Come on, Sue, let's get out of here quick!
- — Cyclone, on his way out
National Comics #4 is an issue of the series National Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1940.
Contents
- 1 Synopsis for Uncle Sam "The Floating Islands"
- 2 Appearing in Uncle Sam "The Floating Islands"
- 3 Synopsis for Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "Barry Gilmore Returns"
- 4 Appearing in Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "Barry Gilmore Returns"
- 5 Synopsis for Kid Patrol: "The Paperweight Championship"
- 6 Appearing in Kid Patrol: "The Paperweight Championship"
- 7 Synopsis for Prop Powers: "Plane Sabotage"
- 8 Appearing in Prop Powers: "Plane Sabotage"
- 9 Synopsis for Pen Miller: "Steckar's Insurance Racket"
- 10 Appearing in Pen Miller: "Steckar's Insurance Racket"
- 11 Synopsis for Wonder Boy: "Dinosaurs Out West"
- 12 Appearing in Wonder Boy: "Dinosaurs Out West"
- 13 Synopsis for Cyclone: "The Man from 1940"
- 14 Appearing in Cyclone: "The Man from 1940"
- 15 Synopsis for Kid Dixon: "A Bout of Homesickness"
- 16 Appearing in Kid Dixon: "A Bout of Homesickness"
- 17 Synopsis for Paul Bunyan: "Stone's Big Score"
- 18 Appearing in Paul Bunyan: "Stone's Big Score"
- 19 Synopsis for Merlin the Magician: "Forty Thieves"
- 20 Appearing in Merlin the Magician: "Forty Thieves"
- 21 Notes
- 22 Trivia
- 23 See Also
- 24 Links and References
Synopsis for Uncle Sam "The Floating Islands"
Appearing in Uncle Sam "The Floating Islands"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- unnamed Asian Navy
- Chief Officer
- ships, planes, platoons (some destroyed)
- Chief Officer
Locations:
- South Pacific Ocean
- Island of the High Command
- Coastal California
Vehicles:
- enemy artificial mobile islands, at least six (Destroyed)
- (combination troop bases and airplane transport centers)
- enemy 2-engine plane (w/ automatic controls) (& remote controls)
- U.S. Pacific Fleet
- enemy bombers & dive bombers, many squadrons (some destroyed)
Synopsis for Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "Barry Gilmore Returns"
Appearing in Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "Barry Gilmore Returns"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Jason
- his L.A. gang (packing Thompson guns)
- his Chicago gang: Cabbie, Joe, others
Other Characters:
- Barry Gilmore, movie star
- William Taylor, President of A.B.K. Company
- (packs a concealed handgun)
- LAPD cops
Locations:
- New York City
- LaGuardia Airport
- Los Angeles
- swanky nightclub
- Chicago
- Gray Star Building
Vehicles:
- "super transport plane"
- 2-prop-engine passenger liner, NYC to LA in 16 hours
- chartered sport plane
Synopsis for Kid Patrol: "The Paperweight Championship"
The "Paper-Weight Championship of the East Side" is fought, between "Sunshine" Jones, representing the Kid Patrol, and "Brass Knuckles" representing the Dead Street Boys. Despite some heavy cheating by the Dead Street Boys, Sunshine wins the bout.
Appearing in Kid Patrol: "The Paperweight Championship"
Featured Characters:
- Kid Patrol
- Teddy
- George Washington Abraham Lincoln "Sunshine " Jones
- Porky
- Spunky
- Suzy
Supporting Characters:
- Officer Pat Malone
Antagonists:
- Dead Street Boys
- Brass Knuckles
- Nip
- Tuck
Locations:
- Lower East Side, New York City
Synopsis for Prop Powers: "Plane Sabotage"
Appearing in Prop Powers: "Plane Sabotage"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Mr. Wallace, airline boss
- Wallace's transport company
- June, pilot (First appearance)
- Prop's pilot pals
- Wallace's transport company
Antagonists:
- Rival Air Firm President
- saboteur
- three security thugs
Other Characters:
- Ajax Company
- Police, lots of them
Locations:
- Wallace Air Port
- President Wallace's office
- testing grounds
- rival company's air plant
Vehicles:
- new transport plane (Destroyed)
- 6 engines, fixed landing gear
- Powers' fighter plane (Destroyed)
- 1 engine, fixed landing gear
- rival firm's leader's biplane (Destroyed)
- borrowed fighter plane
Synopsis for Pen Miller: "Steckar's Insurance Racket"
Appearing in Pen Miller: "Steckar's Insurance Racket"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Niki, Asian valet
- Pen's Publisher (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Joe Steckar
- Louie the Lout
- other henchman
Other Characters:
- John, Pen's friend
- Mary, John's wife
- Police Chief
Locations:
- New York City
- 144 Spruce Blvd., apartment building
- Pen's Publisher's Office
Vehicles:
- Steckar's sedan
Synopsis for Wonder Boy: "Dinosaurs Out West"
A small western town in the foothills of the Rockies is attacked, at night, by a pack of carnivorous dinosaurs. Wonder Boy grabs a rope and gets aboard one monster, and cowboys the rest of them out into the open country and away from the ravaged town. Out on the prairie he encounters a second pack of dinosaurs. It's a severely uneven contest, and Wonder Boy just mops up the area with the giant lizards. Some are lured into falling into a crevasse and some are bottled up in their own cave by an enormous boulder.
Some dinosaur eggs are left behind; one hatches; Wonder Boy adopts the baby dinosaur that emerges.
Appearing in Wonder Boy: "Dinosaurs Out West"
Featured Characters:
Other Characters:
- cowboys and town folks
Animals:
- broncos and other horses
- bulls and steers
- Dinosaurs
Locations:
- Rocky Mountains Foothills
- Bar-Q Ranch
- Rodeo
- small town
Items:
- eight unhatched dinosaur eggs
Synopsis for Cyclone: "The Man from 1940"
Cyclone and his mate use a rocketship to explore several asteroids which orbit about Planet X. On one such moonlet, they encounter a lone human, a deserter from World War II, who had improvised a rocketship and fled to this world, back in 1940. Something in the air on this tiny moon has kept him alive for all those years. Large carnivorous plants, leopard-like predators, and enormous one-eyed animals live on this planetoid, and the elderly survivor attempts to use these to murder Cyclone and his girl, but this fails, and the man ends up joining them and returning to Planet X to rejoin human society.
Appearing in Cyclone: "The Man from 1940"
Featured Characters:
- Cyclone (Final appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Sue, formerly Mary, formerly Sue, formerly Joy Daye
Antagonists:
- unnamed old deserter
Locations:
- Planet "X", formerly Planet "Vito"
- small asteroid orbiting Planet X
Vehicles:
- Cyclone's rocketship
Synopsis for Kid Dixon: "A Bout of Homesickness"
Appearing in Kid Dixon: "A Bout of Homesickness"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- B. Galsworthy "Bottle" Topps, Dixon's Manager
- Cal "Plootz" Noddin
Antagonists:
- "Tiger" Tom Griffin
Other Characters:
- Mrs. Higgins
- Katherine Higgins
- fight promoter
Locations:
- New York City
- Jersey City
- Dobbs' Gym
- waterfront saloon
- Higgins Farm
Synopsis for Paul Bunyan: "Stone's Big Score"
An extremely unscrupulous rival logging company rigs up an artificial log jam, stopping Paul's company's logs from getting downstream. Paul breaks up the jam single-handedly and can readily do so again, so the outlaw loggers get ready to deal with him, what ever way they have to. One logger is shocked by this, quits and gets fired in the same conversation, then is shot in the back on his way out, too. He lives long enough to roll down the mountainside to Bunyan's company's camp, where Paul and Cookee fix him up as best they can. He rats out his boss, Stone, and his gang.
Next day Paul's loggers find a big crater, where their ice road has been blown up. Paul fixes this by using a very long logging chain to lasso a nearby mountain top, topple it, and drag it to the crater. Shortly after that the shooting starts, and one thug with a tommy gun tries to use it on Bunyan, who grabs it away from him and wraps it around his head. But another hood draws a bead on Babe, the Blue Ox, and tells Paul it's time to stop fighting or else. But once it becomes clear that these creeps are going to shoot Babe anyway, Paul loses his temper and throws a large log cabin at them, crushing them. Afterwards Paul feels bad about doing so.
Appearing in Paul Bunyan: "Stone's Big Score"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Babe, the Blue Ox
- North American Timber Company
- Charlie, logger
- Chuck, logger
- Cookee, cook
- Pete, logger
Antagonists:
- Stone (Dies)
- his gang (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Johnson, Stone Company deserter
Locations:
- North Woods
Synopsis for Merlin the Magician: "Forty Thieves"
A wealthy British lady's valuable gem is stolen from a locked safe. Merlin magically ascertains that the gem has probably been returned to its original owner in Arabia. He walks into a slum area of the city and encounters a big thief beating up a small thief, magically turns the tables between them, then recruits the small thief to lead his gang on a trip to recover the stolen gem. The gang all stand on Merlin's cloak and he transports them and himself to Arabia in 500 BC. There, Merlin's forty thieves surprise and outfight Ali Baba's forty thieves, and take their places. Merlin conducts them to the fabled Cave of Ali Baba. Merlin loses and regains his cloak, gets trapped in a plugged cave, and deals with an insurrection among his thieves, along the way to finding and retrieving the Ophar Jewel, back to 20th Century London.
Appearing in Merlin the Magician: "Forty Thieves"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Limey Joe, bully
- Whitehall Boys, 40 Cockney thieves
- 40 Arabian thieves
Other Characters:
- Lady Hartley, gem owner
- Scotland Yard, baffled
Locations:
Items:
- Merlin's Magic Cloak
- Ophar Jewel
Vehicles:
- Merlin's Magic Cloak
Concepts:
Notes
- Last issue for Cyclone by Tony Rawlins.
- In four issues, Cyclone's girlfriend's name changed three times, the primary villain's name changed once, and the planet where they lived changed names once.
- Kid Dixon gets knocked out in the ring.
- The character who introduced himself as "Cal Noddin" last issue, with the boutonnière and the monocle and the long cigarette holder, is now introduced by Bottle Topps as "Plootz."
- Jim Slick is absent.
- Pen Miller gets head-konked unconscious, with a club.
- Prop Powers gets shot down, with an antiaircraft cannon, and crashes, then is stunned with a blow to the head. Combat aviation is dangerous.
- Sally O'Neil's movie-star boyfriend Barry Gilmore was introduced in National Comics #2.
- Uncle Sam "The Floating Islands"
- Several cities and military bases on the U.S. West Coast are heavily damaged in bombing raids. Afterward this is never mentioned again.
- The enemy nation is never named. Enemy insignia is a black not-quite-swastika, on a white background; it appears on their many aircraft. Enemy aircraft are generic warplanes except the dive bombers, which look like Stukas. All officers and crewmen are bald, and all speak with military formality and no comical accents.
- Also featured in this issue of National Comics were:
- Windy Breeze by Tom Taylor
Trivia
- Starting this issue, Bill Newcombe signed his Windy Breeze strip as "Tom Taylor."
See Also
Links and References
Summary Needed |
- Comics Published by Quality Comics
- Everett M. Arnold/Executive Editor
- Lou Fine/Cover Artist
- Will Eisner/Writer
- Toni Blum/Writer
- Charles Nicholas/Penciler
- Clark Williams/Penciler
- Klaus Nordling/Writer
- Henry Kiefer/Penciler
- George Tuska/Penciler
- Herman Bolstein/Writer
- Dan Zolnerowich/Penciler
- Dan Zolnerowich/Inker
- Will Eisner/Editor
- Chuck Mazoujian/Penciler
- Chuck Mazoujian/Inker
- Charles Nicholas/Inker
- Clark Williams/Inker
- Klaus Nordling/Penciler
- Klaus Nordling/Inker
- John Celardo/Penciler
- John Celardo/Inker
- Henry Kiefer/Inker
- George Tuska/Inker
- Cyclone (Quality Universe)/Quotes
- Uncle Sam (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Buddy Smith (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Mongolia/Appearances
- Pacific Ocean/Appearances
- California/Appearances
- San Francisco/Appearances
- Sally O'Neil (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- New York City/Appearances
- Los Angeles/Appearances
- Chicago/Appearances
- Kid Patrol (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Prop Powers (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Pen Miller (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Wonder Boy (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Dinosaurs/Appearances
- Cyclone (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Vito/Appearances
- Danny Dixon (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Jersey City/Appearances
- Paul Bunyan (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Babe the Blue Ox (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- Jock Kellogg (Quality Universe)/Appearances
- London/Appearances
- Saudi Arabia/Appearances
- Time Travel/Appearances
- Bill Newcombe/Writer
- Bill Newcombe/Penciler
- Comics
- 1940
- 1940, October
- 1940, August (Publication)
- National Comics Vol 1
- Golden-Age
- Colourist Credit Needed
- Letterer Credit Needed
- Articles in need of summaries