They're letting up! We're beating them off! 
More Fun Comics #68 is an issue of the series More Fun Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1941.
Synopsis for Doctor Fate: "Murders in Baranga Marsh"
By the side of the Baranga Road, in the dead of night, Kent Nelson and Inza Cramer come across the corpse of a man, struck down by some unknown cause. A cop arrives, makes some bad assumptions and asks some stupid questions, before Nelson uses a bit of misdirection and some light hypnosis to escape with Inza by flying away in his car. But after they leave, the unknown force strikes again, killing the cop.
By the time Doctor Fate returns to the scene, cops and soldiers are gathering on the Baranga Road. Fate dissuades them from moving to the far side of it, and tests his theory about the nature of the deadly force, by tossing a live cat into the danger zone; it perishes. Then a car is driven onto the scene by a young woman, who is unharmed by the mysterious force. Leaving the cops, Fate follows her to an old stone house. He eavesdrops as the fiend responsible for these crimes, addressed only as "Master," gives his servant her orders. She, Nasha, is to carry out the murder of his former friend, countryman, and partner, Serge Roltavich, who cheated the Master out of millions. Now, working alone, this mad scientist has invented a sound system that kills people at a distance, and has been testing it on random passers-by.
Nasha visits Roltavich, at his high-rise apartment home, and presents him with a small broadcasting device, then tries to turn it on, but Doctor Fate steps into the room, and blows up the little transmitter before it can kill anyone. Nasha points a handgun at Fate; he points his finger at the gun and it vanishes. She gives up, which infuriates the Master, who has spied on the whole encounter from his laboratory. He now transmits an enormous sound wave, which skips over much of the city but strikes Roltavich's building, cracking it in two! Doctor Fate summons mighty winds from the four corners of the compass and lifts the falling building back into place. He places more protective magic around Serge, then whisks Nasha away to Inza Cramer's penthouse, and leaves them together. Doctor Fate soars over the Baranga Marshes and lands at a large stone mansion, which he invades. It's rigged with an ineffective booby trap, but while Fate is shrugging off a shattered sword-blade, the Master is warming up his big transmitter. He dons a lead helmet, and uses the machine to snap a steel bar, then hurls the full force of it against Doctor Fate. With a wave of his hand, Fate sends it back, to destroy its own emitter. Raving madly, the inventor steps out of a window and falls to his apparent death, in a moat below the mansion wall.
Appearing in Doctor Fate: "Murders in Baranga Marsh"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Master, Russian scientist (Apparent Death)
- Nasha, Russian henchwoman
Other Characters:
- man on Baranga Road (Dies)
- policeman on Baranga Road (Dies)
- more cops, and soldiers
- Serge Roltavich, Russian-American inventor
- his butler
Locations:
- Baranga Road
- Baranga River
- southern bank, marshes
- old stone house
- southern bank, marshes
- New York City
- concert hall
- Roltavich's apartment
- Inza Cramer's penthouse
- Salem
Items:
- Amulet of Anubis
- Cloak of Destiny
- Helmet of Fate
- Deadly Sonic Weapon (ineffective against Dr. Fate)
Vehicles:
- Nelson's yellow roadster
- Nasha's purple roadster
Synopsis for Detective Sergeant Carey: "The Night of Terror"
Appearing in Detective Sergeant Carey: "The Night of Terror"
Featured Characters:
- Detective Sergeant Carey, City Police
Supporting Characters:
- Sleepy, City Police
- Chief of Police
- many cops
Antagonists:
- Skarpis Gang (terrorized the Midwest)
Other Characters:
- Mickey, newsboy (shot)
Locations:
- Police HQ
- two municipal power plants
- Merchants Bank
Vehicles:
- squad car
- bank robbers' van (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Clip Carson: "The Killer Plant"
Appearing in Clip Carson: "The Killer Plant"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mr. K
- Terru, servant (Dies)
- Black Jack (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Major Denning, post commandant (Dies)
- Capt. Payne, adjutant
- Nomina, native girl
- Wiley, inventor
- Nomina's People
Locations:
Items:
- "Devil Flowers", man-strangling tropical plants
Vehicles:
- enemy agents' autogiro
Synopsis for Captain Desmo: "The Hunt for Dr. Mause"
Appearing in Captain Desmo: "The Hunt for Dr. Mause"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Gabby
Antagonists:
- Dr. Mause
- his 5th columnist henchmen, at least 30: Blackie, others
Other Characters:
- Cargo ship crews (most or all killed)
- Jim Sherwood, Naval Intelligence (wounded)
Locations:
- Panama
- a coastal city
Items:
- Mause's Electroblast Ray (artillery piece size)
- Mause's Paralysis Ray (handgun size)
- Mause's Counter-Paralysis Ray (shotgun size)
Vessels:
- Mause's moveable fake island (Destroyed)
- series of cargo ships (Destroyed)
- U.S. Navy Cruiser
- Mause's motor launch
Synopsis for Radio Squad: "Murder Plunge"
Appearing in Radio Squad: "Murder Plunge"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Lorna Drake, social worker
Antagonists:
- Lefty, drug peddler
- his hoods, two
Other Characters:
- careless child
- child's grandpa, wharf watchman
- three British mariners
- British cargo officer
Locations:
- New York City
- Waterfront
- Settlement House
Vehicles:
- Radio Car K-7
Synopsis for Lance Larkin: "Menace of the Sea Khan"
Appearing in Lance Larkin: "Menace of the Sea Khan"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Animals:
- Satan, his horse
Antagonists:
- the Sea Khan (Dies)
- Sului, his daughter
- his pirate crews (many die)
Other Characters:
- Mr. Chance (Flashback and main story)
- Marta Chance (Dies in flashback)
- Baby Chance (Flashback only) (Apparent Death)
- Bhourda Harbormaster
- Junk Crew (some die)
Locations:
- Land of the Flying Dragons, southern Siberia (Mentioned only)
- Bhourda, coastal town
- China Sea
- Sumatra (destination)
- Larkin's Plantations (first mention)
Vessels:
- Larkin's hired junk
- Sea Khan's ships, four (most or all destroyed)
- U.S. destroyers, two
Synopsis for Sergeant O'Malley of the Red Coat Patrol: "The Temple in the North"
Following the notes of the late Professor Dale, Sergeant O'Malley leads a small posse to the site of an ancient, gold-adorned temple, under a lake. O'Malley's plan is to use dynamite to drain the lake, and he plants a charge. This takes some time and he waits until the next morning to detonate it. Two traitors in his posse tip off the members of an indigenous cult of temple worshippers, and a large mounted band of them charge at O'Malley's outnumbered party, but are swept away by the resulting flood when the dynamite charge blows out one side of the lake. Sgt. O'Malley's stated intention is to dismantle the temple and ship it to a museum in Ottowa.
Appearing in Sergeant O'Malley of the Red Coat Patrol: "The Temple in the North"
Featured Characters:
- Sergeant O'Malley, of the Red Coat Patrol
Supporting Characters:
- O'Malley's posse:
- Black Hawk, RCMP
- two more guys
Antagonists:
- band of lake temple cultists (most or all are killed)
- Sako, and one other traitor, in O'Malley's posse (arrested)
Other Characters:
- Professor Dale, noted explorer (murdered)
Locations:
- Canada
- Coastal Mountains
- Foothills
- Ponoka
- lake, 4 days' ride from town (drained)
- gold-decorated temple (discovered)
- Foothills
- Ottowa (Mentioned only)
- Coastal Mountains
Synopsis for The Spectre: "Menace of the Dark Planet"
Everyone in the city of Lakespur keels over dead without explanation. No clues can be found, and then the same thing happens to nearby Brent City. Desperate to stop this plague of death, Detective Corrigan turns into the Spectre to turn his otherworldy powers to the task, and with them sees a mysterious planet entering Earth's solar system. Flying through the ether, he finds an empty ship with a map showing the two affected cities X-ed through, with Clareville apparently next. The Spectre follows alien vibes to a skyscraper where he finds green aliens with tiny bodies and huge heads responsible, and about to unleash a toxic gas. He tries to stop them but their alien weapons are capable of draining even his energies, paralyzing the post-mortem hero. Nonetheless, by focusing all his strength the Spectre manages to keep the aliens from unleashing their deadly gas and they flee back to their home planet instead.
He follows and discovers the aliens drink the life of their victims in order to give themselves immortality. The Spectre tries to alter their planet's course into a star, but such advanced beings of course notice this and concentrate all their willpower together to foil his plan and freeze him in place again. They can't kill him, since he's already dead, but resume their invasion of Earth and rain death on the city of Memphis Beach. Once more the undead hero pursues the little green men, and, "having tensed himself for the attack", in unaffected by their weapons this time. He summons a ball of "X-Lite" that sucks all of the aliens inside, then hurls the "X-Lite" into space, a "bare, dead world until the end of time."
Appearing in The Spectre: "Menace of the Dark Planet"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chief of Police
Antagonists:
Locations:
- Lakespur, New Jersey, a crowded busy metropolis (wiped out)
- Cliffland, New Jersey (nearby)
- Brent City, New Jersey (wiped out)
- Clareville, New Jersey
- Memphis Beach (wiped out)
- Outer Space
- Green Men's mobile home planet (depopulated)
Items:
- Green Men's Green Ray, paralyzes the Spectre
Vehicles:
- Green Men's Sled Vessels, hundreds of them (hundreds are destroyed)
Notes
- Published monthly by Detective Comics, Inc.
- Captain Desmo:
- Story starts 3 weeks after last episode; 2 days pass before Sherwood is shot; 2 days pass before Desmo and Gabby reach the unnamed coastal city; 3 days pass before the big concluding fight.
- Desmo disguises himself with dark glasses and a crackerjack sailor hat. This is one of very few times that he is seen not wearing that white aviator helmet of his.
- Desmo gets popped upside the head with a blunt instrument but doesn't black out, in fact it snaps him out of a paralysis effect.
- Mause's Island's position at the final shoot-out is at "latitude 87, longitude 84."
- Desmo and the Navy seemingly miss their chance to capture Dr. Mause's advanced weapons, including the ship-killing Electroblast Ray and a paralyzer handgun.
- Starting this issue, Clip Carson by George Papp has moved into More Fun Comics from Action Comics, and Congo Bill has taken its place in Action Comics.
- Clip gets strangled into unconsciousness in this episode, and gets a bullet wound in the shoulder.
- Doctor Fate:
- On page 2, Kent Nelson wears his golden cape over his civilian tuxedo as he examines the crime scene.
- A large apartment building in a big city is broken in half, and reassembled by wind. It's never mentioned again, anywhere.
- According to Doctor Fate, the sonic weapon was ineffective against him because, when he wills it to be so, his body is composed of pure force.
- Readers aren't shown the Master's fall, or landing, or a body. Then again, Doctor Fate seems satisfied that he's dead, and is not easily fooled.
- "Murders in Baranga Marsh" is reprinted in Detective Comics #442 and The Golden Age Doctor Fate Archives Vol. 1.
- Lance Larkin owns some plantations in Sumatra, along with 1/2 of a gold mine.[1]
- Sgt O'Malley can operate a deep-sea diving outfit, and is well-qualified in explosive demolition. He also has uncovered an ancient, gold-festooned temple.
- The Spectre:
- Three entire U.S. cities, at least one of them "a crowded, busy metropolis," are wiped out in this story. The first one, Lakespur, is "nearby" to Cliffland. The map on panel 2 of page 3 shows Lakespur, Brent City, and Clareville as all adjacent to each other. It's never mentioned again, anywhere.
- "Menace of the Dark Planet" is reprinted in The Golden Age Spectre Archives Vol. 1.
- Also featured in this issue of More Fun Comics were:
- Kidding by Ray McGill
- "The Justice Society of America Proudly Presents..." (full-page color ad for the current issue of All-Star Comics #5)
- "Gags" by Henry Boltinoff
- "Trick Play" (text story), by Adam Sanford
- "Hear Superman on the Radio!" (1/2-page ad for the Superman radio show).
- "Laff Lines" by Henry Boltinoff
- "At the Top of the Field!" (full-page color ad for the ongoing titles of Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Detective Comics, All-American Comics, More Fun Comics, & Flash Comics, plus the current issue of World's Finest #2, 96 pages for 15 cents.)
Trivia
- Jim Corrigan smokes cigarettes, and Sgt O'Malley smokes a pipe.
- Not many golden age superheroes went so far as to execute a genocide against an entire enemy population, but Doctor Fate,[2] Hawkman,[3] and the Spectre definitely did.
See Also