He's gone! And no one will mourn his going! 
Hit Comics #34 is an issue of the series Hit Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1944.
Synopsis for Kid Eternity: "The Reformation of Rita Rowley"
One day in Eternity, Kid Eternity is approached by the spirit of "Bucket John" Rowley, a California Gold Rush '49er, who bemoans the behavior of his spoiled-brat movie-starlet granddaughter, Rita Rowley, and asks the Kid to help straighten her out. Mr. Keeper, a lover of peace and quiet, reluctantly accompanies K.E. to Catamount Studios in Hollywood, arriving on the wild-west sound stage during one of Rita's infamous tantrums. ("This whole picture is a plot to ruin me! Hiding my perfect figure in this -- this BAG! Me -- the Sarong Girl!") Kid becomes visible, consults with director Max Schingle, then summons the spirit of silent film actress Sarah Bernhardt to the set. Sarah volunteers to replace Rita, whose jealousy now gets the better of her, and she agrees to go on location for the shoot.
Meanwhile in a cabin out on the desert, an old prospector is being worked over by three hoodlums who want to know where he found his gold. After some torture, the poor old geezer spills the location of his strike, and the next morning the thugs head out there to verify it. They are intensely annoyed to find about 200 movie people at the site, setting up to do some filming. Meanwhile back at the prospector's shanty, the mine's rightful owner gets loose, and attempts to hike 30 miles to the nearest town, barefoot.
Meanwhile Mr. Keeper, Kid Eternity, and Max Schingle are still in Hollywood, laboriously coaxing Rita into her chauffeured limousine for the ride out to the location. K.E. decides to teach Rita a lesson about the early pioneers by moving a road sign, causing the car to get lost out in the desert, then summons the spirit of Colonel William Cody to guide the car back to the road. Then Keep and the Kid find the old half-dead prospector, and the only way for them to help him is to flag down Rita's car and carry him to the film camp, where there's a doctor. The prospector turns out to be Rita's long-lost father, whose disappearance years earlier had affected her character in a bad way. She now starts to behave less horribly.
But back near the movie camp, a new gang of (at least five) outlaw horsemen have now joined up with the three big city gangsters, and they plan to attack the movie camp. They capture a group of fake Indian extras, steal their costumes and horses, and ride in shooting. When K.E. notices the sound crew and cameramen running away, he summons the spirits of George Armstrong Custer, and his regiment, to counterattack. They do so with gusto, and Custer's spirit soon reports that all of the "Indians" have been annihilated, before the Kid returns them to Eternity. He and Mr. Keeper then return there as well.
Appearing in Kid Eternity: "The Reformation of Rita Rowley"
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Antagonists:
- Ape and Bugs and Al, claim-jumpers (all die)
- a second gang of western outlaws (all die)
Other Characters:
- Rita Rowley (actress)
- Max Schingle (film director)
- "Pop" Rowley (prospector, Rita's father)
- Pete (assistant director)
- "Bucket John" Rowley (Rita's grandfather) (Summoned Soul)
- Sarah Bernhardt (Summoned Soul)
- Buffalo Bill Cody (Summoned Soul)
- George Custer (Summoned Soul)
- Seventh Cavalry (Summoned Soul)
- Seventh Cavalry (Summoned Soul)
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Synopsis for Bob and Swab: "South Sea Wedding Mixup"
Appearing in Bob and Swab: "South Sea Wedding Mixup"
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Synopsis for Her Highness: "Strangeness on a Train"
Appearing in Her Highness: "Strangeness on a Train"
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Synopsis for Betty Bates: "The Ghost of Villa Vane"
Appearing in Betty Bates: "The Ghost of Villa Vane"
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Synopsis for Stormy Foster, the Great Defender: "Scourge of the Skyscraper"
A 64-story hospital is being built by the Clovis Construction Company, with an unusually high number of accidental deaths, one of which is witnessed by Ah Choo, which attracts the attention of civic-minded assistant pharmacist Stormy Foster. After hours, in his civvies, Stormy snoops around the job site, and finds some evidence, shattered glass, in a location that leads him to deduce that a vial of knockout gas had been used to cause the steelworker to fall to his death. Just then a man in a green suit activates a winch which sends the still-rigged-up girder aloft, towards the riveters platform, with Stormy still aboard it. Stormy takes a super vitamin capsule, leaps free of the deadly situation, changes clothes, then climbs down the structure in his superhero outfit. On the ground, he finds and pursues a suspicious-looking man in a green suit, loses him, then finds the general contractor, Mr. Clovis, in a green suit, lying on the ground with some girders atop him. He removes the girders, which are unusually light in weight, and carries Clovis to his construction office, while being told some obvious lies along the way. The Great Defender soon leaves, and we see that Clovis has Ah Choo, tied and gagged, in a closet, and plans to murder this witness with another fake accident, by dropping a heavy tool on him from 30 stories up. The Defender returns in the nick of time to save Ah Choo, then pursues Clovis up into the half-built structure. Clovis tries to kill him by flinging tools and shooting white-hot rivets at him but the Great Defender is too agile, energetic, and cunning for any of that to work; ultimately he uses a crowbar like a baseball bat to volley a hot rivet right back at Clovis' chest, causing him to fall to the ground, where he lives only long enough to incriminate himself, then expires.
Appearing in Stormy Foster, the Great Defender: "Scourge of the Skyscraper"
Featured Characters:
- Stormy Foster (Final appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Ah Choo (Final appearance)
Antagonists:
- Mr. Clovis (Dies)
Locations:
- Southern California
Synopsis for Bill the Magnificent: "Prince of the Buztecs"
Appearing in Bill the Magnificent: "Prince of the Buztecs"
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- Bill the Magnificent (Final appearance)
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Notes
- Last issue, and last appearance, for Bill the Magnificent, art by Marvin Stein.
- Kid Eternity learns that Ape, Bugs, and Al had earlier been torturing the elderly Mr. Rowley, as we observe, in the distance, the three thugs fleeing on foot, while the mounted Seventh Cavalry, sabers drawn, pursues them. K.E.: "Then I'm not sorry for what is happening to them." Next panel, Custer reports that "The Indians have been annihilated! Little Big Horn is avenged!"
- Last issue, and last golden age appearance, for Stormy Foster, the Great Defender, art by Rudy Palais.
- Intentionally or not, and yes he did have it coming, but Clovis is the (at least) 12th bad guy to get killed by the Great Defender.
- This issue also featured:
- Dan Tootin: "The Happiness Pills", by Jack Cole
- Billy Blackfeet (Final appearance), by Bernard Dibble
- "Born at Dunkirk" (text story)
See Also
Links and References
