I've already told you I can't help you locate the Bulletman without his fingerprints. 
- — Jim Barr
Nickel Comics #1 is an issue of the series Nickel Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1940. It was published on May 3, 1940.
Synopsis for Bulletman: "The Origin of Bulletman!"
Scientific criminologist Jim Barr discovers a germ-destroying serum which transforms him into a hard-muscled steel-strong giant, and builds up his brain, then he develops an artificial-gravity helmet, and then puts on some jodphurs and adopts the secret identity of Bulletman, the Robin Hood of Crime.
Meanwhile Blackmask the local super criminal is ordering an abduction, of Jim's girlfriend's dad, Sergeant Kent, which Bulletman finds out about and thwarts, exposing in the process Blackmask's scheme to infiltrate the Police Department with brainwashed turncoat cops. At the end of the day, Blackmask is still at large and unidentified.
Appearing in Bulletman: "The Origin of Bulletman!"
Featured Characters:
- Bulletman (James Barr) (First appearance) (Origin)
Supporting Characters:
- Sergeant Kent (First appearance)
- Pat Barr (Single appearance; dies)
- Susan Kent (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Blackmask (First appearance)
- Ken Thorndyke
Other Characters:
- Rod Lonnigan
- Ken Thorndyke
Locations:
- New York City (not yet identified)
Items:
- Barr's Germ-destroying Formula
- Gravity Regulator Helmet (First appearance)
Synopsis for Jungle Twins: "The Coming of the Jungle Twins"
- Twenty years earlier, near the Gold Coast of Africa, Dr. Wilbur Dale's expedition was attacked by hostile Bushmen. One loyal servant, Moma, was able to grab one twin, Bill, and carry him away to the coast. She found the American Consul who found Dr. Dale's attorney, and she ended up carrying the tot to New York City, and handing him over to Mr. Brown, Bill's late father's attorney, his new court-appointed guardian.
On his 22nd birthday, Bill Dale undertakes to return to Africa to search for his twin brother, whom he believes to be alive, based on legends of a huge white man, called "Sti Vah", living in the interior. Weeks later, he has worked his way far inland, and stops to consult with a Native witch doctor named Kru, who tells him that the giant Sti Vah has a cross-shaped scar on his chest, and lives beyond the River of Skulls, in an unexplored region from which no white man has ever returned. Kru sends his own servant Dagoo, the Pygmy, with Bill.
They construct a dugout canoe, by which time all the native bearers have deserted, and Dagoo and Bill set out down the River of Skulls. For two days they drift downstream, encountering rapids in the steep parts of the river and crocodiles in the flat parts. They pass a tribe of savage apelike cavemen, high in the cliffs above. Soon the cavemen attack the canoe and capture Bill and Dagoo, truss them up, and leave them staked up for some nearby crocodiles. Dagoo has been carrying Kru's magic pipes this whole time, and now pulls them out and plays a tune, which lulls the big reptiles to sleep. The two men escape, retrieve their canoe, and depart before the cavemen can return to the scene. Some big rocks are thrown at them, but miss by wide margins.
Three days later they emerge from a gorge into open country. In this region they find extremely large frogs and extremely large snakes, plus prehistoric monster versions of elephants and rhinos, and are attacked by a gigantic gorilla, which shrugs off rifle shot after rifle shot, and flings Bill 20 feet with one swat, then grabs Dagoo. Bill attacks the monster with a knife, severing its spine. Pressing onward, they find a camp of 12-foot-tall men, but while they are observing the village, a hillside slides out from under them, dumping them into the camp. The giants are wary and their spears are ready, but Bill asks them if they've seen his brother Sti Vah. These guys turn out to understand and speak English, and consider Sti Vah to be the Lord of All the Jungle here. But they don't like Bill and Dagoo, and that evening they plan to burn them both alive. But just before they get started with that, Sti Vah shows up at the camp, and does indeed turn out to be Bill's long-lost brother. Except he doesn't know it. Raised in the jungle, with no knowledge of ever having had a brother, Steve disbelieves Bills story, and orders the execution to proceed.
Just then a wandering gang of Arab slave-traders shows up, and announce their presence by shooting Sti Vah, who falls down seemingly dead. The giant men flee from the noisy, deadly riflemen. Steve turns out to be unconscious but alive; he and Bill are both captured by Ali-Bekr, but Dagoo has escaped, and he still has his magic flute. Out in the bush, Dagoo uses the animal-taming pipes to attract a large number of large snakes, and to lead them back to the Tourags' camp. While most of his riffs flee, Ali-Bekr grabs a spear, points it at unconscious Steve's chest, and opens an impromptu round of hostage negotiations. Bill asks Dagoo to send the snakes away, but one spitting cobra has gotten too close, and it squirts a wad of deadly venom right at Bill's eyes!
Appearing in Jungle Twins: "The Coming of the Jungle Twins"
Featured Characters:
- Jungle Twins (First appearance) (Origin)
Supporting Characters:
- Dr. Wilbur Dale (Single appearance)
- Mrs. Dale (Single appearance)
Antagonists:
- hostile bushmen
- hostile cavemen
- hostile giant men
- Ali-Bekr
- his gang of Tourag slavers
Other Characters:
- Moma
- Eldred Smith, U.S. Consul
- Brown & Burton, Attorneys
- Kru, witch doctor
- Dagoo, Pygmy scout
Locations:
- Africa
- Gold Coast
- Interior
- River of Skulls
- Region Beyond the River of Skulls
- River of Skulls
- New York City
Items:
- Kru's animal-taming pipes
Vehicles:
- dugout canoe
Synopsis for Warlock the Wizard: "Baron Gath"
Warlock the Wizard is the last of the White Magicians, and dedicates his life to destroying evil and black magic. His wise raven Hugin tells him stories and guides him to evildoers. This night Hugin leads Warlock to a gigantic castle, at the heart of a bleak and mountainous countryside, somewhere in America. Atop one tower, Warlock spots a girl, struggling with a vampire! Warlock waves his talisman, the Golden Hand, and shouts his Word of Power, "ABRAXAS!", causing the Golden Hand to expand and open to an enormous size, fly to the tower top, grab the girl (Joan Scott) away from the vampire, and fly her back to the distant hill where the Wizard awaits. The vampire flies across the valley in pursuit, but the Golden Hand again gets gigantic, and punches him out. The vamp flees, and Warlock doesn't expect him to come back any time soon.
In the valley below the big castle there is a village; they go there. Joan tells him that her father (Andrew Scott) is imprisoned in the castle, which is that of Baron Gath, an infamous Black Magician who had vanished 200 years ago. Mr. Scott had bought, dismantled, imported, and reassembled a genuine medieval Transylvanian castle, then was surprised to find an undead aristocratic monster lurking in it. Now he is a captive in the dungeon, and frequently tortured.
Warlock leaves Joan with an innkeeper at a tavern then starts climbing crags toward the castle, but soon Hugin warns him that Miss Scott is in danger! His way to the tavern is blocked as an unscalable magic wall suddenly rises before him, but he again uses the Golden Hand to smash an opening in it. The innkeeper is right on the verge of smothering Joan to death when the Golden Hand crashes into the room and rescues her. The innkeeper counters by pouring a necromantic fluid over himself and shouts out the Spell Of The Wolf: "CANE SATHANAS!" Warlock the Wizard scrambles into the room and confronts the werewolf, using the Golden Hand to conjure a steel wolf-trap out of thin air, to catch and immobilize the monster. Warlock and Joan leave.
At the haunted castle, deep in the dungeons, Baron Gath is alerted by his sorcery to the approach of Warlock. With a glance, he animates several hideous stone gargoyles, who silently fly to attack the couple. One snatches Joan and flies her back to its master. Warlock belatedly uses the Golden Hand to create a super-hard steel dome overhead; the rest of the stone gargoyles smash themselves to pieces against it. Soon only one gargoyle is flying toward the castle, and no visible trace remains of the Wizard. But this gargoyle turns out to be Warlock, transformed, and now he has reached the tower top, and resumes his normal shape, confronting Baron Gath, the other gargoyle, and Joan. The gargoyle is much quicker than it looks, and it flies Warlock out to a steep altitude before he can even wave his magic wand at it, but as soon as he can, he transforms the stone monster into a big colorful helium balloon, then ties a long rope to one of its feet, then slides down the rope to the ground.
Hugin has scouted out the castle and tells Warlock that Joan is tied up in a cell with some mastiff-sized spiders; they fly there, and Hugin swoops into the cell, then the Wizard uses his magic to grow the raven to a monstrous size. The giant bird attacks and devours the spiders, one by one. Warlock frees Joan, but knows getting into the dungeon won't be so easy, as only the Baron knows the magic spell that opens the dungeon doors. But when they go there, they find the doors all open! They walk unopposed through the subterranean passages until they reach Andrew's cell. But of course it's a trap, Baron Gath has instructed a very quick and stealthy lizard to steal the Golden Hand from Warlock, and it does so. More lizards pour into the room, tangling up Warlock and Joan in their coils, then transforming into steel chains. But Hugin is still loose, and Warlock directs the wise bird to fly to his house and bring back the Lamp Of the Gods. This takes hours, during which time Baron Gath gets ready to kill Joan in a human sacrifice ritual, but Hugin gets back in the nick of time, and Warlock the Wizard uses the mystic Lamp of the Gods to call upon Thor, Lord of the Thunderbolt, to give him his Hammer. With this, he slays Baron Gath. Then Hugin gives Warlock the Golden Hand, with which he frees himself and both of the Scotts.
Their adventure is at an end, but already Hugin is telling Warlock that he is needed elsewhere.
Appearing in Warlock the Wizard: "Baron Gath"
Featured Characters:
- Warlock the Wizard (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Hugin, a raven
Antagonists:
- Baron Gath (Destroyed)
- a lesser vampire
- a werewolf
- an army of demons
- flying gargoyles
- giant spiders
- magic lizards
Other Characters:
- Joan Scott
- Andrew Scott
Locations:
- America
- a bleak and mountainous land
- transplanted Transylvanian castle
- a bleak and mountainous land
Items:
- the Golden Hand
- the Lamp of the Gods
- the Hammer of Thor
Notes
- Nickel Comics was published every other Friday by Fawcett Publications, Inc.
- Nickel Comics #1 is known for introducing the characters of Bulletman and Bulletgirl, both of whom later become the properties of DC Comics.
- Bulletman can fly, not just leap or glide; he can change direction in mid-air. In mid-1940 this is something that Superman can not yet do.
- Bulletman's superhuman strength is drug-induced, but he himself invented the drug.
- Warlock the Wizard's wise raven Hugin could talk, to Warlock, but apparently nobody else could hear him. At any rate, the bird had no dialogue balloons.
- This issue shipped on May 17th, 1940.
- Also appearing in this issue of Nickel Comics is a one-page text story entitled "The Pacing Ghost".