What could I possibly add to this?
Amazing Mystery Funnies #18
Centaur Publishing (March, 1940)
We begin March of 1940, and the return of our favorite fairground phantom on vacation (but still fighting crime) and the crimefighting centaur. Plus all of those other guys, but I know what I’m here for. Not sure what else to add, so let’s begin.
Speed Centaur by Malcolm Kildale
Okay, when did the crimefighting centaur end up in a cave that looks so much like a set of nostrils it’s called Nob Nose Mountain? Is this still the cave with the dinosaur world? Okay, so track this. A “foreign agent” is kidnapping horses for the war effort because the US won’t sell horses to either side and apparently the West is the only place that has horses in this universe. So Speed and Reel head out west, where Speed does indeed wrestle a horse to become the group’s leader, and sets up a plan to stop the foreign rustlers. This series of stories is so wonderfully bizarre. Can the rest of the comic match? Probably not.
The Inner Circle
For some reason we go back two years so there’s no war going on. Pirates in a submarine steal gold from a cargo ship. The Inner Circle gets the idea to take that Q-Boat idea we learned about last week to trick and capture the pirates. Not a lot to say. It was a clever move but the story just kind of exists.
Jon Linton: Flyer, Scientist, Adventurer
Jon pretends to join Satan Rex’s plan to drop the Earth into the Sun. We still have no idea why, but we get to look at his atomic powerplants, his whole operation, and Rex gives Jon the information he needs to stop the whole scheme. Maybe. The story will continue on. We got some action but this is more about talking than doing.
The “Fantastic Projects” page is interesting for what it predicts: a telescope that could see houses on the moon if there were any. We of course know there aren’t. It also predicts using mental telepathy and a large TV to talk to aliens. I don’t see that happening, either.
Billy & Davey by James P. McCague
Did I miss an issue? They talk like this is continuing a story but it’s not one I remember. I also didn’t remember Linton and his friends being captured and forced to join the bad guys, come to think of it, but I wrote that off with how I review these comics. Bill is a big dude and Davey is either a little guy or a kid. They just helped a woman get her jewels back on or something, leaving the captain who stole them on an island. (This is a seagoing story.) The woman turns down his marriage proposal so he leaves, Davey following him. Then they get shanghaied by…well, we won’t find out this issue. I just couldn’t get interested in this one.
Tippy Taylor On Fantasy Isle by George Loomis
Okay, I definitely missed an issue. This is chapter 2 but the first time I’ve heard of it. Or maybe I didn’t. There’s already a “Tippy Taylor” in my tags. Maybe it was just that unmemorable. So Tippy’s in slightly larger Lilliput, apparently. He’s seeking a black stone for a wizard…that kind of sounds familiar, but first he has to get two nations to declare peace and bring about a wedding between the two leaders. Yeah, I can see why I forgot about this one, and odds are by the time I return I’ll have forgotten this story as well.
The Fiend Of Halwith Hall by Chas Pearson
Detective Degan is called in when an escaped mad scientist with a hatred of doctors after his family died starts kidnapping doctors. Frankly, I’m starting to forget this one already, and I just read it. Stuff happens but with so little time to develop anything it’s more of a plot than a story. The villain escapes so I guess this story is going to continue.
Larry Kane: The Adventure Hunter by Dahl> “The Ghost Of Kirkwood”
Maybe it’s supposed to be Barry Lane? That’s how he introduces himself to a pair of women he comes across, and I have that tag. However, the title and narration call him Larry. I don’t know. Either way, the ladies think their castle is haunted so he goes to spend the night, and finds robbers faking the ghosts. He manages to stop them without a talking dog and spooky van. It wraps up a bit quick but it started out pretty good and wasn’t too bad an ending.
Spy A-5 by Robert “R.F.” Butts
King Storm appears to be the hero of this new one…considering the spy dies at the end. Yeah, spoilers if you didn’t click the link, but I’m guessing you would have read it already. A hooded foreign agents sends A-5 to capture plans for a new plane and fuel, but they didn’t count on the scientist’s assistant being part Race Bannon. Though what kills A-5 is a poor understanding of the plane he’s stealing. It’s a step up from what we’ve seen the past few comics, getting closer to how we started. From the title I was expecting another spy hero story, but this works, too.
The Fantom Of The Fair by Paul Gustavson
The Fantom’s road trip continues. I wonder if he’ll ever return to the actual fairground or change his name? “Fantom Of The Highway” or something, maybe. We have another mad scientist, Ting Loy (who doesn’t look Asian, especially by 1940 comic standards), using a army of giant man creatures he created in his lab to start his own crime syndicate. He didn’t count on the Fantom in his new and kind of underwhelming new costume design (though the narration calls him “familiar”, or that his creatures could be killed by water. Why do so many villains make the mistake of not making their artificial servants waterproof? It’s a good way to end the comic.
overall
We started good, slipped in the middle, but stuck the landing. We’ll see if it can improve next issue, but we have the rest of the hopefully interesting comics that came out in March of 1940 to get through first.
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