From now on I shall be known as ~ THE DOLL MAN and pledge myself to fight crime and evil, relentlessly.
- — Doll Man
Feature Comics #27 is an issue of the series Feature Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1939.
Appearing in "Mickey Finn"
Featured Characters:
- Mickey Finn
Supporting Characters:
- Uncle Phil
Synopsis for "Mickey Finn"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in Doll Man: "Meet the Dollman"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Martha Roberts (First appearance)
- Professor Roberts (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Falco (Single appearance)
Locations:
Synopsis for Doll Man: "Meet the Dollman"
Without first bothering to develop an antidote, handsome young mad scientist Darrell Dane drinks an experimental serum, causing him to shrink to six inches in height, then waits around for the effect to wear off, if it ever does. (Rex Tyler at least did ONE lab-rat-test; not this guy.) Initial psychological effects are to make him quite belligerent, but this passes. He soon solves his girlfriend's blackmail problem, recovers an incriminating letter, lets the slimeball Falco get away, and then adopts the identity of Doll Man.
Appearing in "The Bungle Family"
Featured Characters:
- Bungle Family
Synopsis for "The Bungle Family"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Ned Brant"
Featured Characters:
- Ned Brant
Synopsis for "Ned Brant"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Dixie Dugan"
Featured Characters:
- Dixie Dugan
Synopsis for "Dixie Dugan"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in Slim and Tubby: "Episode 27"
Featured Characters:
- Slim
- Tubby
Synopsis for Slim and Tubby: "Episode 27"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in Reynolds of the Mounted: "Radium Mine"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- three escaped convicts
Other Characters:
- John Brent, engineer, Beaver Radium Company
Locations:
- Canada
- Ghost Lake
Items:
- hunk of radium ore concealed in a pillow
Synopsis for Reynolds of the Mounted: "Radium Mine"
- Synopsis not yet written.
Appearing in The Clock: "Phantom Gang Escapes Police Again"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Captain Kane, NYPD
Antagonists:
- The Phantom Gang
Locations:
Synopsis for The Clock: "Phantom Gang Escapes Police Again"
The Phantom Gang has been eluding police by running their getaway cars up ramps into the backs of big trucks, for several weeks, before the Clock figures out their gimmick and busts them.
Appearing in "Big Top"
- Appearances not yet listed
Synopsis for "Big Top"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Jane Arden // Lena Pry"
Featured Characters:
- Jane Arden (across top halves of pages)
- Lena Pry (across bottom halves of pages)
Synopsis for "Jane Arden // Lena Pry"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in Captain Fortune: "Angela"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Will Kentshire, First Officer
- "Revenge" Crew
Antagonists:
- Captain Gabul (Dies)
- Crew of Pirates (all killed)
Other Characters:
- Merchant Galleon Crew (all killed)
- Merchant Galleon Passengers (mostly killed)
- Angela
Locations:
- Spanish Main
- West Indies
- Skull Island
Vehicles:
- English Privateer Galleon "Revenge"
- Revenge's Longboat
- Pirate Ship (Destroyed)
- Merchant Galleon (stolen, new pirate ship)
Synopsis for Captain Fortune: "Angela"
- Synopsis not yet written.
Appearing in "Lala Palooza"
Featured Characters:
- Lala Palooza
Supporting Characters:
- Vincent Palooza
Synopsis for "Lala Palooza"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in Rance Keane: "Gold Mine"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Pee Wee Lee
Antagonists:
- Arch Cantle
Locations:
- American Old West
- Arizona, 1880s
- Meade City
- worthless gold mine
- Arizona, 1880s
Synopsis for Rance Keane: "Gold Mine"
- Synopsis not yet written.
Appearing in Charlie Chan: "Claire Lamont"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Kirk Barrow
Antagonists:
- Katherine Evans (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Gina Lane
- Claire Lamont (Dies)
- Armand De Remy
- Cooper the Butler
- Ann Drew
- E.A. Cross
- Tom Martin
Locations:
Synopsis for Charlie Chan: "Claire Lamont"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Joe Palooka"
Featured Characters:
- Joe Palooka
Supporting Characters:
- Knobby Walsh
Synopsis for "Joe Palooka"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Notes
- Doll Man was the first super-powered mystery-man on his version of Earth, and was actually stronger at doll-size than when normal, as strong as twenty full-sized men.
- At the end of this story, both Dr. Roberts and Martha definitely do know Darrel Dane's double identity.
- Darrel Dane's doll costume grows with him, when he luckily returns to normal size with no side effects from shrinking. How this happens is never explained in the superhero's long career at Quality Comics, and is also never explained in the character's 1970s revival at DC Comics.
- Captain Fortune has left San Louvelle, wherever it was, and sailed to the Caribbean.
- Rance Keane makes a long-distance phone-call from a ranch house out west. And in Feature Comics #29 he encounters a modern freight train. There are still no automobiles seen in this strip. Everything else, includine stage coaches (next issue), is moved by horses. So this series is set in the 1920s or later.
Trivia
- This issue of Feature Comics went on sale on November 1st 1939. At this time in comic book publishing history, the entire population of costumed, super-powered superheroes consisted of DC's Superman, Centaur's Amazing Man, Centaur's Fantom of the Fair, Fox's Blue Beetle, Fox's The Flame, Harvey's Shock Gibson, Marvel's Human Torch, and now Quality's Doll Man.
- (Caveats: 1/ Centaur's Speed Centaur was nude, not costumed. 2/ Centaur's Mighty Man didn't adopt a costume until later. 3/ MLJ's Wizard didn't adopt a costume until later. 4/ MLJ's Bob Phantom started concurrently with Doll Man. 5/ Fox's Samson, like Marvel's Submariner, wore ordinary shorts or trunks. 6/ Dell's Martan the Marvel Man wore the sci-fi fashions of his native time and place, like DC's Gary Concord the Ultra Man.)
