This is why you prepare a checklist for these things.
Feature Comics #24
Comic Favorites, Inc (September, 1939)
Well, last time was a bit hit or miss between stories, but I was just curious enough to give this a look. Plus I think there were some cliffhangers to be concluded here. I could be confusing it with another comic. As usual, no gag strip pages because they’re too short (and seldom funny…I guess when you’re in a fiscal depression so bad it’s literally called The Great Depression you’re more open to anything for a laugh) and no text stories because this is a comic review that’s already going to go very long. I link to the comics at Comic Book Plus if you want to read them with me, but consider the text stories a nice bonus.
Charlie Chan by Alfred Andriola
Charlie takes a boat ride after being alerted to a jewel theft by the gentleman thief Grissack. With Lee (number one son) out cold due to seasickness, Charlie and the victim’s personal inspector team up to find him, joined by two friends of Charlie and a woman one of the friends is smitten with. The thief strikes again by stealing jewelry from the other friend…and I’m not telling you anything else. Again, I linked to it, and it’s a really good mystery. See if you can solve it before Chan spills the whole story. This alone would be worth reading the issue.
Rance Keane by Will Arthur
I’m not sure if “Knight Of The West” is the story title or Rance’s nickname. I don’t remember if it was in the previous issue. In this one, Rance goes to visit and old friend he heard was back in the area where Rance grew up. Except he figures out fast the man is an impostor. The story spends more time introducing characters than having them do anything, and it’s not like they’re lining up suspects for a mystery. One character even shortens the story by telling Rance most of what he needs to know. Otherwise it isn’t a bad story, just one that missed its potential.
Jane Arden by Monte Barrett & Russel E. Ross
I was going to praise this story for being a 1939 comic in which the “T-Men” (I think it’s the Treasury Department’s version of the G-Men) goes to Jane for help in bringing down a notorious thief…but what is with this layout? Half of each page is this story and the other half is some gag comic about a woman tricking a man into marrying here on one side and paper dolls on the other. Who thought this was a good idea? Also want to know what that little girl is wearing in the last one. Maybe if the useless crap wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have to wait until next issue to find out what happens to Jane.
Big Top by Ed Wheelan
This isn’t a crime story, it’s a romance story. We have a guy who has to choose between his marriage and his movie career in Westerns (maybe he’ll play Rance in a biopic?) because the contract says he can’t be married while doing a movie. Why? It’s Hollywood, who the hell knows? Oh, she still wants to marry him, but after the movie. Meanwhile everyone gets new contracts for the circus they all work at. That’s where the story ends. Will it continue? Will I care? Probably not on the last one.
The Clock Strikes by Geo. E. Brenner
Still not using an actual clock motif, except for a calling card he sends to the villains in this story. Just that full face mask bandanna thing. We do have a secret identity for him, though. Brian O’Brian. Oooooookay. This time The Clock goes after a phony stock seller who killed the man complaining about the bad stocks to the police. The chief just straight up tells Brian all he wants to know about an ongoing investigation. Who is this guy? Also, Clock probably shouldn’t spill his secrets. Let them think you’re tougher than you are, dummy. It makes them more scared of you. It just isn’t that exciting an adventure.
Gallant Knight by Vernon Hunkel
Wounded after his fight with the traitor last issue, Sir Raymond is tricked into becoming a slave, kept weakened by a drug in his food and water just enough to force him to work in a gold mine. That would be why he needed the food and water, even though he knew it was drugged, I guess. Otherwise he and the other slaves are rather stupid to not think to pretend to take it and forge an escape like Sir Nevill does. It’s an improvement over the Prince Valiant wanna-be from last time as there are actual word balloons, but I think the story took some of that drug because its kind of weak compared to the plot.
A couple more gag comics and a text story later, we get our next comic.
Ned Bryant by Bob Zuppke
If I follow this correctly, Ned and some of the football team he coaches were called by the father of one of those players because someone is stealing from his gold mine. Also, the authorities are here, but Ned and the player find the tunnel the criminals are using and stop the criminals. The story is too short.
Reynolds Of The Mounted
A man escapes prison to get revenge on the people who put him there. The Mounties…technically help stop him, though the ending is kind of unsatisfying.
overall
Still hit or miss. Some stories were too short. We have cliffhangers and odd formatting decisions. The Charlie Chan adventure was the best part, but I’m not sure I’d want to spend (adjusting for inflation in 2024 US money) $2.24 for just one story. Maybe the 10¢ it originally sold for, but at 1939 prices that would still be too much.
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