Bulletman #16 is an issue of the series Bulletman (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1946.
Synopsis for Bulletman the Flying Detective: "The Tunnel of Terror..."
The Foreman, Tom, for a new tunnel project reports to Mr. Kaye, President of Acme Construction Co. that two more workers were crushed to death and the workers are scared of going in. They are building the longest underwater tunnel in the World and if they don't finish Kaye is ruined. He suspects sabotage so reports it to the Police. As a former sandhog he makes sure his men get the best conditions and tools, so is suspicious about the deaths. All his money is tied up in this, he doesn't want the city go give the contract to another company. Meanwhile, the Workers are planning on making a petition telling the City to turn it over to the Senesco Construction Co. However Barr stops them, telling them the Police have been alerted and will look around, which they agree to. Jim and Susan get into the elevator but the cable breaks, so they change to Bulletman and Bulletgirl. Bulletman tells Bulletgirl to fly around so they don't feel anything when it hits the bottom. Bulletman finds the cable broke too evenly, meaning somebody sabotaged it. Bulletgirl then hears a leak, and the Flying Detectives rush to find it before the whole tunnel is flooded and ruined. However, Foreman Tom appears with a blowtorch and says he'll take care of them the way he took care of Barr and Kent in the elevator, not recognizing their faces. Bulletman tells Bulletgirl to stay back as their helmets are of no value against fire. The man misses Bulletman and is knocked over, though Bulletman loses his helmet. He tells Bulletgirl to find the emergency lock before the entre tunnel is flooded. She says she'll get his helmet, but as she finds the lock, the petitioner appears and knocks her out with a metal pipe, after which he starts tying her up, claiming she'll come to in time to drown when the entire tunnel is flooded. Bulletman hits Foreman Tom, who offers to talk, saying the Senesco Construction Co. paid him to cause the accidents, and the little Worker with the petition is really Senesco himself. As the water is still rising, Bulletman realizes something must have happened to Bulletgirl. He finds her with her hands tied and her mouth gagged, and while untying her asks what happened. On finding out, he tells her it was Senesco, and activates the emergency lock so the metal doors seal of the water. He sees his helmet sinking in the mud, but Bulletgirl gets it. They go up with Tom. At that moment Senesco is claiming Tom, Bulletman and Bulletgirl drowned down there, so they must petition the city. But one of the Workers asks what he means as Bulletman and Bulletgirl are there. Bulletgirl calls him Senesco, meaning the Workers begin to realize what happened, and Bulletman says Tom the Foreman will explain. As Tom confesses Senesco tries to escape along the pier, which Tom alerts the Flying Detectives to. Telling Bulletgirl to keep her eyes on Tom, Bulletman says he'll get Senesco, who says Bulletman is pretty good in the air, but asks to see how effective he is in the water. But Bulletman compares himself to a Pelican picking up poor fish in the water and captures Senesco, who is jailed. Months later, the tunnel is dedicated to Bulletman and Bulletgirl, and Lt. Kent says that he's sure they couldn't find anyone better than Susan to cut the ribbon.
Appearing in Bulletman the Flying Detective: "The Tunnel of Terror..."
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Pres. Kaye of Acme Construction Co.
Antagonists:
- Pres. Senesco of Senesco Construction Co.
- Foreman Tom
Other Characters:
- Lt. Kent
- Mr. Kaye's Secretary
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- An Underwater Tunnel Construction Site
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
- A Compression Elevator (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Bulletman the Flying Detective: "The Case of the Vanishing Elephant!"
Joe Quest is a tightrope-walker at the circus, but he suddenly drops a hand grenade at an elephant, Rex, scaring it into the river nearby. The next afternoon, the business office of the Precision Tool Co. Joe Quest watches soon as Rex crashes into the wall. The day after, Lt. Kent says that Rex has hit five different buildings, but disappears every time! Jim correctly assumes that a human is controlling the elephant and using it to commit crimes. They change into the Bullets and fire off with spyglasses to find the elephant and find a collapsing building soon after, using a length of carpet to wrap the men from being crushed and whisk them outside. Jim picks up some strange clay that the elephant had on its feet and that someone is likely transporting the elephant around from a nearby mountainous area. However, this is a false trail to lure the Bullets in that Joe Quest has concocted while knocking out a night watchman. They soon head into a nearby fur warehouse to look into it, but Bulletgirl says that she’s a got a feeling that there’s going to be a trap before the door locks and the room’s AC is set to refrigeration coolness. The Bullets put on some coats and fire around in circles at high speed to stave off the cold. When morning comes, they’re freed and they figure out how to stop Rex.
They soon go to Mr. Dell, the Circus’ owner and asks for some help from him. The circus soon announces the payroll is coming in a week, but they’re going to have $10,000 all together at once, which is dangerous. Naturally, Joe Quest is well-lured and releases Rex to start some trouble. However, when he goes to nick the bag of money, three other elephants show up, Bessie, Jumbo and a third one. Rex tries to grab at Bulletgirl, so Bulletman scares it with a tiny toy mouse and they retake Rex, only for Joe Quest to try shooting at them, though the Gravity-Regulator Helmets wend them off-course. They fly up and Bulletman snatches the gun from him and boots him in the rear on to the tightrope for Bulletgirl to drag him off of it, realizing that he was using smoke bombs to hide him releasing the elephant in public.
Appearing in Bulletman the Flying Detective: "The Case of the Vanishing Elephant!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Joe Quest
Other Characters:
- Rex the Elephant
- Bessie the Elephant
- Jumbo the Elephant
- A Third Elephant
- Mr. Dell, Circus Owner
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- A Refrigerated Fur Warehouse
- A Circus
- New York City
Items:
- A Toy Mouse
- Smoke Bombs
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Bulletman the Flying Detective: "The Underworld Night Club!"
A suite of offices in a Midtown skyscraper run by “Killer” Fortescue, who now runs the “Protection Protective Association,” a half-retired gangster who does light work. However, his wife Hermina is upset that his friends are all bums and she wants to go somewhere fancy at the Charity Ball. He tries taking her to the Charity Ball, offering that he’s going to check his gun along with his coat and the society people are scandalized. Killer tells Hermina that they’ll get their revenge yet, since they’re opening a hot night club! A week later, Lt. Kent says the Commissioner is upset about five socialites disappearing that week alone while leaving a small carnation on the ground. Jim and Susan decide to look into it and soon find out there’s about carnation case going on. When one of the men complaining about his wife’s disappearance leaves, the taxi driver outside finds he’s gone and a carnation is in his place. The taxi driver tries to say he’s figured it all out, but no one listens to him and he leaves.
Jim and Susan soon fire off as the Bullets and the taxi driver tries to weakly run after them to tell them his hit theory! They soon spot an ambulance that doesn’t have its bell going and think it might be stolen… only for it to disappear around a corner! Bulletgirl notices that it almost seemed to drive up a small flight of stairs and into a door that isn’t there. She does however find a box full of carnations before goons exit from a secret panel in the wall and a man dressed as a cook knocks her out with a rolling pin. They dump her off in the same room as Hermina who says that they’re being ransomed and work as their servants there and force them to tip patrons instead. During the floor show, Bulletgirl escapes and starts cleaning house, but a goon named Slugger sprays her in the face with seltzer. A rich person is pressed to use the Gravity-Regulator Helmet and flies around a little before crashing into a punch bowl. Bulletman soon finds the box of carnations and tire marks on the stairs and soon finds the fake ambulance before he crashes into their night club and frees Bulletgirl, returning her Helmet and start cleaning house. Bulletgirl punches out Hermina and Bulletman punches Killer into a rosebush, then grabs in a headlock. The taxi driver catches up to them and says he knows how the disappearances worked, but they fly home as he starts ranting about sunspots. The next day at Police HQ, Lt. Kent jokes that the two of them are real loafers with how much work the Bullets get done!
Appearing in Bulletman the Flying Detective: "The Underworld Night Club!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Kidnapped Rich People
Antagonists:
- "Killer" Fortescue
- Hermina Fortescue
- Butch
- Slugger
Other Characters:
- A Taxi Driver
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Protection Protective Association
- An Underworld Night Club
- New York City
Items:
- A Bottle of Seltzer
- A Bowl of Punch
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Bulletman the Flying Detective: "Bulletman the Flying Detective and the Diamond Dilemma!"
At Police HQ, Lt. Kent tells Jim Barr and Susan Kent that there’s been a rash of jewelry robberies and that they’re going for the famed Faith Diamond next at the Jewel Mart. They think on how setting up a cordon is likely a good idea and Jim offers they go along as the Bullets. A mild man walks out of the Jewel Mart with an open tray of jewels before he spills them on the ground and people just snatch them up as police try to mitigate things. The Bullets fly around to scout the right people out and start catching the passersby who were snatching jewels. However, the mild man Turner is secretly doing this to distract everyone while he just pulls a gun to steal the Faith Diamond and then pistol-whips the clerk once he hands it over. The Bullets soon find that the diamonds that they found are all made of glass and that the clerk did that all on purpose. They figure that whoever stole the Faith Diamond will need to cut it somewhere, so they consult Mr. Knox, the leading jeweler in town and find out the top two diamond cutters in town are Dempsey and Rogers. They split up to meet with each one. Turner soon meets with Rogers and order him to cut the Faith Diamond or they’ll kill him. Bulletgirl meets with, only for Turner to pistol-whip her. Turner threatens to kill Rogers and Bulletgirl if he won’t cut the diamond like ordered. Mr. Dempsey has no idea about the theft and Bulletman soon leaves to find Bulletgirl didn’t come back and goes after Bulletgirl. Turner prepares to drill a diamond cutter into Bulletgirl’s skull, only for Bulletman to burst in and knock her out of the way of the drill. They quickly clean house of the goons and arrest Turner.
Appearing in Bulletman the Flying Detective: "Bulletman the Flying Detective and the Diamond Dilemma!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- The Jewel Mart Clerk
Antagonists:
- Mr. Turner
Other Characters:
- Mr. Knox, Jeweler
- Mr. Dempsey, Jewelcutter
- Mr. Rogers, Jewelcutter
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- Police HQ
- The Jewel Mart
- New York City
Items:
- Glass Jewels
- The Faith Diamond
Vehicles:
Notes
- Bulletman and Bulletgirl (the Flying Detectives) would return to their usual monthly appearances in Master Comics# 73
Trivia
- Despite the cover, none of the elephants are green.
See Also