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"Doll Man: "The Return of Wampum"": Wampum and his cowboy partner Old Fella have struck oil, out west, and are suddenly quite wealthy; they come to New York City to visit their old friends Dr. Roberts and Darrel Dane, then go touristing in the big city, and end up in the Battery Park area where

Quote1 Go back and tell Roberts to charter an amphibian at the airport. Quote2
Doll Man

Feature Comics #35 is an issue of the series Feature Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1940.

Synopsis for Doll Man: "The Return of Wampum"

Wampum and his cowboy partner Old Fella have struck oil, out west, and are suddenly quite wealthy; they come to New York City to visit their old friends Dr. Roberts and Darrel Dane, then go touristing in the big city, and end up in the Battery Park area where they get jumped behind a saloon by some waterfront thugs. Soon Darrel Dane has been called to the scene by Old Fella; he enters the bar at full size wearing a business suit and fedora; next panel he's doll-sized and in costume, just like that. He hides out and learns that Wampum, robbed and shanghaied, is now aboard the Black Gull, bound for Greenland; then he punches out the blabbermouth bartender, who was in on Wampum's kidnapping. Doll Man and Doctor Roberts fly north in Roberts' chartered amphibious biplane, eventually overtaking the "wicked looking tub". Doll Man skydives from the plane using only a pocket handkerchief and does not land aboard the Black Gull. Wampum is being mistreated and the crew are illegally hunting sperm whales with modern harpoons plus machine guns. One whale smashes one of the ship's launches; Wampum goes overboard and is about to get swallowed when Doll Man shows up aboard a swimming penguin. Doll Man then wins a fistfight with this whale, and rescues Wampum away to a hidden cove. The whalers soon send a landing party into this same cove, to shoot some trapped whales from dry land; Doll Man punches out five of them, the rest flee to their launch, then the whaler itself flees. Amidst this action, Wampum and Doll Man capture the captain of Black Gull. Doll Man clears a massive rockfall which opens a channel for the trapped whales to escape to open ocean. "The Black Gull meets a crushing doom as monster after monster collides with its wooden hull." Not much later, Wampum and Doll Man and the inert captain of the whaling ship, aboard an ice floe, towed by two sea lions, are proceeding southward; they soon rendezvous with Doctor Roberts' amphibious plane, and fly back to NYC.

Appearing in Doll Man: "The Return of Wampum"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Briney
  • Sloop
  • the bartender
  • The crew of the Black Gull

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:

  • the Black Gull, a three-masted whaling ship
  • Dr. Roberts' amphibious biplane


Synopsis for Rance Keane: "Hong Kong the Mandarin"

Rance's buddy Pee Wee dreams about fighting Chinese crooks.

Appearing in Rance Keane: "Hong Kong the Mandarin"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • Hong Conk

Other Characters:

  • Pee Wee
  • Lola Pritchard

Locations:

Synopsis for Poison Ivy: "Johnny Micewuller"


Appearing in Poison Ivy: "Johnny Micewuller"

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Synopsis for Zero, Ghost Detective: "Danse Macabre"

Zero is out for a moonlight stroll in a small suburban town when he encounters a persistently friendly small dog, whose eyes have a weird, luminous glow. The dog urges Zero to follow him, to a cemetery, where they arrive as midnight strikes. Seven ghoulish forms dig free from seven graves and form a circle then dance wildly. Abruptly the hideous skeletons file out of the cemetery, to a nearby house, some of them float to the second story, and emerge abducting a pretty girl, whom they carry to the graveyard and lower into a pit. Zero charges into their midst and there's a fight; he's not doing all that well, when one ghastly figure pulls out a violin and plays it. The thin strains of a blood-chilling tune cast a spell over Zero, but not over the weird little dog, who at first attacks the skeletons, which doesn't work, then the dog runs to a nearby chicken coop and barks until the rooster wakes up and crows in irritation. This sends the skeletons scrambling back to their graves and breaks the spell immobilizing the Ghost Detective, who then helps the girl out of the pit. Her take: "An ancient family feud must have brought the ghosts of my ancestors' enemies to wreak revenge on me." Zero accepts that with no further questions. The dog turns out to be this girl's long-missing pet, feared dead, who now indeed does turn out to be dead but still a loyal protector.

Appearing in Zero, Ghost Detective: "Danse Macabre"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • unnamed dog
  • unnamed girl

Antagonists:

  • seven skeletal ghosts

Other Characters:

Locations:

  • a cemetery in a small, suburban town

Items:

Vehicles:


Synopsis for Reynolds of the Mounted: "The Disappearance of Tim Benson"


Appearing in Reynolds of the Mounted: "The Disappearance of Tim Benson"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Captain Crane
  • Philip Kemp

Other Characters:

  • Tim Benson
  • Betty Benson

Locations:


Items:


Vehicles:



Synopsis for Spin Shaw: "Action on the Amazon"

The Navy sends Capt. S. R. "Spin" Shaw 300 miles up the Amazon River, in an amphibious biplane, to investigate the disappearance of Major Hollis, an explorer, and to take along some yellow fever serum, in case that turns out to be the problem, which it does. Shaw finds the right village, but is captured by the natives, who have turned hostile since their chief caught yellow fever, from Hollis. Antzec the medicine man wants to kill Hollis and Shaw, as a sacrifice, so the gods can make the chief get well. Shaw negotiates a 24-hour head start, to try to cure the sick men with his medical kit. Towards dawn, it looks like the medicine is working, when Antzec shows up, acts friendly, and gives Capt. Shaw a cup of drugged water, which doesn't knock him out because he too has taken a dose of the antitoxin, thus he's still awake to beat down Antzec before Antzec can stick a knife in the chief, which turns out to have been his plan all along. But more of Antzec's buddies show up, and pretty soon Spin is set up for execution by an archery firing squad. Except meanwhile back aboard the aircraft carrier at the mouth of the river, Spin Shaw's C.O. has gotten antsy about the lack of reports, and dispatches a flight of three dive bombers (painted light yellow) to the interior; they arrive at the critical moment to forestall the execution, by dropping a bomb which scatters the warriors. Antzec keeps his wits about him, grabs a spear and is ready to kill Shaw with it, when Major Hollis rallies off his sick bed, pulls out a pistol that he's been packing this whole time, and shoots Antzec. Spin gets the major back to his pontoon-plane in a native canoe, and takes off, and flies him safely back to the carrier. A week later, Captain Shaw is awarded the Medal Of Honor.

Appearing in Spin Shaw: "Action on the Amazon"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Major Hollis

Antagonists:

  • Antzec

Other Characters:


Locations:

  • a village of bamboo huts, 300 miles up the Amazon River

Items:


Vehicles:

  • U.S.N. amphibious biplane

Synopsis for "Lala Palooza"

(newspaper strip reprints)

Appearing in "Lala Palooza"

Featured Characters:

  • Lala Palooza

Synopsis for Captain Fortune: "The Ghost Ship"

Captain Fortune is pursued by a ghost ship.

Appearing in Captain Fortune: "The Ghost Ship"

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Antagonists:

  • ghost pirates

Other Characters:


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Synopsis for The Voice: "Murder in Apartment 2-B"

Mr Elixir dba 'The Voice' investigates when a man is murdered in Elixir's own apartment building. The police brush off his assistance, but Elixir returns that night, but so does another man, there's a scuffle, and Elixir is knocked out. Upon recovering he belatedly eats a dose of his special herbs, doubling his strength. In the dead man's apartment's phonograph, he finds a clue, and eventually he concludes that the murder gun was hidden in a record player and triggered by playing some music. Along the way, Elixir throws two plainclothes cops out a window (not recognizing them as cops), and uses ventriloquism to fool a squad of cops into not finding him, in this one apartment, and has already tricked the guilty neighbor, Mr. Hill, into breaking into the apartment while it's still full of police, and incriminating himself with the rigged record-player.

Appearing in The Voice: "Murder in Apartment 2-B"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Monahan, a defenestrated plainclothes cop
  • Clancy, a defenestrated plainclothes cop

Antagonists:

  • Mr. Hill

Other Characters:

  • Tommy

Locations:

  • Apartment 2-B in Mr. Elixir's own building

Items:


Vehicles:



Synopsis for "Big Top"

(newspaper strip reprints)

Appearing in "Big Top"

  • Appearances not yet listed

Synopsis for Rusty Ryan: "The Arson Plot"

Rusty deals with some crooks who set fire to Boyville so that they can buy the property on the cheap

Appearing in Rusty Ryan: "The Arson Plot"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • unnamed Fire Inspector
  • his unnamed accomplice

Other Characters:


Locations:


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Synopsis for Captain Bruce Blackburn, Counterspy: "The Foiled Assassination"

Some spies attempt to assassinate the King and Queen of Solvonia, while they're in the USA on a good-will mission, thus preventing a U.S.-Solvanian alliance. The plan is to sink the liner on which the royal couple arrive, using a radio-controlled dynamite-laden speedboat. Capt. Blackburn impersonates enemy spy J2, Karl Korn, infiltrates the assassins, gets exposed, gets knocked out and tied up and dumped into the speedboat, recovers, breaks the rail and cuts the rope binding his hands, takes control of the boat, and steers it away to open water, then brings it about and sets it to ram the yacht from which Pratz, the main assassin, has been directing things. There is an explosion; Blackburn believes that Pratz and all of his men are dead.

Appearing in Captain Bruce Blackburn, Counterspy: "The Foiled Assassination"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Lieutenant Jackson

Antagonists:

  • Pratz, leader of a ring of assassins (Apparent Death)
  • Karl Korn, spy # J2

Other Characters:

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • a closely-guarded ocean liner
  • a yacht full of spies
  • a radio-controlled speedboat full of dynamite

Synopsis for "Mickey Finn"

(newspaper strip reprints)

Appearing in "Mickey Finn"

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Synopsis for Samar: "Valley of the Cavemen"

Samar fights cavemen and a flesh-eating brontosaurus.

Appearing in Samar: "Valley of the Cavemen"

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Notes

  • Doll Man:
    • While visiting Doctor Robert's mansion, Doll Man's friend Wampum and his cowboy friend "Old Fella" visit Battery Park and watch a large steamship sail past, which implies that Darrel Dane and Dr. Roberts live in or near New York City.
    • The elderly cowboy in the Doll Man story is only ever addressed OR mentioned as "Old Fella," looks like Tod Gunther from last issue, only with a better mustache.
    • Doll Man shows up riding a penguin. No explanation is ever made about why or how this penguin is in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
  • Captain Fortune appears for the final time in this issue.
  • Also featured in this issue of Feature Comics were:
    • The Killer (text story), by Robert M. Hyatt
    • Have A Laugh, by Ed Reed



See Also


Links and References

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