I want to find out what happens next, and that's good enough.