I've learned that for the past few weeks your trucks have been waylaid almost repeatedly! Now, if you'd let me, I believe I can solve this case. 
- — Doll Man
Feature Comics #30 is an issue of the series Feature Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1940.
Synopsis for The Clock Strikes: "The FBI Agent Killing"
Some international spies, Carl Adolf Voss and his henchman Hurtz, use a 20-foot-wide mirror across a country road, at night, to engineer a fatal car crash, so that they can steal the US industrial mobilization plans. Brian O'Brien encounters it shortly afterward, investigates, gets ambushed, and is knocked out with a wooden club. When he recovers, half an hour later, the bad guys have removed the crashed car, and the jumbo mirror, from the crime scene, but left behind some specially marked cigarette butts. His investigation leads him to a specialty tobacconist's shop, where he learns that Carl Adolf Voss has these particular cigarettes custom blended.
Moments later the Clock shows up at Voss' posh apartment building, hands his calling card and a dollar to an urchin, and sends him up to deliver the card to Mr. Voss. Then he scales the outside of the building, breaks into Voss' apartment, and corners Hurtz at gunpoint. Voss pounces onto him from behind but the Clock just flips him onto the floor, and recovers the stolen plans. Hurtz tries to run for the door, but the Clock knocks him unconscious with his spring-loaded trick walking-stick. He pins one of his calling cards to the lapel of each unconscious spy, then calls in the police.
Appearing in The Clock Strikes: "The FBI Agent Killing"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Carl Adolf Voss (wears a monocle) (Single appearance)
- Hurtz (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- FBI Agent (Dies)
Locations:
Items:
- Clock's Trick Cane
- Clock's Calling Cards
Synopsis for "Jane Arden // Lena Pry"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Jane Arden // Lena Pry"
Featured Characters:
- Jane Arden
- Lena Pry (See Notes.)
Synopsis for Reynolds of the Mounted: "The Phony Gold Shipment"
The Yukon Gold Company sends four thousand ounces of gold dust to Nugget City, with Sgt. Reynolds, in a canoe. Meanwhile a phony shipment is sent via the regular steamer, to distract any robbers. This plan was suggested by mining company foreman Dixon, and mining company manager Lane will be packing the shipment, behind closed doors! Unknown to either of them, Reynolds has brought along Constable Burton, to perform a secret task.
A few days later Reynolds embarks down Moose Creek toward Nugget City, with the gold dust. The next morning, somebody takes a rifle shot at him. Reynolds feigns a wound and falls down, to lure the sniper out of hiding. This works, and a short fight later, the masked gunman is captured and revealed as Jeff Dixon. But Dixon himself has been double-crossed; the gold-dust strongboxes in Reynolds' canoe are empty!
Meanwhile back at Yukon Mining, Lane has just finished sending the fake shipment away on the steamer, and is ready to make his getaway. Needing labor to carry the gold down to the river, he hires a crazy old prospector who just happens to have been hanging around the area for a few days. It's Constable Burton, who figures out what the real deal here is. Lane tries to shoot him then tries to stab him, and almost makes it, but Sgt. Reynolds shows up and shoots the weapon out of his hand. Soon both Dixon and Lane are under arrest.
Appearing in Reynolds of the Mounted: "The Phony Gold Shipment"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Jeff Dixon, Foreman
- Lane, Manager
Other Characters:
- Constable Burton
Locations:
- Canada
- Great Bear Lake
- Moose Creek
- Yukon Mining Company
- Nugget City
Items:
- four thousand ounces of gold dust
Vehicles:
- Canoe
- Packet Steamer
During maneuvers of the Asiatic Fleet, Capt. S. R. "Spin" Shaw spends time aboard the USS Martyr, commanded by the very cranky martinet Capt. "Poison" Atkins. A hundred miles to the south, in a dense fog, the oil tanker Gulf Town collides with the yacht Anula, starting a fire aboard the tanker and sinking the yacht, whose passengers are brought aboard the Gulf Town. The SOS reaches the USS Martyr; Capt. Atkins' daughter turns out to be aboard the yacht; the Martyr changes course and proceeds to the scene of the collision. There, rescue operations are hampered by thick smoke; Spin Shaw persuades Poison Atkins to launch his seaplane (a pontoon-equipped biplane), allowing him to anchor the plane in a stationary position and use the propellor to disperse the smoke. This works, and the tanker and yacht survivors are rescued before the tanker bursts into smithereens then sinks. Spin is injured in this explosion and spends some time in sick bay.
Featured Characters:
Other Characters:
- Capt. "Poison" Atkins, USN.
- Ann Atkins
Locations:
- Mid-Pacific Ocean
Vehicles:
- USS Martyr, destroyer
- Amphibious Biplane
- SS Gulf Town, oil tanker
- Anula, yacht (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Ned Brant: "Fortune Teller"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in Ned Brant: "Fortune Teller"
Featured Characters:
- Ned Brant
Supporting Characters:
- Bud Shekels
Synopsis for Captain Fortune: "The Fate of the Dragon"
Appearing in Captain Fortune: "The Fate of the Dragon"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Will Kentshire, First Officer
- crew of the "Revenge"
Antagonists:
- Pirate Captain with Eyepatch, as "Mighty Kilu"
- his White Pirate Crew
- Witch Doctor
- his Island Native Spearmen
Other Characters:
- Governor Chadwick
- Light Keeper (Deceased)
Locations:
- West Indies
- San Luray, small coastal town
- Barren Islands
Items:
- Giant Idol of Kilu (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
- English Privateer Galleon "Revenge"
- English Merchant Galleon "Dragon"
Synopsis for The Doll Man: "The Bomber Engine Robberies"
For five weeks, H. Dustin Crawford's trucking company has been targeted by hijackers; all of the robberies have taken place along a stretch of New England shoreline highway; all the stolen cargoes were super powered airplane motors for bombers. Driving down the highway one day, Darrel Dane encounters one truck robbery in progress, stops and (unarmed and still full-sized) joins the two truck men in fighting off the attackers, successfully. At Crawford's office, Darrel Dane then meets Mr. McCoot, Crawford's hired sleuth, who lays out what's going on. That night another robbery takes place; McCoot observes with binoculars that a submarine is loading the stolen freight. Aboard the sub, in a freshly loaded engine crate, Doll Man has stowed away. He beats up a series of foreign submariners, then grabs an intake valve and threatens to open it unless they surface and turn themselves in. None of them tries to shoot him or even displays a firearm; they surface; a Coast Guard cutter takes over. Later at Dr. Roberts' house, this exchange gets said: Dr. Roberts: "The reputation of the Doll Man has reached the papers." Darrel Dane: "Yes, and my work is just beginning."
Appearing in The Doll Man: "The Bomber Engine Robberies"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Roberts (Cameo)
- Martha Roberts (Cameo)
Antagonists:
- truck hijacking gang
- submarine crew
Other Characters:
- H. Dustin Crawford, trucking company boss (Single appearance)
- McCoot, private detective (Single appearance)
Locations:
- New England Coast
Vehicles:
- Foreign Submarine (Captured)
- USCG Cutter
Synopsis for Rance Keane: "The Bridge Blasters"
Appearing in Rance Keane: "The Bridge Blasters"
Featured Characters:
- Rance Keane, the Knight of the West
Supporting Characters:
- Pee Wee Lee
Antagonists:
- Seth Cheatham
Other Characters:
- Nixon, outfitter
- Clyde Cameron, bridge builder
- his road crew
- Yancy Cheatham
Locations:
- American Old West
- Arizona, 1920s
- Cameron's Suspension Bridge, highest in the West
- Old Baldy, mountain
- Nixon's store
- Cheatham Ranch
- Arizona, 1920s
Synopsis for "Joe Palooka"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Joe Palooka"
Featured Characters:
- Joe Palooka
Supporting Characters:
- Knobby Walsh
Synopsis for Charlie Chan: "The Dr. Croft Ruby Mystery, Part 1 of 2"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in Charlie Chan: "The Dr. Croft Ruby Mystery, Part 1 of 2"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Kirk Barrow
- Gina Lane
Antagonists:
- pirate crew
Other Characters:
- Dr. Croft
- Cynthia Welles
Locations:
- Pacific Ocean
- Honolulu (home port)
- San Francisco (destination)
Items:
- "pigeon blood" rubies
Vehicles:
- Clipper Ship
- Pirate Motor Launches
Synopsis for "Mickey Finn"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Mickey Finn"
Featured Characters:
- Mickey Finn
Supporting Characters:
- Uncle Phil
Notes
- Published monthly by Comic Favorites, Inc.
- The Clock:
- Brian O'Brien gets head-konked unconscious, for at least the second time in his career.[1]
- The villains, Hurtz and Voss, are "international spies," from no identified nation.
- Doll Man's fame seems to have just now (his 4th adventure) reached the newspapers, yet the well-informed Doctor Rodent already knew about him at the outset of his 2nd adventure (in Feature Comics #28). So the underworld grapevine in NYC in 1940 is well ahead of the establishment media.
- In this episode, Darrel Dane's transformation to Doll Man takes place out of the reader's sight. Last issue he was taking a pill to shrink. This issue the opening caption states that he "can reduce his body to the size of a doll at will."
- The nationality of the foreign submarine crew is never explicitly identified, and they don't have thick accents, or swastikas, but they are there to take their loot back to "the Fatherland" where they hope to have earned "the Iron Cross." And the captain wears a monocle. Uncharacteristically, for this era, the submarine crew gets captured alive.
- Also featured in this issue of Feature Comics were:
- Big Top (two 1-page gag scenes) by John Devlin
- The Bungle Family (newspaper strip reprints) by H.J. Tuthill
- Dixie Dugan (newspaper strip reprints) by J.P. McEvoy and J.H. Striebel
- Good Deed Dotty by J.P. McEvoy and J.H. Striebel, running across the top 1/5 of of both of their Dixie Dugan pages.
- Joe Palooka's Album by Ham Fisher runs across the top 1/5 of all four of his Joe Palooka pages.
- Lala Palooza (newspaper strip reprints) by John Devlin
- Last issue of this comic for Lena Pry by Monte Barrett and Russell E. Ross, running in the bottom-left 1/4 of all 4 of their Jane Arden pages. Lena and Jane will return in Crack Comics #1 (May 1940).
- Little Brother by H.J. Tuthill, running across the top 1/5 of both of his Bungle Family pages.
- Mortimer Mum by Bill Sakren, across the bottom half of one, and the top half of the other, "Toddy" pages.
- Nippie ("He's Often Wrong") by Lank Leonard, running across the top 1/5 of all 4 of his Mickey Finn pages.
- Off The Record (1-panel gags) by Ed Reed, in three places in this issue.
- Rube Goldberg's Side Show, by Rube Goldberg, in two places in this issue.
- Slim and Tubby: "Episode 30" (newspaper strip reprints) by John J. Welch
- "Smoke Screen" (text story) by A.L. Allen
- They're Still Talking: "...About the World's First Vault over Fourteen Feet", by Bob Zuppke and R.W. Depew
- Toddy by George Marcoux, across top half of one, and the bottom half of the other, "Mortimer Mum" pages.
- Twisted Tales by Rube Goldberg, running across the bottom 1/5 of his two Side Show pages.
Trivia
- Bob Powell no longer signs his Spin Shaw story; in the prior issue he signed as "Rex Smith".
- Will Eisner signed his Doll Man story as "William Erwin Maxwell."
- William A. Smith signs his Rance Keane story as "Will Arthur."
See Also