Action Comics #61 is an issue of the series Action Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1943.
Synopsis for Superman: "The Man They Wouldn't Believe"
Appearing in Superman: "The Man They Wouldn't Believe"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Craig Shaw (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Synopsis for Vigilante: "The Cat and the Fiddler"
A stray alley cat is keeping the Chinatown Kid up late with its mewling. Stuff angrily chases after the menace, following it down the block until it ducks into a jewelry store. He hears violin music coming from within, even though the shop is supposed to be closed. Inside, the Fiddler is playing an old piece called "Keep Your Roses, I Want Diamonds", while his henchmen loot the place clean. Stuff catches sight of the gang on their way out and tries to stop them, but he's whacked across the head for his trouble.
Back at the musical crimelord's hideout, one of the henchmen starts emptying his sack full of tonight's haul. The alley cat suddenly jumps out of the bag, to the Fiddler's horror. He hates cats! His men chase it out, but not before it gets a page of sheet music caught around its neck.
Soon, Greg Sanders is awakened by his young pal Stuff, telling him about the Fiddler's return. The prairie troubadour dons his Vigilante duds and heads out with Stuff on the Vig-Cycle. As they check around the alley behind the jewelry shop, Stuff spots his nemesis, the alley cat. Vig notices the sheet music the cat is wearing, and removes it. The title of the piece is "In An Idle Hour You Became My Idol", an old time love song. They both recall how the Fiddler would often play a tune related to his current crime, meaning this song could be a clue to where he would strike next. The Uptown Museum is having a special exhibition, tonight, of heathen idols.
The Fiddler's gang knock out the night watchman and enter the room of ancient idols, to begin stealing whatever they can carry. To their surprise, the Vigilante and Stuff find them and the fight is on! The thugs are no match for the close combat skills of the crimefighting duo, so they resort to dirty fighting. Greg and Stuff are each struck on the noggin by a thrown idol, giving the gang time to escape.
After the duo recover, Vig gets an idea of how to find the Fiddler's hideout. Outside, the alley cat is waiting. Despite his partner's protests, Vigilante brings the cat along for the ride, believing it can act as a sort of bloodhound, having been to the hideout once already. As they ride along, the cat suddenly starts hissing as they near a certain home. Greg stops the bike and he and Stuff walk up to investigate. Through the second story window, the Fiddler's men see the Vigilante and decide to set a trap for him. When Vig and Stuff come up the stairs, the Fiddler and his thugs get the drop on them. They are tied to a bed with its springs exposed. At the foot of the bed, are wires connecting the metal springs to an alarm clock. The Fiddler explains that when the alarm goes off, an electrical current will jolt them into the next life! The villains leave, letting Vigilante and Stuff enjoy their last few minutes in peace. In the window above, a shape appears! It's the alley cat. Vig lures him into the room with soft cooing, then uses his foot to make the wires vibrate. The cat turns its attention to the dangling wires and lunges! It pulls the clock off the bed, which disconnects the wires from the coils. Vigilante and Stuff then quickly remove their bonds.
At the docks rests "The Dream", a palatial yacht owned by Tyrus Twycken, billionaire banker. Guests of a yacht club are settling in for the night in their cabins, with Mr. Twycken asleep in his stateroom. He suddenly finds himself waking up to a gun in his face. The Fiddler is going to add a new angle to the party, by taking the boat out to sea. The guests will be locked down below deck, and fed only bread and water, until such time that they decide to pay for their freedom. Just as the yacht begins to leave port, the Vig-Cycle comes roaring down the dock! The Vigilante and Stuff launch themselves from the edge of the dock to the deck, tackling two of Fiddler's men as they land. Vig brings down the Fiddler with a mighty haymaker. Twycken offers a reward, but Vigilante won't hear of it. Getting the Fiddler to play his theme song was reward enough.
Appearing in Vigilante: "The Cat and the Fiddler"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Fiddler
- Sport (First appearance)
- Droop (First appearance)
- Sailor (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Tyrus Twychen (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Earth-Two
- New York City
- Chinatown
- Uptown Museum
- New York City
Items:
- Heathen Idols
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Three Aces: "One Arabian Night"
While fighting in the North African desert, Will is captured by Nazis, along with two other pilots. They plan on sending a message to the American army by loading the captives into gliders, which they'll then fly over the American base camp and force them out in parachutes. Thinking he was a Nazi, Will's own squadron would then riddle him and the others with bullets.
The Nazis plan goes awry when Will slips free of his bindings and grabs the Major's gun. He holds the Major at gunpoint while he leads his fellow captive pilots into a German bomber. The Major is tossed aside as Will then rushes into the cockpit. The Nazis fire their weapons as the plane takes off, to no avail. Will pilots the plane back to the safety of camp. Later, Will heads back to his tent for sleep, his friends Gunner and Fog never having known the adventure he just had.
Appearing in Three Aces: "One Arabian Night"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Nazi Soldiers
- Sheik Ali Ramed Bey (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Perkins (Single appearance)
- Corliss (Single appearance)
Locations:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Americommando: "The Dikes of Death"
A village in the The Netherlands, currently under Nazi occupation, finds itself host to an underground Dutch resistance led by the Americommando, a.k.a. Tex Thompson. In the basement of "Grandma Brandt's Lace Shop", a secret meeting takes place. Tonight they are expecting a large force of Allied troops landing on the coast. Tex wants to be ready to provide them with as much Intel as possible: the enemy numbers, the amount of tanks, dike and canal crossings, etc. Van Der Clos, the resistance's newest recruit, says he'll go and gather some of the information from their friends in the countryside. Peter Brandt, the shop owners grandson, offers to go with him. While that's being done, Tex gives Christian the job of loading his truck with dynamite, which they will use to destroy the bridge should Nazi reinforcements arrive. Minutes later, bad news for the resistance as Christian returns, breathing heavily. Peter has been captured! And there's been no word of Van Der Clos at all. Rescuing their comrade could come tonight during the raid, but the information still needed to be gathered. Grandma Brandt volunteers herself, even though she can't read or write. She slyly comments that she may only have her knitting, but that may be all she needs. Tex lets her go. In the meantime, he wanted to check on something that's been bugging him.
Americommando slips into the home of Van Der Clos. It seemed odd that Peter was the only one to get captured when both he and Van Der were together. Nothing seems out of the ordinary at first, until Tex spots a dictaphone on the desk. The wire leads to the room next-door, where Tex spies a group of Nazi agents. Then, Van Der's voice is heard! Tex quickly hides himself as Van Der leads Nazi Colonel Spitzen into the room. The Colonel plots on capturing the elusive Americommando tonight during the meeting of the resistance. But he may not have to wait that long when the Americommando suddenly bursts out of hiding and attacks! Unfortunately, the Gestapo manage to get the best of Tex, and he is shortly thrown in prison. Tex finds his cell has company, Peter and Christian, also betrayed by Van Der Clos! Their only hope now was Grandma Brandt...
Van Der Clos is visited later by Grandma Brandt. She wonders where Americommando and the others were, and he flat out tells her they were imprisoned for being traitors to the Reich. But, he says, if she would convince her grandson to cooperate and reveal the names of his agents, then he'd be allowed to go free. She agrees, and so Van Der gives her his pass to visit the cell. The old woman speaks to Tex and her grandson through the bars. She passes along her basket full of lace embroideries-- all except one. After Grandma leaves, Tex fastens all the lace together into a rope, with his shoe tied at the end. The Nazi guard gets a surprise when a lasso wraps around his neck and pulls him back to the cell door. Tex and Christian hold him tight while Peter fishes the keys out of his pocket. Now they are free, Christian leads them to his truck parked nearby. In their path, Van Der Clos, with Grandma Brandt, walks toward the prison, thinking she had gotten Peter to talk. When he sees that Americommando has escaped, he yelps in fear. Now it was his turn to play captive! In the truck, Grandma Brandt shows them her embroidery she made after talking to the other agents. It was a design that hid a map. The main dike, along with the location of the airfield and any tanks, were marked. The group takes the truck down to the main dikes. The sounds of gunfire and explosives signal that the Allied strike had already begun. Tex had another idea of how they could use the explosives. He forces Van Der to show the outpost guards his thru-pass, so they could cross without incident. The truck stops near the airfield and the dynamite carefully set along the top of the cliff. At detonation, a landslide completely covers the planes, making takeoff impossible, while the tanks would sink in the mud!
Grandma Brandt hand her embroidered map over to the Allied forces, who also take Van Der Clos into custody. There should be no problem freeing the town from Nazi reign, now.
Appearing in Americommando: "The Dikes of Death"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Van Der Close (Single appearance)
- Nazis
- Colonel Spitzen (Single appearance)
- Ludwig (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Grandma Brandt (Single appearance)
- Peter Brandt (Single appearance)
- Christian (Single appearance)
Locations:
Synopsis for Congo Bill: "A Blowout in Istanbul"
During a trip to Istanbul, Congo Bill overhears a suspicious conversation between two men dressed in Turkish clothes. They speak of completing preparation to "fix the Turks for good". Even more odd, they speak with German accents. Bill follows them to a small radio shop, which turns out to be a front for Nazi activity. The shop owner and the false Turk discuss the German consulate reception, happening tonight. At the peak of the reception, they would toss a Turkish army grenade into the crowd. Then it should be easy to invade the country, under the pretense of "avenging" the people from the Turks. Suddenly, one of the men discovers Bill eavesdropping and knocks him out!
Hours pass before Bill recovers; he finds himself tied up in a storage room. Another man sits in the corner, tied up like him. He introduces himself as a Turkish secret service agent, Mustafa Pasha. The Nazis are hoping to recruit Turkey into the Axis, and Pasha needs to stop them. Bill notices a box of phonograph records and maneuvers over to them. Knocking the box over causes some of the records to break, Bill uses the jagged pieces a to cut through his ropes. He frees Mustafa, and the two look for a way to signal for help. A light bulb, some cartons, and a barred window gives Bill something to work with. The room goes dark after Bill strips the electric wire connecting the bulb. The two captives take turns touching the still active wire to the carton they placed outside, until a Turkish policeman spots the sparks. He recognizes Mustafa, and lets him and Bill out. Quickly, they race to the reception, hoping it isn't too late!
Throngs of diplomats, agents, and government representatives fill the many rooms of the hall. Up on a balcony, the two Nazi conspirators prepare to drop the grenade into the mass crowd, when Congo Bill shows up and bats the grenade out of their hands. Deflected from its path, the bomb falls harmlessly into a fountain in the garden below. The two surprised men are easily dealt with now. Mustafa Pasha thanks the adventurer for his help, now the Nazis will have a harder time coming up with an excuse to invade his country.
Appearing in Congo Bill: "A Blowout in Istanbul"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Nazis
- Emil (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Mustafa Pasha, Turkish Secret Service (Single appearance)
Locations:
Synopsis for Zatara: "The Man who Stole Magic"
Chilly Sly had always been afraid to get his hands dirty, being happy as a simple informant for criminals. That all changed when he saw Zatara in action one day. During a bank robbery committed by Big Bart's boys, Sly watched from outside as the master magician spoke his incantations using backwards speech. After the crooks were rounded up, Sly tried it for himself by saying "Yenom, emoc ot em". To his delight, the cash in the bank vault walked right out of the building and into his bag! Thinking he now had the means to become a criminal big shot, Sly soon discovered that the magic wouldn't always work exactly as he had wanted. Only Zatara knew the true secret, that you had to regard the object you commanded, and have sufficient light and optic movement to hypnotize it. He couldn't risk any criminal working out the trick on their own. After following Sly to another bank, Zatara secretly works his own spells, to help the security guards stop the robbery. He then erased Sly's memory so that he'd forget the secret behind Zatara's magic.
Appearing in Zatara: "The Man who Stole Magic"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Chilly Sly (Single appearance)
- Big Bart (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Jim (Single appearance)
- Sandy McTavish (Single appearance)
Notes
- Congo Bill gets head-konked unconscious, yet another time.
- Superman: The Man They Wouldn't Believe is reprinted in Superman: The Action Comics Archives Vol. 4.
- Vigilante gets head-konked unconscious, yet another time, and Stuff gets knocked out twice.
See Also
Links and References
Look at how sad this is making Batman. You did this.