Police Comics #13 is an issue of the series Police Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1942.
Synopsis for Plastic Man: "Presenting the Man Who Can't Be Harmed"
A listless nobody named Woozy Winks rescues a magical wizard while fishing. The wizard is grateful and bestows Woozy with the protection of nature which protects him from any harm. Woozy quickly finds out that he is invulnerable and flips a coin to decide whether he will use his powers for good or bad. Sometime later the police receive a call from sculptor Homer Twitchel who reports that his priceless statues have been stolen. Plastic Man is dispatched to the scene where he immediately starts to look for clues. He follows a trail of clay pieces that have been dropped on the ground and they lead him directly to Woozy. He is about to saw off Twitchel's arm when he is stopped by Plastic Man. Woozy walks away as a hail of stones descends upon the scene leaving Plastic Man ducking for cover. The hero then decides to use his guise as Eel O'Brian to find out more information on Woozy. He convinces Woozy to take him on as a partner in crime but instead of robbing banks, Woozy is only concerned with stealing marble statues which were created by Twitchel. He mentions that they will be paid for the job by an unknown boss but O'Brian is unable to obtain anymore information. Plastic Man decides to secretly follow Woozy as he walks towards the Mire Mansion. Woozy is seen talking to Mire who reveals that he wants as many Twitchel statues destroyed to increase the value of his own personal Twitchel statue collection. At this point Plastic Man reveals himself from his hiding disguise as a chair. Mire quickly dispatches a black panther to go after Plastic Man but he then changes his face to look exactly like Mire. This causes the panther to become confused and the killer cat walks off. Plastic Man quickly subdues Mire but he has a tougher job apprehending Woozy because of his supernatural powers. Plastic Man appeals to Woozy's conscious by asking him what his mother would think about his crimes. Woozy breaks down in tears and decides to voluntarily turn himself in. Before serving his sentence, Woozy insists on helping Plastic Man capture the rampant criminal Eel O'Brian.
Appearing in Plastic Man: "Presenting the Man Who Can't Be Harmed"
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Supporting Characters:
- Woozy Winks (First appearance) (Origin)
- Captain Murphy
Antagonists:
- Mister Mire
Other Characters:
- Homer Twitchel
- Zambi ze Soothzayer
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Synopsis for 711: "The Man Who Killed Deek Dakin"
Deek Dakin, prisoner at Westmoor, is confronted by a guard while walking the prison yard and accused of casing it to plan an escape. Deek denies it, but is shot dead by the guard. The other prisoners can't figure why Deek would be looking to escape, especially since they'd all heard he was planning to sing to the cops about his former gang. That night the guard ("Screw") leaves the prison, and 711 follows him. Straight to Bizone, Deek's former boss, and collects $10k for bumping him off, but they see that 711 was eavesdropping on th e meeting. Back at the prison, Screw catches 711 sneaking back in, and Screw demands the hero unmask at gunpoint. With no other option, 711 complies. Realizing it'd be too suspicious if he killed two prisoners in one day, Screw decides to sneak out disguised as 711. However, Bizone and his gang are sneaking into the prison themselves in order to find 711 and silence him. They shoot Screw, thinking he was the hero, both taking care of the threat to his identity and making it easy for the real 711 to get the drop on them with Screw's gun, busting Bizone and his cronies on a double murder rap.
Appearing in 711: "The Man Who Killed Deek Dakin"
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Antagonists:
- Bizone
- Screw (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Deek Dakin (Dies)
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Synopsis for Chic Carter: "The Rat Trap"
Appearing in Chic Carter: "The Rat Trap"
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Synopsis for Firebrand: "The Sinister Peanut Vendor"
Rod, Slugger and Joan are at a baseball game when a vendor gives Rod and a strange man with a German accent next to him peanuts. The accented man insists their bags got mixed up, then leaves in a hurry. Rod quickly figures out why when he finds a note with an address in his bag, and leaves with Slugger to investigate. They find a secret lab where Nazi spies are making poisoned quinine to sell to the army with the war shortage going on. The Nazis try to escape in a boat, but Firebrand and Slugger catch up to them, pummel them, and hand the Nazis over to the harbor police.
Appearing in Firebrand: "The Sinister Peanut Vendor"
Featured Characters:
- Firebrand (Final appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Joan Rogers (Final appearance)
- Slugger Dunn (Final appearance)
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Synopsis for Steele Kerrigan: "Machine Gun Clarkson"
Appearing in Steele Kerrigan: "Machine Gun Clarkson"
Featured Characters:
- Steele Kerrigan (Final appearance)
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Synopsis for The Spirit: "Johnny Marston"
Appearing in The Spirit: "Johnny Marston"
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Synopsis for Phantom Lady: "The Phony Phantom Lady"
Appearing in Phantom Lady: "The Phony Phantom Lady"
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Synopsis for The Human Bomb: "The Living Dead of Skull Valley"
Workers at a defense plant out west are unable to sleep because of unearthly wailing at night, and a few receive visits from angry walking dead demanding they leave the area. Roy Lincoln investigates, but after a scuffle with one of the "ghosts" where paint rubs off on his fist, is convinced the intruders are mere mortals. Trailing the fleeing specter, he finds a network of old mine tunnels that can carry sound all over town, explaining the terrifying noise. Getting inside as the Human Bomb, he easily survives attempts to kill him with dynamite, then clears the rockfall with an explosion of his own. The leader of the Nazi spies claims they're being forced to do this despicable things by the Fuhrer, but it's only a ploy to get Bomb's guard down and smash him in the face with a vial of paralyzing gas. The oxygen supply built into Bomb's armor revives him, and he gets back to the plant in time to interrupt the "ghosts" attempting to blow it up with dynamite. The plant workers, maddened by lack of sleep, vent their frustrations on the Nazi spies. Once the spies are captured, the workers decide to keep them awake for days on end by banging on drums, pots and pans as revenge until the police arrive to take them into custody.
Appearing in The Human Bomb: "The Living Dead of Skull Valley"
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Synopsis for The Mouthpiece: "The Human Bomber"
A tank factory seemed to be getting bombed in air raids; it was built next to a steep mountain, which had an old forgotten mountain cable-chair lash-up, rigged down the side of it and across the valley. Two German saboteurs, Von Drule and his assistant, were using this apparatus to drop bombs on the roof of the factory.
Late that night, District Attorney Bill Perkins puts on his black mask and becomes the Mouthpiece, and prowls the mountain looking for clues. He finds the cable-chair equipment, just as Von Drule, with a bushel of small aerial bombs, gets ready to swoop down for another bombing run. He's got a good head start when the Mouthpiece shows up, shoots the assistant in the head, and reverses the machinery, interrupting the "human bomber's" deadly stunt, but Von Drule cuts the chair free, and slides away very rapidly. The Mouthpiece, using a horseshoe hooked over the cable, pursues the out-of-control chair down the mountain cable. Mouthhpiece overtakes Von Drule, and tussles with him, dumping the load of bombs out, over an empty open space, then dumps out the saboteur himself, to hit the ground, unconscious enough for Officer Clancy to arrest him.
Appearing in The Mouthpiece: "The Human Bomber"
Featured Characters:
- the Mouthpiece (Final appearance)
Antagonists:
- Von Drule
- his henchman (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Officer Clancy
Locations:
- Hacklehead Mountain
- Tank Factory, base of Mt. Hacklehead
- Tank Factory, base of Mt. Hacklehead
Synopsis for Manhunter: "The Theater Murder"
Officers Richards and Clancy hear a scream but have a laugh when they figure it came from a stage play. Until a woman in a bikini's shot and falls off a balcony right into their arms. Richards races off to become Manhunter and accuses people all over the theater, until Thor sniffs out the gymnast standing on the bottom of an inverted human pyramid. He confesses that he killed the girl because he loved her, but she spurned him for the man on top. He always carried the show and was never recognized, and gave in to his jealousy in the worst way: murder.
Appearing in Manhunter: "The Theater Murder"
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Notes
- All Quality Comics characters and the distinctive likeness(es) thereof were originally Trademarked & Copyright © 1951 Quality Comics. The characters and the distinctive likeness(es) thereof were acquired by DC Comics in 1956. While some of the properties acquired did not have copyright and trademarks renewed, some of those depicted here are Trademarks & Copyright © 1973-2008 DC Comics, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- Earth-Two:
- Plastic Man, Phantom Lady, the Human Bomb and Manhunter all chronologically appeared last in All-Star Squadron #50.
- Firebrand:
- Captions refer to Slugger as Ensign Reilly's shipmate
- Joan Rogers has been coincidentally temporarily assigned to the Red Cross effort in Cairo, in the far Pacific, and now back in an American city, every time Ensign Reilly and enlisted sailor Dunn have gone ashore.
- This is the final Golden Age appearance of Firebrand. He appears next in Justice League of America #193.
- This is the final appearance of the Mouthpiece.
- Mouthpiece just flat guns down Von Drule's henchman with a shot to the head, no ultimatums, no warning, no nothing.
- At the end of this story, despite ample circumstantial evidence, Officer Clancy still has not made the connection between D.A. Perkins and the Mouthpiece.
- Plastic Man: "Presenting the Man Who Can't Be Harmed" is also reprinted in DC Special #15, Plastic Man 80-Page Giant #1 and Plastic Man Archives Vol. 1.
- Spirit: "Johnny Marston" was originally printed in The Spirit comic strip #6/30/1940 by Register and Tribune Syndicate. It is reprinted in the Spirit Archives, Volume 1.
- This is the final appearance of Steele Kerrigan.
- Also featured in this issue of Police Comics were:
- Burp the Twerp: "The Alaskan Caper" by Jack Cole
- "Dark Bayou" (text story, featuring Dick Mace) by Robert M. Hyatt
- Dewey Drip, art by John Devlin
- Super Snooper, by Gill Fox