That was just the beginning. There's still a ton of work to do! 
Hit Comics #16 is an issue of the series Hit Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1941.
Synopsis for Hercules: "The Dockside Saboteurs"
The S.S. Andover, an allied supply ship, is damaged by saboteurs, in New York Harbor, close to the piers. Hercules, at home in an easy chair, wearing his superhero suit, hears about this on the radio and races down to the waterfront. Large numbers of longshoremen are straining at some rigged-up lines, trying to pull the freighter upright and get it moored, but it's not going very well until Hercules shows up, grabs a hawser, and single-handedly drags the ship into a drydock.
The Dock Commission hires Joe as a security guard, working the night shift. A fellow guard turns out to be an imposter, with a shotgun, but Joe just bends the barrels in his hands, rendering it useless, then smacks some info out of the spy, before leaving him trussed up for the cops. He now knows about some sabotage going on at the Volheed Airplane Plant, goes there, gets permission from the foreman to look around, and does so. The foreman however is part of the sabotage gang, and he tips off his henchmen to ambush Hercules. One drops an airplane engine onto Joe, but Joe just catches it and flings it back, knocking the spy off a catwalk. Then a whole lot of fifth-columnists pile on to attack Joe, which keeps him preoccupied long enough for the foreman and his partner (Kurtz) to flee the scene.
Kurtz and the foreman run to the waterfront and race aboard the S.S. Fenwick, sister ship to the Andover, which is just that minute casting off and getting under way. By the time Hercules gets there, the ship has sailed. Joe dives in, swims after the ship, dives under it, grabs the propulsion screw and twists the metal blades until their pitch is changed, sending the ship into reverse. Then he scrambles aboard, and corners the foreman, but apparently the whole crew of the Fenwick is also in the sabotage gang, because they all pile onto Joe and try to subdue him. A lot of machinery gets broken in the process, but before long, Hercules overwhelms most of the bad guys.
The Fenwick has been steaming backwards this whole time, and now it crashes into the docks. Hercules is flung over the side and gets wedged between the hull and a seawall. The crewmen drop oil drums and other heavy objects on him, while he exerts his superhuman strength to heave the ship loose from the wharf. This doesn't work, instead he kicks a hole thru the hull, and jumps inside, finding himself in the cargo hold. He grabs a large net and steps out onto the open deck, where some crewmen have unlimbered a howitzer-sized harpoon gun. They shoot him in the chest at close range, but the steel harpoon just bounces and bends, then Hercules sweeps up the thugs in the big net, and flings them onto a passing garbage barge.
Appearing in Hercules: "The Dockside Saboteurs"
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Antagonists:
- night foreman at the Volheed Airplane Plant
- Kurtz, his assistant
- gang of dockside saboteurs
- Kurtz, his assistant
Other Characters:
- Dock Commission
Locations:
- New York City
- Waterfront
- Volheed Airplane Plant
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Vehicles:
- S.S. Andover
- S.S. Fenwick
Synopsis for Betty Bates: "The Murder of Moe Jukes"
Appearing in Betty Bates: "The Murder of Moe Jukes"
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Synopsis for The Strange Twins: "Death of a Director"
Appearing in The Strange Twins: "Death of a Director"
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Synopsis for Lion Boy: "Prisoner of the Hunters"
Appearing in Lion Boy: "Prisoner of the Hunters"
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Synopsis for Bob and Swab: "The Fake Buoy of Mozambique"
Appearing in Bob and Swab: "The Fake Buoy of Mozambique"
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Synopsis for The Red Bee: "Murder in Chinatown"
A gang of white mobsters is muscling in on the opium trade in Chinatown, and warns the D.A. to stay away, which he ignores. As D.A. Hawkes is examining the body of a recent murder victim, a rooftop sniper draws a bead on him, but very luckily the Red Bee is on the same rooftop, and he punches out the sniper and the sniper's partner, then leaves them splapped out there, hides, and waits for them to regain consciousness. Also he's found some opium in their pockets. When they wake up, he follows them; they hail a cab and he pursues them in Rick Raleigh's car; they spot him and do some useless shooting, then they fling the cabbie out of the car and over a cliff. The Red Bee stops and helps the injured cabdriver, who tells him their destination: a white house farther down the road. When the Red Bee arrives there, the house is red, but it's the right place, because the sniper team has parked the taxi in the garage and left the door open. He sneaks in thru a basement window, finds the two mooks, and beats them up again, but then gets knocked out by a third thug. The bad guys drag him down to the basement and get ready to chop off his head, but Michael the bee counterattacks, driving them away, then he stings Rick and wakes him up. When one gunman rallies and returns with pistol ready, the Red Bee jumps him and knocks him out, but meanwhile the other two pile into the taxi and drive away. But the Red Bee knows a local shortcut and beats them to a nearby drawbridge, gets into the control house, and raises the bridge. He brings his fists to yet another gunfight, wins it, and leaves the knocked-out gangsters on the ground, with a note on their windshield describing their crimes, then calls the police, and leaves.
Appearing in The Red Bee: "Murder in Chinatown"
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Supporting Characters:
- District Attorney Hawkes, Rick's boss
- Michael, the Red Bee's bee
Antagonists:
- Zipper, a sniper
- a gang of opium peddlers
Locations:
- Superior City, Oregon
- Chinatown
- Chinatown
Synopsis for Hell Diver: "The Seizure of the Pana"
Appearing in Hell Diver: "The Seizure of the Pana"
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Synopsis for Neon the Unknown: "The Anti-Neon Machine"
Appearing in Neon the Unknown: "The Anti-Neon Machine"
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- Scar Lioni
- Rackets, Inc.
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Synopsis for G-5 Super Agent: "U.S. Destroyer Mysteriously Sunk"
Appearing in G-5 Super Agent: "U.S. Destroyer Mysteriously Sunk"
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Synopsis for Don Glory: "The Sirocco Saboteurs"
Appearing in Don Glory: "The Sirocco Saboteurs"
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Notes
- In this issue's Hercules story:
- Page 1 Panel 2 Caption describes Joe as being "at home", and this story takes place in New York City.
- In this issue's Red Bee story:
- The hero gets head-konked unconscious with a club. This is the (at least) 6th concussion of his career.
- The hero's boss, D.A. Hawkes, is back to having black hair. Maybe he just dyes it, every few months.
- This issue of Hit Comics also featured:
- Dan Tootin: "Headbanger", by Jack Cole
- Tommy Tinkle, by Arthur Beeman
See Also