Captain Marvel, Jr. #26 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel, Jr. (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 1945.
Synopsis for "The Pawns of the Killer"
In the peaceful little village of Glendale a serial killer strikes, using a distinctive knife (left behind at one murder scene), with a handle shaped like a black king chessman. He dresses like a black king chess man too.
From a random conversation with a newspaper customer, Freddy Freeman forms a suspicion, about retired chess master Lucas Hawks, allegedly now a full-on nutcase, living in a rook-shaped house, with life-size sets of chessman statuary. Freddy marvels up and flies there and then lands, during a convenient rainstorm, to change back to Freddy and wheedle his way inside. He meets Hawks' housekeeper Mrs. Simmons and Lem, her half-wit son, and also learns that old Lucas's nephew Peter Hawks lives there too. Peter and Lucas show up and show Freddy around the place, and <> one big room is a giant chess-board, with levers and control rods at the ends of the room.
That night Freddy and his crutch go prowling through the house, he spots a darting figure in the hallway, so Freddy marvels up and chases him, and sure enough it's the Black King. But he's not quite quick enough to stop him from escaping through a secret panel in the wall. Junior is then distracted by the horrible groaning of a mortally-wounded Mrs. Simmons, somewhere nearby; he zooms around through this rook-house's crazy corridors until he finds her, but she's been shot and has died before he does. Young Lem is on the scene, and Junior briefly wonders if the kid could be demented enough to be the Black King killer. But just as the boy is blurting out the killer's name, a pistol shot from outside the room kills him. Junior gives chase again, and the trail leads to old Lucas Hawks' room. Just then a blood-curdling scream draws him to the "hobby room" with the life-size chess men, and he notices that there are two black kings on the board so be picks one at random and tackles it. It's the wrong one, and the real Black King has now reached the control levers, and starts moving the large chess men around, which isn't really going to slow down Captain Marvel Junior for very long, but he also toggles open a trap-door, so Junior falls into darkness, but he flies right back out, first through the floor and then through a wall, and grabs the real Black King, who turns out to be the ne'er-do-well nephew Peter, who had a convoluted plan for killing the Simmonses and blaming it on uncle Lucas, and inheriting his fortune.
Appearing in "The Pawns of the Killer"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Lem Simmons
- Mrs. Simmons
- Lucas Hawks
- two newspaper customers
Locations:
- Glendale
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Vehicles:
Synopsis for "School Spirit Scores a Touchdown"
Appearing in "School Spirit Scores a Touchdown"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Miss Duncan
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Sylvester Jones
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Totem of Terror"
Appearing in "The Totem of Terror"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
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See Also