“Yesterday’s” Comic> Keen Detective Funnies V2 #7

“This is my favorite shirt!”

Keen Detective Funnies V2 #7

Centaur Publications (July, 1939)

This issue debuts a character called The Masked Marvel. Yeah, that’s all I have. Going through the Virtual Newsstand on Comic Book Plus involves me having to remember where I left off last time. I need to find a way to help me out with that.

At any rate I think I’ve done all the padding I can for the homepage. On to the reviews.

[Read along with me here]

The Masked Marvel

Okay, so our new hero was born with superhuman strength and mindreading, plus he has a bunch of gadgets and can turn into a shadow. We’re not even going to explain any of that, are we? He’s also joined by three former G-Men who don’t even know each others’ identities. They’re just ZR, ZY, and ZL. Sometimes you can just tell why certain characters never made it. In our introduction to these characters, the villains have stolen a device that sends rays (it’s always rays back then) that create a barrier around their base. Our heroes are rather good at getting themselves caught until Masked Marvel shows up to save them. My question is…if Masked Marvel turned off the rays so they could escape, how did the enemy crash into them? Did he use his telekinesis to turn them back on or something? This is one of those “things happen” stories, and I’m not impressed by the debut of the masked quartet.

“Gabby Flynn” by Ken Ernst

Why is the last page black and white when the rest of the story is in color? Anyway, someone killed the mayor and after some bad leads, reporter Gabby Flynn and his photographer, Longfellow, get a tip that leads to the killer…and somehow the annoying subplot of Longfellow trying to convince people that his picture of two polar bears in the zoo is the best picture ever leads to a clue that solves the case. I admit, I didn’t see that coming. Otherwise, it’s kind of a mid story, not really exciting but not terrible, and more interesting that our first tale.

“Dan Dix: Ship Detective” by Geo. Brousek

How best to describe this for those of you who didn’t follow the link and read along: an incompetent set of crooks matches what they call wits with a cruise liner detective for the boat they tried to rob. Said detective has dumb luck stored away for the winter, and it must be getting cold. We aren’t doing too well with this issue, are we?

“The Keefer Snatch” by E. McD. Moore Jr.

Once you’re done snickering at the title and getting over how weird the creator’s name is, we’ll move on. In this story a police officer tries to rescue a kidnapped millionaire’s son. He’s quite competent but still needs help from the kidnapee to stop the kidnappers. That said, it works because the cop IS competent, just outnumbered. It’s finally an interesting story, and the art was pretty good, too.

“TNT Todd: Ace G-Man”

I don’t if we’re joining this in the middle of events or if this continued from elsewhere. This seems to be a collection of newspaper strips, and I’ve been avoiding the comic books that were just strip collections. We join our hero trying to escape being tied to a ship’s mast, and that leads to a crook working with Chinese stereotypes (it’s the 1930s after all). It also continues next issue. It’s…a thing I just read.

“Two-Way Ride” by Irving Settel

A boxer is kidnapped and a motor cop helps save him. It’s a short summary…but they’re all short stories. It’s a decent tale for the length, but the last page not only loses color but it’s like a different artist finished the page.

“Dan Dennis: FBI” by Gilman

Dan and his sidekick, Tick…I’m sorry, no. That’s not the name of an FBI agent, that’s a dude in blue tights yelling about spoons. Anyway, they take in a play but the leading man is murdered. I’m not completely sure about the minor details of how it came about or if the murderer was going to go after all the leading men or just the one that was going to marry the lead actress, but it’s not a bad story.

Geez, how many more of these are there?

“Captain Forsyth & Sergeant McLean: Spy Hunters” by L. Field

Sarge isn’t seeing action in this spy-free story. It’s a simple murder case that leads a British officer in occupied India to find out who murdered and Indian captain. His sister is awfully pale for an Indian woman, but otherwise it’s actually a decent investigation for what little time they had.

Dean Denton: Scientific Detective in “The Hidden Valley Of Montezuma” by Harry Francis Campbell

Again, we’re in the middle of a story, as Dean just returned from an adventure that involved rescuing his assistant, but the director of some movie talks him into going back to get the villain they just fought, who manages to escape and take the chief captive. Our villain, Gates, wants Montezuma’s treasure. I question the science of how they defeat Gates, but while it’s a weak story to end on, it’s not the worst one in the comic.

overall

Hey the gag page wasn’t totally terrible! I mean…there were some okay stories and some not great stories. It wasn’t horrible overall, but not a great comic. Not sure I’ll follow too many of those.