Oh sure, sure. ... uh, what I stopped in for was to get another gun. -- I sort of lost my gun again --- 
Crime Smasher #1 is a one-shot with a cover date of June, 1948.
Synopsis for "The Trapping of Public Enemy #1"
Appearing in "The Trapping of Public Enemy #1"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Killer King
- Al Mone
- many hoodlums
- Al Mone
Other Characters: Locations:
- New York City
- Crime Smasher, Inc. office
- Red Cat Club
- Stratford Village (high-rise retirement community)
Synopsis for "The Last Request"
Appearing in "The Last Request"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Richard Richard: "The Lumber Camp Mystery"
Appearing in Richard Richard: "The Lumber Camp Mystery"
Featured Characters:
- Richard Richard, Private Dick
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Unlucky Rabbit's Foot"
A stranger walks into the office of "Crime Smasher, Inc." and hands Eve Corby an envelope with a $1000 bill in it, and a package. He wants to pay Crime Smasher to deliver the box to his brother, Humphrey Herold, at his estate in Fairmount, and to not look in the box. But when she tells Crime Smasher about it, he doesn't want to do it, even for a thousand dollars, and he goes directly to Ray Herold's apartment to return the envelope and the box. But when they get there, they find the door open, and inside is Ray, dead. On the mantelpiece is a 3-legged rabbit statue. Eve calls the police, and Alan sets out to deliver the package after all.
Alan and Eve drive out into the country, and at the Fairmount Estate they find the gate locked. They climb over the spiky wrought-iron fence and approach the house. Again they find the front door open, and again they find a dead body inside. It's Humphrey Herold, Ray's twin, and he's been strangled. Alan decides to open the package he's been carrying; inside is a rabbit's foot. Then three gunsels walk into the room and start giving orders. Crime Smasher punches out one of them, but another gets behind him and head-konks him unconscious with the butt of his pistol. The crooks tie up Eve and Alan and drag them into the kitchen, then close all the doors and windows, and turn on the oven gas, then leave.
Armstrong is revived by the strong gas smell, Eve breaks a window, Alan uses glass shards to cut their ropes, and they escape. Armstrong deduces that the bad guys have gone back to Ray's apartment, home of the 3-legged rabbit statue, so they race there and run inside, where they overtake the gang. One crook tries to run away but Alan catches him and beats him down, while Eve covers the other two with her revolver. It turns out that the statue and its detached foot are an intricate concealment device for an extremely expensive jade vase. Alan and Eve turn the crooks over to the police, and donate the $1000 reward to the Infantile Paralysis Fund.
Appearing in "The Unlucky Rabbit's Foot"
Featured Characters:
- Crime Smasher (Final appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Eve Corby (Final appearance)
Antagonists:
- three unnamed thugs
Other Characters:
- Ray Herold (Dies)
- Humphrey Herold (Dies)
Locations:
- New York City
- Alan Armstrong's Office
- Ray Herold's Apartment
- Humphrey Herold's Estate
Items:
- 3-legged rabbit statue
- jade vase
Vehicles:
- Armstrong's Sedan
Notes
- This one-shot title was produced by Fawcett Publications, but contains characters that are now the licensed property of DC Comics.
- Crime Smasher is more popularly known as the Spy Smasher. Spy Smasher was the spotlight character of his own title, and also maintained a back-up feature in the anthology magazine, Whiz Comics.
- Crime Smasher's most recent appearance was over a year earlier, in Whiz Comics #83, March 1947.
- Alan Armstrong (Earth-S) appears next, chronologically, as Spy Smasher, in Justice League of America #135, which is set partly on Earth-One and partly on Earth-S.
- In New Earth continuity, some time after this issue, Alan Armstrong resumes the name Spy Smasher and becomes a major supporting character in the The Power of Shazam! title.
- Either way, this is his final appearance as Crime Smasher.
- In this issue's 1st story, Armstrong again gets head-konked unconscious, with a blackjack.
- In the 4th story, he gets konked out again, with a gun-butt.
- Also appearing in this issue of Crime Smasher was:
- Sherlock Monk
Trivia
- Per the 1st story, 8th page, 5th panel, Alan Armstrong smokes cigarettes.
- Eve calls Crime Smasher "C.S."
See Also
Recommended Reading
- The Power of Shazam!
- Spy Smasher
- Whiz Comics
- Appearances as Crime Smasher
- Whiz Comics #76
- Whiz Comics #77
- Whiz Comics #78
- Whiz Comics #79
- Whiz Comics #80
- Whiz Comics #81
- Whiz Comics #82
- Whiz Comics #83
- Appearances as Crime Smasher
Links and References
Look at how sad this is making Batman. You did this.