Sensation Comics #3 is an issue of the series Sensation Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1942.
Synopsis for Wonder Woman: "A Spy in the Office"
Diana is utterly distraught upon learning that Steve has fully recovered from his injuries, and will no longer be under her care. Steve, sympathetic to the lovesick nurse, tells her that his superior, Colonel Darnell, has an opening for a new secretary. Diana applies and passes her dictation test with flying colors, as Paradise Island's Amazons are trained to have perfect memories. However, Diana's success attracts jealousy from Steve's secretary, Lila Brown, who finds the newcomer's note-taking techniques unfamiliar and suspicious.
As Colonel Darnell's secretary, Diana is assigned to take a health survey of all the women in the department. While taking Lila's blood pressure, Diana is interrupted by the office-errand girl Eve, who confronts Lila about an envelope. Eve's questions make Lila's blood pressure spike, arousing Diana's suspicions. Upon searching Lila's clothing, Diana finds a letter detailing a Nazi trap for Steve. A tearful Lila denies that she is a spy, and promises to explain everything after work.
Unfortunately, Steve leaves for a top-secret mission before closing time, and the trap is put into motion. Diana is quickly accused of being a spy, and placed under house arrest when Lila's letter is found on her person. Believing the office's men too incompetent to be much help, Diana escapes confinement and investigates on her own, as Wonder Woman. Lila, upon being confronted by the Amazon Princess, confesses that Eve had been blackmailed into spy activities by a Nazi agent named Gross, and she had stolen the envelope to protect Eve, who is her younger sister.
With Lila's help, Wonder Woman tracks down Gross and forces all remaining details out of him. Shortly after, Eve successfully lures Steve into the trap, only to flee upon realizing her Nazi "partners" intend to kill her as well. However, Eve is quickly captured and "disciplined" by Etta and the Holliday girls, whom Wonder Woman had contacted earlier; meanwhile, Wonder Woman tracks down Steve's captors, defeats them all, and saves Steve.
At Holliday College, Wonder Woman and Steve find Eve completely humbled by the Holliday Girls, and ready to repent for her cowardice and treachery by turning herself in. Diana's name is cleared, and Steve receives another round of (unwanted) accolades as America's number-one spy smasher.
Appearing in Wonder Woman: "A Spy in the Office"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Agent Gross aka X-46 (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Washington, D.C. Area
- Holliday College
- Army Intelligence Headquarters
Items:
- Mental Radio (First appearance)
Synopsis for Black Pirate: "The Schemes of Juan Marche"
Appearing in Black Pirate: "The Schemes of Juan Marche"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Donna Bonita
- Black Pirate's crew
- Pedro, servant
Antagonists:
- Juan Marche
Other Characters:
Locations:
Synopsis for Mr. Terrific: "The Phony Presidente"
On a business trip to Santa Flora, Terry Sloan detects and subdues a pistol-wielding assassin, attempting to shoot the newly-elected Presidente Del Rio. The Presidente takes Terry for a ride in his open touring car, blaming the assassination attempt on some wealthy landowners, and pointing out the abject poverty of the peons. Del Rio is a visionary, and hopes to advance Santa Floran agriculture; to this end, at his own expense, he has established several model farms. He now prepares to travel to the U.S. to obtain a big loan, to get this program going on a nationwide scale. Meanwhile two greedy land owners, Don Carlos and Don Jose, plot against the Presidente.
Several weeks later Sloan returns to the States aboard a passenger steamship, and Presidente Del Rio is on the same ship. But once the Presidente is in his stateroom, his own valet serves him some drugged coffee, which gives him amnesia. Don Carlos is also aboard, and he uses hair die and make-up to impersonate the Presidente, while hypnotizing Del Rio into believing that he is the Valet. For the remainder of the journey, Carlos, his henchmen, and the hypnotized Del Rio himself, prevent Terry Sloan from visiting the stateroom.
At New York City, Wanda Wilson meets Terry, and he wants to introduce her to his new friend the Presidente, but a gaggle of reporters and photographers gets in the way, and when asked abut his plans for this visit, El Presidente scoffs at the mention of "peons" and "loans", brushes aside an important banker, and declares that he has come to visit night clubs and make whoopee. Terry grimly suspects that he has misjudged Del Rio.
Over the next few days the fake Presidente publicly misbehaves, drinking heavily and gambling stupidly. Sloan changes identities and Mr. Terrific pays a visit to Del Rio's hotel while Del Rio is out carousing. He meets the valet, finds the amnesia pills, forms a suspicion, abducts the valet, and flees on foot. At his secret laboratory, Mr. Terrific concocts an antidote for the amnesia pills, and soon Del Rio regains his wits. Mr. Terrific uses makeup and hair dye to impersonate the fake valet, and returns to the hotel room. When his two bosses return, he slips them some drugged coffee, dosed with truth serum. Soon the two are blurting out the murderous secret plans each has for the other, and are on their way to a final meeting with some top bankers. At the meeting they freely divulge what phonies they are, and what they are up to. Their "valet" vouches for their story, reveals his own identity as Mr. Terrific, jumps out the window, then jumps back in the window, carrying the real Presidente. Soon the whole misunderstanding is cleared up and the loan for Santa Flora is approved, and Dons Carlos and Jose are being hauled away by Mr. Terrific, for a meeting with the State Department.
Appearing in Mr. Terrific: "The Phony Presidente"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Don Carlos, landlord
- Miguel, valet
- Another thug
- Don Jose, landlord
Other Characters:
- Presidente Del Rio, "The Lincoln of Santa Flora"
Locations:
Items:
- Amnesia Pills
- Truth Serum
Vehicles
- Passenger Steamship
Synopsis for Gay Ghost: "The Ghost and the Gangsters"
Appearing in Gay Ghost: "The Ghost and the Gangsters"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Lt. Charles Collins (Appears only as a corpse)
- Deborah Wallace
Antagonists:
- Gangsters
Synopsis for Little Boy Blue: "The Case of Croaker Shayne"
Appearing in Little Boy Blue: "The Case of Croaker Shayne"
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Croaker Shayne
- His gang
Other Characters:
- Jed Peters
- Mr. Drexel
Locations:
Synopsis for Wildcat: "Case of the Phantom Killers"
Appearing in Wildcat: "Case of the Phantom Killers"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Purple Mask Gang (two die)
- Martin Glibson
Other Characters:
- Judge John Morey (Dies)
- Mrs. Morey
- A district attorney (Dies)
Locations:
Notes
- Published by J.R. Publishing Company.
- Wonder Woman: A Spy in the Office is reprinted in Wonder Woman Archives Vol. 1.
- Second Lieutenant Diana Prince, U.S.Army Nurse, becomes Secretary to Army Intelligence officer Colonel Phil Darnell.
- Agent Gross, aka X-46, is captured alive.
- In this point of time, Wonder Woman does not yet have the Lasso of Truth. She will gain it in Sensation Comics Vol 1 6.
- Mister Terrific: The Phony Presidente is reprinted in The JSA All Stars Archives Volume 1.
- Wanda Wilson knows about Terry Sloan's secret identity.
- Wildcat: The Case Of The Phantom Killers is reprinted in The JSA All Stars Archives Volume 1.
See Also
Links and References
- Read Mr. Terrific: The Phony Presidente online.