P.S. The ransom money will feed and clothe a lot of poor kids. 
Feature Funnies #3 is an issue of the series Feature Funnies (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1937.
Synopsis for "Joe Palooka"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Joe Palooka"
Featured Characters:
- Joe Palooka
Supporting Characters:
- Knobby Walsh
Synopsis for "Ned Brant"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Ned Brant"
Featured Characters:
- Ned Brant
Synopsis for "Mickey Finn"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Mickey Finn"
Featured Characters:
- Mickey Finn
Supporting Characters:
- Uncle Phil
Synopsis for "Dixie Dugan"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Dixie Dugan"
Featured Characters:
- Dixie Dugan
Synopsis for "The Clock Strikes!"
The mysterious figure known as "the Clock" receives an airmail letter from the even more mysterious person "the Orchid" urging him to fly to Detroit at once, so he jumps into his two-seat open-cockpit armed biplane and does so. Four hours later he arrives over Detroit and searches for the clues described in the Orchid's cryptically-phrased letter, and isn't finding them, when another two-seat open-cockpit armed biplane soars in and fires at him with machine guns. The Clock makes a tight banking turn and gets behind the attacking plane then rakes it with fire from his own machine gun. The attacking plane is disabled and the pilot is killed, the machine-gunner bails out; the Clock shoots at the parachutist until he hits the ground, wounded but alive. It's evening now, and the light is bad, but the Orchid signals the Clock by flashing an orchid-colored light, and by the light of the flaming badguy plane, he safely lands. The Orchid explains in detail the extortion scheme of the bad guys and the entire progress of her investigation so far. The Clock interrogates the wounded machinegunner, who does some detailed squealing, then ties him up and leaves him behind. Clock and Orchid go to an old shack where the loot and one hostage are; Orchid stays outside in her open-top roadster while the Clock goes inside, and gets ambushed by the gang's boss, who is just about to shoot the Clock when he's nonfatally shot by the Orchid. The Clock then beats the hell out of the wounded boss, while the Orchid frees the hostage. The Clock steals the ransom money and the Orchid's car, leaving behind a mocking written note for the Orchid.
Appearing in "The Clock Strikes!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- The Orchid
Antagonists:
- Monk, kidnap gang boss
- kidnap gang pilot (Dies)
- kidnap gang gunner
Other Characters:
- Mr. Glower
Locations:
- New York City
- Detroit Airport
Vehicles:
- The Clock's red biplane
Synopsis for "Big Top"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Big Top"
- Appearances not yet listed
Synopsis for "The Bungle Family"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "The Bungle Family"
Featured Characters:
- Bungle Family
Synopsis for "Jane Arden"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Jane Arden"
Featured Characters:
- Jane Arden
Synopsis for "Lala Palooza"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Lala Palooza"
Featured Characters:
- Lala Palooza
Supporting Characters:
- Vincent Palooza
Synopsis for "Slim and Tubby"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Slim and Tubby"
Featured Characters:
- Slim
- Tubby
Synopsis for Hawks of the Seas: "A Spanish Princess"
Reprints from the British comic Wags
..
Appearing in Hawks of the Seas: "A Spanish Princess"
Featured Characters:
- The Hawk (not yet named)
Antagonists:
- "Claw" Carlos
- his pirate crew: Pietro, others
- English Colonial Governor
- Governor's servants
Other Characters:
- Governor's party guests (One dies)
- Spanish Princess
Locations:
- Jamaica
- Port Royal
- Governor's Mansion
- Port Royal
- Inagua Island, east of Jamaica (destination)
- Spanish Main
Items:
- Inca Ruby (Mentioned only)
Vehicles:
- Carlos' armed sloop
- Carlos' sloop's longboat
- Carlos' sloop's longboat
Synopsis for "Jim Swift"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Jim Swift"
Featured Characters:
- Jim Swift
Notes
- The Clock Strikes!:
- This is the first appearance of The Clock at Quality Comics; the character had previously been appearing in comics published by Comics Magazine/Centaur Comics. Quality apparently bought the character from Centaur. It is unclear if the Clock's earlier adventures are supposed to be in continuity at Quality, or if this is a reboot.
- The Clock and the Orchid have already met prior to this issue's story. She apparently knows his mailing address, and therefore his real identity. He knows nearly nothing about her. The reader knows nearly nothing about him; his name and home city are not revealed in this story.
- The Clock's secret identity as Brian O'Brien had not been revealed in any of the character's nine appearances at Centaur Comics. These were published in four different anthology comic books: Comics Magazine, Detective Picture Stories, Funny Pages, and Funny Picture Stories.
Trivia
- Will Eisner signs his "Hawks of the Seas" strip as "Willis B. Remsie"
- Also featured in this issue of Feature Comics were:
- "Fisher's History of Boxing" by Ham Fisher, running across the top 1/5 of all 5 of his Joe Palooka pages.
- Flossie by Al Zere appears on one page in six one-panel gags. This format would change next issue.
- Good Deed Dotty by J.P. McEvoy and J.H. Striebel, running across the top 1/5 of all 3 of their Dixie Dugan pages.
- Jane Arden by Monte Barrett and Russell E. Ross appears in four consecutive one-page episodes. This format would change next issue.
- Lena Pry by Monte Barrett and Russell E. Ross appears in two consecutive one-page stories. This format would change next issue.
- "Little Brother" by H.J. Tuthill, running across the top 1/5 of all 3 of his Bungle Family pages.
- Modern 'Planes: "Peter Riedel's 1938 Glider" by Les Marshall
- Nippie ("He's Often Wrong") by Lank Leonard, running across the top 1/5 of all 4 of his Mickey Finn pages.
- Off Side by Jo Metzer
- Off The Record (gag cartoons) by Ed Reed appears in two places in this issue.
- Pirates Ahoy: "The Romantic Nobleman Who Was a Pirate" (text story) by Charles B. Driscoll
- Puzzle Phun: "Color Twins" by Don DeConn
- Star Snapshots: Joan Crawford, by Bernard Baily
- Strange As It Seems "Niagara Falls", by John Hix
- Strange As It Seems "Professor of Suicide", by John Hix
- Strange As It Seems "Swindle on Manhattan", by John Hix
- They're Still Talking: "...About Baker's Kick that Broke Notre Dame's String of 26 Victories" by Bob Zuppke & R.W. Depew
- They're Still Talking: "...About The Talking Play that Gained 70 Yards for Iowa" by Bob Zuppke & R.W. Depew
- Toddy by George Marcoux appears in two consecutive pages of daily newspaper strips. This format would change next issue.
See Also
Links and References
- Read The Clock Strikes! online.
- Read Feature Funnies #3 online.