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"Uncle Sam: "The Threat of Boss McFlague"": Corrupt political boss Hank McFlague nominates Henry Sneal to run for Mayor, in a major U.S. city. He and his goons crash the rival candidate's meeting, and make threatening remarks. The rival, Honest Bill Williams, is a recent immigrant from a Europea

Quote1 She's fainted ... How silly .. Just like a woman! Quote2
Wonder Boy

National Comics #9 is an issue of the series National Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1941.

Synopsis for Uncle Sam: "The Threat of Boss McFlague"

Corrupt political boss Hank McFlague nominates Henry Sneal to run for Mayor, in a major U.S. city. He and his goons crash the rival candidate's meeting, and make threatening remarks. The rival, Honest Bill Williams, is a recent immigrant from a European dictatorship, and he doesn't back down and neither do the rally's attendees. McFlague's hoods burn down some local houses, and this only stiffens their resolve. But finally, on election day, some voters are actually gunned down right at the polling place, and this prompts a major exodus of low-income immigrants, from this completely corrupt city. Out on a country road, this sad parade encounters Uncle Sam, who scolds them for giving up on their own city. This changes some minds, and many of the refugees return to town.

Uncle Sam and Buddy Smith visit Hank McFlague's office, pretty much barging in and giving a blunt warning, but Boss McFlague glibly blows him off, with some worn-out platitudes. This infuriates Buddy, but Unc admonishes him and they leave. Sam sets out on a door-to-door canvas of the district, but the polling place murders have really made an impression. Unc is stumped; he can't force people to vote so what can he do? Buddy gets an idea, runs to a local ballfield, and recruits two teams of youthful baseball players, to take action. Marching and singing, these kids join up with Uncle Sam, and they head back into the immigrant district, to spend the day escorting voters to the polls.

To stop them, McFlague sends out a demolition team to blow up a small bridge. The boys march onto the knocked-down bridge anyway, then Uncle Sam lifts it over his head and wades across the creek. On the other bank, there is a brief battle, with tommygun wielding thugs losing to baseball bat wielding kids, and then Uncle Sam joins the fight. He makes short work of the thugs, and the voters are free to march to the polls, which they do.

This story is picked up by radio news agencies across the nation, creating an enormous audience for this city's municipal election results. Honest Bill Williams wins handily, to nationwide applause. Hank McFlague and his stooges are driven out of town.

Appearing in Uncle Sam: "The Threat of Boss McFlague"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Boss Hank McFlague, party boss
    • his henchmen
  • Henry Sneal, candidate

Other Characters:

  • Honest Bill Williams, candidate
  • his immigrant constituents
  • baseball youth gang

Locations:

  • a major city
    • Sneal's district
    • 14th Element, across the tracks from Sneal's district
    • polling place (murder scene)
    • City Hall


Synopsis for Sally O'Neil Policewoman: "The Case of Peter Cawley"

Mike, Sally, and Tom O'Neil are cleaning up the family apartment, under Mama O'Neil's stern supervision, when her neighbor Mary Cawley arrives with a problem. Her high-spirited son Peter has been skipping school and hanging out with bad company. Sally immediately sets out on foot, to have a talk with the lad. She encounters a kid who tells her where to find him, but as she approaches, she sees Peter being stuffed into a car by some hoods, who drive away with him. She grabs a taxi and tells the driver to follow; the driver refuses; Sally points a pistol at him; he complies. Meanwhile in the gang car, Tony Spearo is leaning on young Petey Cawley, to take part in his next planned robbery, by threatening Mrs. Cawley. Sally's cab driver is actually part of Spearo's gang, and he tips them off by honking at them. Spearo's car ducks down a dark alley. It leads to a warehouse. Sally has the driver stop, gets out, and advances on foot. The gang, expecting this, shoots her; she gets a bullet in the right shoulder, and falls down. She struggles down the sidewalk to a police call box, and calls for help.

Spearo and his driver send Peter into the warehouse via a ventilator shaft. In a dark storage room, a night watchman catches him, ties him up, and falls asleep. Half an hour goes by, then the gangsters lose patience and drive away, planning to make an example for Pete by harming Mrs. Cawley. Just as they're leaving, Mike and Tom arrive in a squad car. Peter yells to them from a window and Sally knocks at the door, loudly enough to awaken the watchman; the three cops take Peter away. He tells them about Spearo's threat against his mother; they race to the apartment building, dash inside, and start shooting it out with Spearo's boys. Soon they're duking it out hand to hand, and the cops win. Peter is reunited with his worried mother and resolves to go back to school and straighten out.

Appearing in Sally O'Neil Policewoman: "The Case of Peter Cawley"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Mike O'Neil (Sally's brother)
  • Mrs. O'Neil (Sally's mother)
  • Tom O'Neil (Sally's brother)

Antagonists:

  • Tony Spearo
    • his gang: Louis the cabbie, others

Other Characters:

  • Peter Cawley
  • Mrs. Cawley
  • Shorty, neighborhood kid
  • night watchman

Locations:

Synopsis for Kid Patrol: "The Camping Trip"

Teddy, Porky, and Sunshine go camping in the woods. Sunshine gets a good scare from encountering an owl, then they all get a good scare from encountering a bear. That night they get less of a scare, when a human prowler shows up at their camp, and starts poking thru their stuff. Sunshine shoots him with a BB gun, and the prowler falls down, and get his head stuck in their cooking pot. The boys take him in to the nearest town's police station. The sheriff's not in just now but the deputy on duty tugs the pot off of the prisoner's head to see if he's wanted or not. But oops, it's the sheriff and he's hopping mad, so the boys get jailed.

Their cellmate is mean old jailbird, with a metal file and a harmonica, and he extorts the boys into filing out the cell window bars while he covers the noise with his harmonica. Then he leaves, and the boys start yelling. In run the deputies and after some fumbling and bumbling they get into the cell and look out the window. They find their would-be escapee dangling by the ankle from one window bar, courtesy of Sunshine's quick and sneaky rope work.

The sheriff is very pleased and releases the boys, but some unfortunate remarks are made, and he locks them right back up again. Also the old jailbird, from his new cell, keeps them awake all night with his very bad harmonica playing.

Appearing in Kid Patrol: "The Camping Trip"

Featured Characters:

  • Kid Patrol
    • Teddy
    • George Washington Abraham Lincoln "Sunshine" Jones
    • Porky

Antagonists:

  • jailbird

Other Characters:

  • Sheriff
    • Fred, Deputy

Locations:

  • the woods
  • small town
    • jail

Synopsis for Prop Powers: "The Fisherman Spy"

Prop and Lank are assigned to a new U.S.Naval Air Base on Bermuda. After one uneventful patrol, they ride on bicycles to the beach, where they'd earlier spotted a very unsuccessful surf fisherman. They check this guy out and decide he's up to something bad, grab him, stuff him into their dive bomber, and fly away. Prop does aerial stunts until the suspect is almost airsick, but he doesn't tell them anything. They land in a remote corner of the U.S. airfield, unload him, and watch him stagger away. Prop is confident that he's been scared straight. They're no longer watching when he staggers his way to a shack in the woods and meets up with his radio-operator accomplice, and tells him what he knows.

The next day's aerial patrol is ambushed by an unmarked fighter plane; Powers shoots it down. Two more fighters arrive on the scene; he out-maneuvers them and shoots down both. He spots a demolition team approaching a U.S. ammo depot, and attacks them, herding them toward the U.S. camp. U.S. ground troops arrive and engage the saboteurs, capturing at least five of them alive.

Appearing in Prop Powers: "The Fisherman Spy"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Lank Loomis

Antagonists:

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • U.S. Curtiss 5BC-2 dive-bomber
  • three unmarked fighter planes (bright red) (Destroyed)

Synopsis for Wonder Boy: "The Redrum Company"

In the warehouse district, on a whim, Wonder Boy loads a yardfull of heavy crates onto a truck, easily outworking a whole crew of freight handlers. As the truck pulls out, he hears a groan from one of the crates, so he chases, catches, and boards the departing truck, busts open the groaning crate, and finds a live man inside. This guy tells him the truckers are a murder gang called the Redrum Co. Meanwhile the truck backs up to the edge of a bridge, and dumps all the crates into the river. Wonder Boy rescues the man, leaves him with a doctor, and runs back to town.

The next morning he gets himself hired as an office boy at the Redrum Co. He does some sweeping up and snooping around, eavesdropping briefly on a conversation between the company's boss and Mr. Mitciv. Then Wonder Boy walks thru a door marked "Private," and falls down a dark shaft. He climbs back up to almost the top of it, then hangs there just under floor level. The Redrum boss walks Mr. Mitciv into the room above, then pushes him into the shaft. Wonder Boy catches Mitciv, then grabs the boss and flings him down the shaft, to land in a crate. Truck packers are standing by to load this crate into their truck, and they drive away towards the bridge. Wonder Boy races ahead of the truck, grabs its front bumper, and drags it to a police station, where he presents the crated murderer to the police, and promises to bring along some witnesses next.

Appearing in Wonder Boy: "The Redrum Company"

Featured Characters

Antagonists:

  • Redrum Co.

Other Characters:

  • Miss Cole
  • Mr. Mitciv

Locations:

  • Warehouse District

Synopsis for Quicksilver: "The Fifth Column Bombers"

A flying wedge of renegade fifth column bombers attacks the city, and Quicksilver intercepts them in mid-air. After an energetic aerial battle, the enemy aircraft are routed, and Quicksilver rides along as they retreat, across most of the continent, to their secret cavern base, in the Grand Canyon. He attacks the remaining pilots and their ground crew, and drops them into a pit, with a massive stalagmite atop them, then blows up the base.

Appearing in Quicksilver: "The Fifth Column Bombers"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Renegade Fifth Columnists

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • at least six single-engine bombers (bright red) (two destroyed, one captured and abandoned)

Synopsis for Paul Bunyan: "The Canadian Invasion"

Paul Bunyan leads a specially picked detachment of U.S. soldiers across the Canadian Border, on a long march across difficult terrain, to intercept an invading force of Japanese infantry and armor. Paul rubs out a large number of them by inducing an avalanche, and then his troops attack the divided survivors. Paul grapples and defeats a series of heavy tanks. The remaining infantry make a disorderly retreat, but many are captured by Bunyan's unit, and marched back to the U.S.

Appearing in Paul Bunyan: "The Canadian Invasion"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Bunyan's C.O.
  • Bunyan's Special Detail (1000 men)

Antagonists:

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • Japanese heavy tanks

Synopsis for Kid Dixon: "Late Hours With Eve"

At Kid Dixon's training camp, way out in the country, a rival boxer's corrupt manager and trainer try to severely injure Dixon, prior to their upcoming match. They hire an idiot to sneak a barrelful gasoline into the sauna bath at Dixon's training camp; he stupidly blows himself up in this attempt, and squeals on them. As soon as he hears about it, Dixon races over to the rival's training camp and beats up both of them, plus their boxer the "Battler," in rapid succession, but he declines to call in the cops, because that might look like he was trying to back out of the fight.

Training continues at both camps. Then one evening Dixon meets the lovely Eve, with whom he then spends a short series of long evenings taking long walks, or dancing, or canoe rides. He loses a lot of sleep, and it disrupts his training badly. "Bottle" Topps is frantic over it, but the Kid keeps at it, right up until the night before the big bout.

At the fight, Kid Dixon is half asleep, until the Battler throws his sunday punch, flinging the Kid across the ring and pointing his head in just the right direction to see Eve, in the crowd, jumping up and cheering for the Battler! He catches on. Dixon demolishes the Battler, then leaps into the seats and grabs the Battler's murderous manager and trainer, konks their heads together, and turns them over to the police.

Appearing in Kid Dixon: "Late Hours With Eve"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • B. Galsworthy "Bottle" Topps, Dixon's Manager

Antagonists:

  • Waxey Mays, leading contender's manager
  • leading contender's trainer
    • their bribed hireling
  • the Battler
  • Eve

Locations:

  • Dixon's training camp
  • Battler's training camp
  • some nightclubs
  • Arena

Synopsis for Pen Miller: "Cobalt the Chemist"

Professor Cobalt disappears. Pen Miller finds a chemical formula on a rolled-up piece of paper inside a round pellet from under a dead man's tongue, and writes down the formula. He repairs to his home library to read up on some chemistry, and deduces that the missing Professor Cobalt had perfected a Food Pill Formula, and he expects that some foreign powers would be trying to get that formula. He makes some telephone calls, and lures some foreign agents to his home base, where he and Niki pretend to get captured by them. At the spies' hide-out, Pen and Niki subdue their captors, and sneak inside, where they find a U.S.Army Captain, and Professor Cobalt, both being tortured by enemy agents. Miller and Niki leave the spies crated inside some odd-shaped coffins, then call in the police.

Appearing in Pen Miller: "Cobalt the Chemist"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Niki, his valet

Antagonists:

  • cabinet maker / torturer
    • spy gang

Other Characters:

  • Lt. Beamish, 12th Precinct
  • Cobalt, the chemist
  • Cobalt's Assistant (Appears only as a corpse)
  • Army Captain

Locations:

  • New York City
    • 144 Spruce Blvd, Pen Miller's residence
    • Forbidding Mansion

Items:

  • Cobalt's secret food pill formula

Synopsis for Jack and Jill: "Mad Killer At Large!"

An insane strangler kills a series of young blonde women, so Jill Doe acts as decoy to trap him. Jack Doe, disguised as the killer, beats him up, then the cops beat him up, but they also beat up Jack, because of his disguise, and the killer gets away. He tries to murder a new victim, but Jill shows up in a taxi, and shoots him in the leg. The cops arrive and take him in.

Appearing in Jack and Jill: "Mad Killer At Large!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Officer Pat Clancy
    • more cops

Antagonists:

  • Mad Killer

Other Characters:

  • taxi driver

Locations:

  • Does' House
  • City Park
  • Police Headquarters

Synopsis for Merlin: "A Dream of Treasure"

Merlin sends a pair of young lovers back in time, several hundred years, to have an adventure among pirates and hostile savages. Merlin accompanies Ted, and participates in the battles and chases and escapes of their adventure, and at one point, while he is separated from his Magic Cloak, seems to be in actual danger. But young Ted comes thru, Merlin regains his cloak, and brings everybody back to 1941, then gives them a check for half a million dollars.

Appearing in Merlin: "A Dream of Treasure"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Ted
  • Wanda

Antagonists:

  • Pirates of several hundred years ago
  • Tribal Natives of several hundred years ago

Items:

  • Merlin's Magic Cloak

Vessels:

  • Ancient Galleon

Concepts:

Notes

  • Jack and Jill:
    • Jack gets head-konked unconscious, with a billy club, by a cop.
    • According to one cop in this story, Jack Doe carries Police credentials, and is on the force.
  • First issue for Alex Blum art on Merlin, replacing Arthur Peddy.
  • First issue for Miss Winky by Arthur Beeman.
  • Paul Bunyan's rank is not revealed, but presumably he is no longer a private, given that he is, this issue, placed in command of a 1000-man detachment. Their unit is also not identified.
  • Pen Miller's address is 144 Spruce Blvd.
    • The "foreign" spies in this story have German accents but their nationality is not named.
  • Prop Powers's rank is not revealed. Neither is that of his sidekick Lank Loomis. Their unit is also not identified.
    • The U.S. military planes in this feature are no longer bright red. The unidentified enemy aircraft are now bright red, but the U.S. planes are now colored to resemble shiny metal.
    • Prop flies a "Curtiss 5BC-2" in this story, which looks just about like a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver.
  • The renegade fifth-columnists fighting Quicksilver have no foreign accents, and their employer is never identified. They fly bright red dive bombers that resemble no familiar Axis warplanes. Quicksilver kills at least five of them.
  • Sally O'Neil catches a bullet wound in the shoulder.
  • Also appearing in this issue of National Comics were:

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 Alex Blum 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".
  • Quicksilver breaks the Fourth Wall in the last panel of the last page, to plug the next issue.
  • Sally O'Neil, Policewoman by Toni Blum and Chuck Mazoujian is credited to "Frank Kearn".
  • Jack Cole signed his Windy Breeze gag strip as "Ralph Johns" (replacing Tony DiPreta, who signed as "Tom Taylor").
  • Wonder Boy by Toni Blum and Nick Cardy is credited to "Jerry Maxwell".
  • Toni Blum signed her Yankee Doodle Boy text story as "Anthony Lamb".


See Also


Links and References

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