National Comics #8 is an issue of the series National Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1941.
Synopsis for Uncle Sam: "Spy With Two Faces"
The Emperor of an ambitious and warlike Oriental nation dispatches an Anglo-Oriental spy, Yoritomo "James" Rawlins, on a mission to the West Coast of America. He carries bogus credentials, authorizing him to take charge of the Supply Department at the British Relief Headquarters.
Far from this coastal city, out in the American West, near the main line of the Pacific Railroad, are Uncle Sam and Buddy Smith, working on improving Buddy's sneaking technique. A fast freight train rolls by, pulling a long string of boxcars, until a devastating explosion wrecks the train, right before their eyes! They investigate. The derailed freight cars have somehow caught fire, and Sam throws each of them into a nearby lake, while Buddy pulls the dazed engineer out of the toppled locomotive's cab. The freight had all been food and ammunition, destined for Britain. Buddy spots two guys carrying kerosene cans, and Unc encourages him to track them down; he does so and soon the two are cornered. They kill themselves with knives to avoid being made to talk.
Uncle Sam hastens to the loading yard, where more British Relief trains are being assembled. On a loading platform, he randomly encounters Yoritomo Rawlins. They converse, and Sam grows quickly and completely suspicious of this monocled aristocrat, and when a nearby train gets moving, Sam grabs the loudly protesting Rawlins and loads him, and himself, aboard the caboose. He leads Rawlins on an extensive search of the lengthy train, hoisting heavy crates out of the way and otherwise making Rawlins extremely nervous. Eventually the sweating spy blurts out that it's almost time for the bomb to go off! It's in the first car, and there's no time to ... Uncle Sam jumps off the train, sprints forward, jumps back aboard, finds the bomb, and jumps back off with the bomb in his arms. It goes off, but Sam is as unruffled as always. Left alone in a boxcar, Rawlins pulls out a knife to perform Hari Kari but then chickens out.
Several miles farther down the track, a back-up plan is in effect, with an armed gang waiting in case the bomb failed to stop the train. They use a phony signal to flag down the train. When they meet Rawlins, they don't recognize him, or believe his story, and they shoot him. Sam hears the shots and races to the scene, then quickly demolishes the gang in a flurry of fisticuffs.
Appearing in Uncle Sam: "Spy With Two Faces"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Hirohito
- "James" Yoritomo Rawlins (adopts a monocle) (Dies)
- his sabotage gang (two die by Hari Kari)
- Mrs. Rawlins
- "James" Yoritomo Rawlins (adopts a monocle) (Dies)
Other Characters:
- John Bull (Mentioned only)
- British Relief Receptionist
- Mrs. Chitterly, British Relief Manager
- Joe, Train Engineer
Locations:
- large U.S. West Coast city
- British Relief Headquarters
- Oriental Section
- Freight Yards
- Pacific Railroad Main Line
Vehicles:
- Fast Freight Train (wrecked)
- Fast Freight Train
Synopsis for Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "Broadway Flossie"
Sally's boss sends her to the Women's Penitentiary, under cover as a convict, to attach herself to the notorious Broadway Flossie, who is soon to be released. NYPD wants to know some things about Flossie. Over the next six weeks, Sally works her way into Flossie's confidence, then they are both released. Flossie's boyfriend Tony picks them up in a station wagon and drives them to the Old Casino Theatre, where her gang has been hiding out.
That evening, Sally's first gang job is to seemingly-accidentally meet a man sitting alone in a night club. She flirts him up a little, and he starts storytelling. It turns out that this guy is the witness that fingered Broadway Flossie, years earlier, sending her off for a long stretch in prison. Meanwhile the other gang members have followed Sally into the club. Sally figures out what's going on, and carry/walks this drunken sot out of the club, pours him into a car, and drives away with him. They go back to the theater, and the gang arrives in a second car, then follows them inside. While no-one is looking, Sally trips the drunk man into an oversized stage-prop trunk, then finds a payphone and calls the cops. Sally has a conversation with Flossie, in which Flossie gets wise to her double-cross, and Sally punches her out, but the three punks are on the scene, so she disarms one of them and uses his rod to cover the others. She arrests them, and some police quickly arrive to back her up, but Flossie slips backstage and climbs a ladder into the flies and rigging. She misses Sally with a dropped sandbag, and tries to throw the theater's main electrical switch, but Sally beats her to it, and lights up the whole place, leaving Tony and the punks no chance to escape. Soon they're all in a paddy wagon and headed downtown.
Appearing in Sally O'Neil, Policewoman: "Broadway Flossie"
Featured Characters:
- Sally O'Neil, as "Suzy"
Supporting Characters:
- Police Captain
- Pat O'Neil (Sally's brother)
Antagonists:
- Broadway Flossie
- Tony
- their gang, three punks
Other Characters:
- unnamed witness
- many police
Locations:
- New York City
- Police HQ
- Women's Penitentiary
- Old Casino Theater
- Night Club
Synopsis for Kid Patrol: "The Skating Contest"
Jerad Whooperwool has amazing skating talent but Sunshine Jones has even more amazing skating talent, so the Kid Patrol wins a crate full of oatmeal, much to their own chagrin.
Appearing in Kid Patrol: "The Skating Contest"
Featured Characters:
- Kid Patrol
- Teddy
- George Washington Abraham Lincoln "Sunshine" Jones
- Porky
Antagonists:
- Jerad Whooperwool
Other Characters:
- Prof. Knats
- Mr. Crabie
- Puff Oats company president
Locations:
- Lower East Side of New York City
- the slums
- the slums
Synopsis for Prop Powers: "South American Sabotage Scheme"
Prop and Lank are assigned to a new Naval Air Base in Latin America. After hours they do some drinking at a local Cantina, where one attractive hostess attaches herself to Lank, with flattery and attention, while a smooth-talking man in a tuxedo offers a lot of money to Prop, for some important information. The stranger and the hostess step out of the room; he hands her a bank note; she stuffs it into her stocking, and leaves. Then Prop and Lank follow this guy upstairs, and meet his gang. The boss wants to know the numbers of some planes which are soon being shipped to Britain. Prop plays along, but when they return to base, Lank is shocked and scoldy about this development, but he quiets down when Prop proceeds directly to the Base Commandant's office, and reports everything he's just now learned about the spy gang. Also Prop has a plan, which he pitches to the C.O., who approves it before even hearing it.
Late that night, Prop and Lank repaint their plane, giving it a different number. The next day, during a flight training exercise, one plane's engine fails and it falls to the ground; pilot and radioman bail out safely. That night, Prop and Lank again change the number on their plane. The next day another exercise begins. Before Prop can take off, one mechanic runs up to the plane to warn him not do so, because that plane has been "fixed." Prop and Lank grab him and stuff him into the cockpit, between their seats, and take off. He does an aerial stunt to frighten the perp, who soon squeals. Then Prop reveals that he'd been changing the number on this plane, and that it wasn't the one that the saboteur thought he'd "fixed."
Prop again reports to the C.O., and tells him where to find the saboteur gang. A detachment of bluejackets is sent there, accompanied by Powers and Loomis, and they burst into the hideout with rifles up. Prop and Lank do some punching, on the sturdier gangsters, but most of them surrender right away. The leader attempts to escape in a speedboat, but Loomis has brought his squirrel rifle; he waits until the fleeing boat is backlit by the rising moon, seemingly out of range, and nails the saboteur with a single shot.
Appearing in Prop Powers: "South American Sabotage Scheme"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Lank Loomis
Antagonists:
- Anita's Nightclub Boss (Dies)
- Anita
- Fifth Columnist Gang
- corrupt USN mechanic
Other Characters:
- Base Commandant
- Navy fliers
- detachment of Navy riflemen
Locations:
- Latin America
- U.S. Naval Base
- nearby town
- surrounding countryside
Vehicles:
- USN Curtiss Falcon dive bombers (all bright red)
Synopsis for Kid Dixon: "Four-Man Fight"
Some sports-cheating gamblers get out-thought and out-fought by Kid Dixon.
Appearing in Kid Dixon: "Four-Man Fight"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- B. Galsworthy "Bottle" Topps, Dixon's Manager
Antagonists:
- Gorgy Hill
- Sports Racketeer Gang
Locations:
- Dixon's training camp
- Arena
Synopsis for Quicksilver: "The Rocket Destructor"
At the U.S. Army's Testing Grounds, a revolutionary new weapon is tested, a running, repeating, rocket-powered bomb. It works well, but the inventor encounters only delay and frustration when it's time for him to get paid. A sleek financier named Albert Cruch shows up with a big stack of cash, and buys the invention on the spot.
The next day Cruch and his gang use the device to commit a rapid series of extremely destructive bank robberies. Quicksilver shows up and intercepts it, overrides the controls, and steers it into the river, then swims away expecting it to explode. He warns away all the barges and tugboats in the area, and then the Rocket Destructor does explode. Quicksilver dashes from one crime scene to another, leaving a large number of punched-out bank robbers strewn about the city. Then he charges into Al Cruch's office; Cruch flings some acid at him and misses; Quicksilver punches him until he falls down, then leaves before the police arrive.
Appearing in Quicksilver: "The Rocket Destructor"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Albert Cruch
- his bank-robber gang
Other Characters:
- Rocket Destructor's Inventor
- Army Purchasing Officers
- Barge Captain
Locations:
- Army Testing Grounds
- New York City
- A. Cruch, Inc. Offices
- many banks (Damaged)
- Flatiron Building (Damaged)
- Waterfront
Items:
- Rocket Destructor R.D. No. 1 (rocket-powered repeating bomb) (Destroyed)
- $500,000 in cash
Synopsis for Wonder Boy: "The Bridge Busters"
Oskar Kruber and his nationwide sabotage gang use explosives to damage a series of railroad bridges, endangering train crews and their freight. Wonder Boy stumbles onto this, and props up one broken bridge long enough for a train to get across it, then races ahead to another damaged bridge, and holds it together long enough for the train to get by. Aboard a small launch anchored near the base of the bridge, two idiots with rifles give away their position by shooting at Wonder Boy. He dives into the river, then plays a super-stunt prank on them that hurls them out of their wheelhouse, before konking their heads together. Wonder Boy then searches the launch's cabin, and finds the address of the headquarters of the sabotage gang.
Dragging his two prisoners with him, Wonder Boy goes there, and confronts the sabotage boss, Oskar Kruber. He orders this pompous oaf to call in all of his agents from all over the country. When sneering laughter breaks out instead, Wonder Boy slaps the boss and his stooges around until they comply. Spies are called in from all 48 states plus South America. Wonder Boy is kept busy for the next few days, ambushing and capturing these spies, then he calls in the police, and they bring along the FBI. Many saboteurs and spies are arrested, and when the authorities want to make a big deal of it, Wonder Boy blows them off and heads out into the country to play marbles with some other boys.
Appearing in Wonder Boy: "The Bridge Busters"
Featured Characters
Antagonists:
- Oskar Kruber
- his nationwide sabotage gang
Other Characters:
- two boys
Locations:
- series of railroad bridges (damaged)
- Kruber's Office
Vessels:
- small motor launch
Synopsis for Merlin: "The Wisdom of Ancient Greece"
In 1941, in one of the world's great museums, the Oracle of Delphi overhears Merlin's yearning for world peace, and she appears before him, then conveys him to her temple in Ancient Greece. There, she empowers him with time-handling super powers, which he uses to displace three Axis tyrants, across time and space. First they visit a contemporary battlefield in 1941, then to the Temple of Delphi, where the Oracle herself dispatches the dictators, one by one, into the clutches of three ancient mythological monsters. Merlin then returns to the 20th Century, where all armed conflict has ceased, and he exhorts a cheering throng to ensure that war and strife do not return to the world.
Appearing in Merlin: "The Wisdom of Ancient Greece"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Cyclops
- The Minotaur
- Giant Octopus
Locations:
- Greece
- Crete
- Minotaur's Labyrinth
- Cyclops' Cave
- Delphi
- Temple of Delphi
- Mount Olympus
- Crete
Eras:
- World War II (1941)
- Mythological Times
Concepts
Items:
- Merlin's Magic Cloak
- Oracle's Crystal Globe
Synopsis for Pen Miller: "The Furbish Line Disasters"
A shipping magnate named Mr. Fusing buys a money-losing steamship line, and over the next three months, a series of Furbish Line freighters are sunk. Fusing's story is that this is due to Foreign submarines. To Pen Miller, this looks suspicious, so he gets himself hired by the Maritime Insurance Underwriter's Office to look into it. Pen visits Fusing's mansion, and Niki follows a suspect, from the mansion, to the Furbish Line piers. Some hoods jump Niki, and he tosses them about briskly, but he loses sight of the suspect in the process. Pen's conversation with Mr. Fusing leads to Miller's discovery of a radio transceiver, prompting one hoodlum to pull a handgun on him, and thus get punched out. Miller takes his leave, as Fusing furiously slaps and berates the hoodlum.
The next day Pen and Niki are on the pier, conferring with other detectives from the M.I.U.O., as another Furbish freighter prepares to depart. The detectives have already searched it, finding no tampering nor any bombs. Miller meets with the ship's captain, and draws him an image of the suspicious character from yesterday. The captain recognizes the cartoon as being the same Harbor Pilot who just happens to be handling this ship's departure, right now. Pen and Niki find the Pilot leaving the ship's radio room; Niki follows him again while Miller checks the radio. Niki finds a bomb with a radio detonator; they take it to the pier; Miller races to the Harbor Pilot's tugboat, and boards it. The whole crew turns out to repel this boarder; Miller nonchalantly punches out every one of them.
Out in the harbor, the freighter has stopped, waiting for the tugboat that isn't coming. The Harbor Pilot, now stranded aboard the ship, gets increasingly agitated, until 3:00 when he starts to panic, and blurts out what amounts to a confession. Meanwhile Pen Miller returns to Fusing's mansion, punches his way past the same hood as yesterday, and braces Fusing with a handgun, then steps over to the radio transmitter, and uses it to remotely detonate the confiscated bomb, which Miller had brought with him, and left in a field not far from the house. Miller arrests Fusing and turns him over to the cops. The Pilot also confesses, and Miller goes home to work on the story about it.
Appearing in Pen Miller: "The Furbish Line Disasters"
Featured Characters:
- Pen Miller, the Cartoonist Detective
Supporting Characters:
- Niki, his valet
Antagonists:
- Mr. Fusing
- bodyguard
- corrupt harbor pilot
- his tugboat crew
Other Characters:
- Insurance Underwriter
Locations:
- New York City
- Waterfront
- Furbish Line, freight company, offices and piers
- Maritime Insurance Underwriter's Office
- Fusing's mansion
- Waterfront
Vessels:
- Furbish Line cargo ships (some sunk)
- Foreign submarines (fictitious)
- Harbor Pilot Tugboat
Synopsis for Paul Bunyan: "Paul Bunyan Joins the Army"
Paul Bunyan joins the Army. His fellow loggers want to join up also, and some already have, but Paul persuades the rest of them to stay in the timber business. Plenty of lumber will be needed for the war effort, after all.
He encounters a fifth-columnist, and later defeats an invading armada by hurling artillery rounds at them.
Appearing in Paul Bunyan: "Paul Bunyan Joins the Army"
Featured Characters:
- Paul Bunyan, of the Northwest
Supporting Characters:
- Bunyan's Boss
- Lumberjack Crew: Axel, Cookee, others
Antagonists:
- Fifth Columnist coffee poisoner
Other Characters:
- Olie Hansen, lumberjack turned Army cook
Locations:
- North Woods
- Army Camp
Vehicles:
- Japanese Warships (some are destroyed)
Synopsis for Jack and Jill: "The Beauty Shop Murder"
A girl gets beaten to death in her own apartment by a man wearing a large heavy strangely-shaped ring, which leaves distinctive marks on the body. Jack checks out the scene and describes the wounds to Jill, and shows her a coupon taken from the dead girl's hand, the closest thing to a clue that he's got. Jill rescues this coupon from the trash and visits the beauty shop that issued it; while she's in the salon, Jill overhears a conversation, and spots a man wearing a large heavy strangely-shaped ring. She follows him, and describes him to Jack. They watch the shop until the man emerges, and according to Jack, this guy resembles a suspected spy named J.J. Burton. Jack starts to follow Burton's car, but eavesdropper Jill already knows where he's going (the Federal Building), so they get there ahead of him. Burton tries to leave a bomb-laden briefcase in the building, but Jack nabs it, and him. The briefcase gets thrown into a pond and the spy gets carted back to the beauty shop, where three more spies are caught.
Afterward as usual, to the great annoyance of Jill (who has, as usual, done all of the heavy thinking in this case), Jack tries to take credit for the bust.
Appearing in Jack and Jill: "The Beauty Shop Murder"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Officer Pat Clancy
- three cops
Antagonists:
- J.J. Burton
- one beautician and two other spies
Locations:
- Midtown Apartment
- Does' House
- Beauty Shoppe
- Federal Building
Notes
- First issue of National Comics for Jack and Jill, most recently seen in Hit Comics #7, the previous month.
- Starting this month, Chuck Mazoujian replaces Nick Cardy on the art.
- First issue for Arthur Peddy on Merlin the Magician, replacing Dan Zolnerowich. Next issue Alex Blum replaces him.
- In this story Merlin brings the Second World War to an early and peaceful resolution. WWII history was very different, in the Quality Universe, from that of other parallel worlds.
- Paul Bunyan can throw 2,000-pound artillery shells far enough and accurately enough to destroy enemy warships.
- Bunyan is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for this feat, as revealed next issue.
- Bunyan's rank, before nor after this exploit, is not revealed.
- Pen Miller's valet Niki is quite proficient at jiu jitsu.
- First issue for Arthur Peddy on Prop Powers, replacing Witmer Williams.
- Prop Powers's rank is not revealed. Neither is that of his sidekick Lank Loomis. Their unit is also not identified.
- Quicksilver breaks the Fourth Wall in the last panel, to make a wisecrack at the expense of one of the cops.
- Albert Cruch might not wear a monocle, but he's got the next-best accessory, a long cigarette-holder.
- Also appearing in this issue of National Comics were:
- Windy Breeze by Tom Taylor
- Yankee Doodle Boy: "Kidnapped In the Sky" (text story) by Anthony Lamb
Trivia
- Jack and Jill with art by Chuck Mazoujian is credited to "Lowell Riggs".
- Kid Dixon with art by George Tuska is credited to "Bob Reynolds".
- Kid Patrol with art by Charles Nicholas is credited to "Dan Wilson".
- Merlin the Magician by Toni Blum and Arthur Peddy is credited to "Lance Blackwood".
- Paul Bunyan with art by John Celardo is credited to "Storey Weaver".
- Prop Powers with art by Arthur Peddy is credited to "Lynn Byrd".
- Sally O'Neil, Policewoman by Toni Blum and Chuck Mazoujian is credited to "Frank Kearn".
- Wonder Boy by Toni Blum and Nick Cardy is credited to "Jerry Maxwell".
- Tony DiPreta signed his Windy Breeze gag strip as "Tom Taylor".
- Toni Blum signed her Yankee Doodle Boy text story as "Anthony Lamb".
See Also