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in: Comics Published by Quality Comics, Everett M. Arnold/Executive Editor, Lou Fine/Cover Artist,
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National Comics Vol 1 3

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"Uncle Sam: "Yiffendi Invades the Philippines"": Uncle Sam steps in to aid the newly-independent Philippines against a small but ambitious expansionist Asiastic power. Chancellor Mias sends his brute of a general, Yiffendi, to stir up the Moros to create a pretext for their forces to step in and

Quote1 Niki has a jiu-jitsu hold on you .. unless you want a dislocated shoulder, you'd better fess up! Quote2
— Pen Miller

National Comics #3 is an issue of the series National Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1940.

Synopsis for Uncle Sam: "Yiffendi Invades the Philippines"

Uncle Sam steps in to aid the newly-independent Philippines against a small but ambitious expansionist Asiastic power. Chancellor Mias sends his brute of a general, Yiffendi, to stir up the Moros to create a pretext for their forces to step in and restore order. Villages are massacred and Filipino army detachments are wiped out; thousands die.

Uncle Sam sets about rallying the locals to take back their land. First, with only two Filipino soldiers, and two machine guns, plus Buddy, he sets up an ambush in a mountain valley, then strolls around until he gets captured and taken to Yiffendi's encampment. He bandies words with the main badman, then effortlessly escapes and sprints away, pursued by 500 howling Moros. They run right into the field of fire, but it is just two guns against hundreds of them. Uncle Sam flings a lot of really large rocks into the canyon, and very soon the surviving Moros turn and flee. Only ten make it back to the fort. Yiffendi resolves to send a thousand this time, and Mias signals his fleet to land some regular (expansionist asiatic) army troops; meanwhile Sam and Buddy and their two allies sneak around to attack the fort as soon as the next wave is sent out. Soon Yiffendi is in the mountains with his large force, and Uncle Sam's small team is overrunning the 10-man garrison left behind at the fort, which is now all theirs. Sam closes and bars the massive gates. Two Filipino soldiers, with a lot of ammunition now at their disposal, are holding off Yiffendi's forces, while Sam and Buddy go to intercept the amphibious landing. Sam dives into the ocean and swims out to one of the speedy launches, lifts it out of the water, and throws all the invaders off it, then motors back and picks up Buddy, who grouses about how he never gets to do anything, until one badguy, braver than the rest, scrambles back aboard the boat and tries to jump him. Uncle Sam punches him right back off the boat again.

Unc then zooms his captured speedboat directly toward the main enemy warship, which is called a battleship in one caption then called a destroyer in the very next one, and batteries of naval guns are brought to bear on his craft. Whatever kind of warship this is, it has got an airplane catapult on its deck, so Unc and Buddy are kept busy dodging the surface-to-surface gunfire plus a dive-bombing run, but they manage this handily, plus Unc shoots down the plane. And pretty soon, Sam hefts up a naval mine, flings it at the enemy ship, and blows it up real good.

The two soldiers holding the fort give a heroic account of themselves but eventually numbers prevail and a large mass of Moros swarm inside, only to perish along with the defenders in a dynamite trap that those two unnamed heroes have set up.

Appearing in Uncle Sam: "Yiffendi Invades the Philippines"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Filipino Guerrillas

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • Enemy Warship (Destroyed)


Synopsis for Prop Powers: "War of the Airlines"


Appearing in Prop Powers: "War of the Airlines"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Mr. Wallace, airline boss (First appearance)
    • Prop's transport company

Antagonists:

  • rival airline company boss
    • Pete, pilot
    • getaway driver
    • guard
    • transatlantic pilot

Other Characters:

  • Owl's Head Airport Police
  • New York Airport Commander

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • Powers's sleek plane (Destroyed)
  • Powers's boss's sleek plane
  • Powers's boss's airline's heavy transport plane

Synopsis for Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "The Gem of Mrs. Bigstone"


Appearing in Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "The Gem of Mrs. Bigstone"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Shifty Sue, as "Mrs. Bigstone"
    • her gang: fake jeweler, others

Other Characters:

  • Mrs. Bigstone
  • Gil Moore, private detective, as "Jack Smith"

Locations:

Items:

  • priceless gem

Synopsis for Kid Dixon: "New York Championship Bout"

Kid Dixon, "Bottle" Topps, and Jim Slick arrive in New York City; Jim sets out to get Danny a fight. He finds a $10 match on Staten Island, but they've got to start somewhere, so they take it. While Topps and Slick are pounding the pavement, Danny has met up with a fight promoter (by knocking out his boxer in an impromptu fight), and they have made friends with Jack Dempsey, who gets them a fight, with the Champ, in Madison Square Garden. Danny wins, and becomes the new Champ. They move from their old hotel into the Waldorf Astoria.

Appearing in Kid Dixon: "New York Championship Bout"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • B. Galsworthy "Bottle" Topps, Dixon's Manager
  • Jim Slick, fight Promoter

Other Characters:

Locations:

Synopsis for Merlin the Magician: "Dredge's Orphanage"

One night on a dark street, orphanage runaway Mickey, pursued by cruel authorities, crashes into Merlin the Greatest Magician on Earth and Merlin conceals him within his cloak and becomes invisible; the uniformed orphanage guards run right past them. Mickey tells of the abusive conditions at his orphanage, run by Mr. Dredge, and orphanage worker Miss Lovewell (whom Mickey likes) arrives to corroborate his account; Merlin accompanies them back to the place. Merlin confirms for himself that Mickey's story is on the level, and causes Dredge some well-deserved discomfort in the process.

That night as the hungry boys are tossing in their drab quarters, Merlin and Miss Lovewell are in Dredge's office, working the standard investigative technique of breaking into the badguy's safe and helping themselves to all the incriminating paperwork inside it. Dredge interrupts them, but from Merlin's magic fingertips a host of tittering demons spring, sweep dredge upstairs to his own quarters, and generally terrorize him. Merlin comes upstairs to give Dredge a good scolding, but screams from the dormitory draw him there, in time to interrupt a whipping, with a real whip, being administered on Mickey by one orphanage attendant. That guy gets magically strangled unconscious with his own cat-o-nine-tails and dragged out of the room by Merlin. The next morning there is an assembly, for Mickey's public punishment, but Merlin is still there; he gestures and Dredge's torso inflates like a helium balloon, and he floats haplessly in place while Mickey punches him a few times, before Merlin deflates him. He drops onto the floor, hard, then some cops come into the room and take him away, under arrest for misappropriating orphanage funds. When Merlin leaves, Miss Lovewell is in charge of the orphanage, and a week later he gets a letter from Mickey about how much better things are now.

Appearing in Merlin the Magician: "Dredge's Orphanage"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Mr. Dredge, orphanage embezzler
  • Orphanage Attendant

Other Characters:

  • Miss Lovewell, orphanage worker
  • Mickey, orphan

Locations:

Items:

  • Merlin's Magic Cloak

Synopsis for Wonder Boy: "Rescuing the South American Expedition"

Wonder Boy encounters a weeping newsboy whose father has gone missing on a South American expedition, and promises to go there and help him out. The next day at the docks, Wonder Boy gets some static from the passenger ship captain, and has to toss him about a bit to get him to take him aboard. One day into the trip the engines crap out and a violent storm comes up. Wonder Boy persuades the crew to hand him one end of an anchor chain, which he ties around himself, and dives off the bow, and swims, to South America, towing the ship behind him. One day later they have arrived at some tropical part of South America, and they go ashore. That night their camp is attacked by spear-wielding native warriors. Wonder Boy quickly and easily defeats them. As they flee, he follows them, to a cave in the base of a mountain. In the cave he finds a human sacrifice ritual going on, and recognizes the missing expedition members. He attacks the gathering with a really large boulder then with a big cement pole, and lays waste to the hostiles in short order, and locates the chief, and runs him through with his own spear. The expedition men are all freed, and a short time later they are back in the city in America where the story started, and the newsboy is reunited with his family.

Appearing in Wonder Boy: "Rescuing the South American Expedition"

Featured Characters

Antagonists:

  • South American Native Warriors (Chief dies.)

Other Characters:

  • newsboy
  • newsboy's father
  • other expedition members
  • steamship captain & crew

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • steamship to South America

Synopsis for Cyclone: "The Return of Amnozo"

Cyclone, Mary, and Mac explore their new world, and get separated. Cyclone and Mary accidentally discover a subterranean palace. Inside it they find an ornate mummy case, whose occupant sits up and returns to life. He calls himself Amnozo, the last of his race, and declares himself pleased to have seen the arrival of Planet X's new civilization. But he then uses trickery to trap Cyclone in an escape-proof death trap, and starts telling Mary about her future. About then, Murphy arrives with a squad of volunteers from the settlement, and invades Amnozo's palace. They set Cyclone free, but Amnozo makes one last try to kill everybody, with a weapon called the Blue Flame. Cyclone punches out Amnozo and turns off the Blue Flame.

The palace has an ancient library full of advanced scientific data, and Cyclone is very happy to get access to it.

Appearing in Cyclone: "The Return of Amnozo"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Mary, formerly Sue, formerly Joy Daye
  • Corporal Mac Murphy

Antagonists:

  • Amnozo

Other Characters:

  • volunteers from the settlement

Locations:

Items:

  • Blue Flame

Synopsis for Pen Miller: "Fifth Racket Witness Murdered"

A racketeer named Nuckles is in jail awaiting trial, but prosecution witnesses are disappearing one at a time. Pen Miller and Niki visit the City Jail and there they encounter Nuckle's lawyer, so they follow him as he leaves. They jump him in an alley and physically coerce the lawyer into squealing on his client, Nuckle. He gives them the address of a murder syndicate, in Greenhawk, and they turn him loose, but the panicky lawyer runs straight to Nuckle's boss's hangout, and tells on himself. His story infuriates Benny Slugesi, the boss, who has him chained to a slot machine and tossed off a pier.

Meanwhile Miller and Niki have found the murder syndicate, in Greenhawk, which has just abducted another State's witness. Miss Bystand violently rebuffs Benny's crude advances, and before he can retaliate, Pen and Niki burst into the cottage, and a quick fracas ends with two thugs knocked out and the boss having slunk away, and with Miller and Niki grabbing all the business records they can carry, along with Miss Bystand, and leaving. But then Pen and Niki return into the hide-out and there's some further fighting, during which the Police are called, and the fight-losing thugs try to flee the hideout by stealing Miller's car, but Benny the boss had just got done planting a bomb in that car, so they're killed. The Greenhawk police then arrive and arrest Benny Slugesi.

Appearing in Pen Miller: "Fifth Racket Witness Murdered"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Niki, Asian valet

Antagonists:

  • Benny Slugesi, mob leader (arrested)
  • Nuckle, accused racketeer (awaiting trial)
    • his lawyer (Dies)
    • murder syndicate from Greenhawk (some or all die)

Other Characters:

  • Miss Bystand
  • Greenhawk Police

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • Pen Miller's sedan
  • Benny Slugesi's sedan

Synopsis for Paul Bunyan: "Olsen's Revenge"

Paul hires a brute named Olsen who beats and terrorizes an old prospector. Paul helps out the old prospector, fires Olsen, fights Olsen, and drives him away. Olsen returns the next day with an airplane and a machine gun. Bunyan uproots a big tree, rares back, and just javelins it right into the plane, smacking it right out of the sky; it crashes and burns.

But back at camp, the old prospector has died too, leaving Paul a small sack of gold and a map. Paul sends the gold into town for the poor town folk, and prepares to spend the next day prospecting for gold!

Appearing in Paul Bunyan: "Olsen's Revenge"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Olsen (Dies)

Other Characters:

  • old prospector (Dies)

Locations:

  • North Woods

Vehicles:

  • open-cockpit monoplane w/ machine gun (Destroyed)

Synopsis for Kid Patrol: "The Prince and the Pauper: 1940"

Spunky and Percy swap clothes, and some kidnappers grab Spunky by mistake, and Sunshine too. They stash the boys in an unfinished store room at their secluded hide-out and leave them unsupervised. Sunshine and Spunky escape. Percy meanwhile alerts Officer Pat and the Kid Patrol, and Sunshine meets up with them. Soon the bad guys are outsmarted and outfought, and the cops are on their way. Percy joins the Kid Patrol.

Appearing in Kid Patrol: "The Prince and the Pauper: 1940"

Featured Characters:

  • Kid Patrol
    • Teddy
    • George Washington Abraham Lincoln "Sunshine" Jones
    • Porky
    • Percy (First appearance) (Joins team)
    • Spunky
    • Suzy

Supporting Characters:

  • Officer Pat Malone

Antagonists:

  • Duke
    • his gang

Locations:

  • New York City Area
    • Lower East Side,
      • Waterfront Street = Officer Malone's Beat
    • secluded hideout

Vehicles:

  • getaway car

Notes

  • In Cyclone, the former Planet Vito is now called "Planet X," and Sue (formerly Joy) is now called "Mary." Corporal Mac Murphy is introduced but will not return next episode.
  • Kid Dixon meets Real World boxing champion Jack Dempsey.
    • Cal Noddin wears a boutonnière and affects a monocle plus a long cigarette holder. Next issue his name changes to "Plootz."
    • Jim Slick is in the entourage. Next issue he's absent.
  • Kid Patrol
    • Sunshine breaks the Fourth Wall in the story's last panel, to announce that Percy won't be with the team in their next adventure, because he's headed out to Hollywood.
  • In England, Prop Powers wins a fistfight with a pair of Airport Police and flees the country in a stolen airliner. He later returns and things are smoothed over.
  • Sally O'Neil lives and works in New York City, per the caption in panel 1 of page 1.
  • Also featured in this issue of National Comics were:

Trivia


See Also


Links and References

Batman 0585
DC Bullet 2024

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