Slam-Bang Comics #3 is an issue of the series Slam-Bang Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1940.
Synopsis for Diamond Jack: "Master of the Walking Dead"
All across the world, stage magic acts go horribly awry, resulting in fatalities: sword-swallowers and snake-charmers are killed by their own props, and girl assistants are sawn in half. In his elegant apartment in a big city, Diamond Jack Lansing stares into his magic gem, seeking the cause of all this. According to Jack, something is interfering with the laws of magic, causing them to work in reverse. Lansing notices that his own gem is weakened, when a frantic young girl shows up at his apartment door, pursued by half a dozen gruesome zombies. He confronts the zombies in the hallway, first waving the gem then punching them, while the girl runs inside his apartment and shuts the door. A weird light from Jack's ring makes the dead men fall back, then they vanish, leaving only smoky remains. The girl is Marianna Noris, and she came here from Death Island, pursued by this pack of zombies. Her brother is still held prisoner on the island. At the city's waterfront, Diamond Jack magically produces a sailing ship, and they embark on their dangerous voyage.
In his throne room on Death Island, the gigantic Green Devil observes Jack and Marianna via his magic globe, while several zombies mill about. He seems to be about twenty feet tall. According to this monster, Diamond Jack is his greatest rival. He directs his zombie minions to prepare the Hurricane Device, and shoots Lansing's vessel with a "cloptic ray," causing a strong localized windstorm which destroys the craft. Jack and Marianna have already leapt into the ocean, but a flying hunk of jetsam hits her on the head, knocking her out. Jack flashes the ring, and a big wave washes them ashore on Death Island; he flashes it again, and their clothes are dry. A squad of zombies attacks them, and Lansing beats them up a bit, then seemingly gives up, and they both are taken to the villain's castle.
In the throne room, the Green Devil reveals his scheme for world dominance: Using his Ray Crystal, Green Devil has disrupted all the laws of magic except his own. In another month he'll have the entire world at his mercy. The monster gives his captives a tour of his astronomy workshop, and the chamber of the living dead men. Diamond Jack makes his move, hurling two of their zombie escorts into the others, but while he does so the Green Devil vanishes in a wave of smoke. The invisible villain tries to magically overcome Lansing, but he flashes his diamond ring and pronounces "ADKEHL!", which blows open a big door into another passageway. Marianna shows Jack the way to the dungeon, where they find her brother, but he's already been transformed into a living dead man. But Jack fixes that, with his magic gem, then proceeds to restore all the rest of Green Devil's slaves to their normal condition. The Green Devil tries to bargain with Lansing, who simply transforms him into a book of magic tricks. Then Jack shatters the Ray Crystal, so that all over the world good magic will regain its power.
Jack and Marianna and her brother return to their home city aboard a conventional passenger steamship.
Appearing in Diamond Jack: "Master of the Walking Dead"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- The Green Devil (Single appearance; dies)
- his walking dead slaves
Other Characters:
- professional magicians (many die)
- Marianna Noris
- her brother
- many zombies
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Death Island
- Green Devil's castle
- Death Island
Items:
- Lansing's magic gem
- Green Devil's Cloptic Ray (hurricane device)
- Green Devil's ray crystal (Destroyed)
Vehicles:
- Lansing's conjured sailboat (Destroyed)
- passenger liner
Synopsis for Jim Dolan: "The Phantom Racketeer Chief"
Jim Dolan, hard-hitting editor of Daring Detective magazine, matches brains and brawn against organized crime.
Appearing in Jim Dolan: "The Phantom Racketeer Chief"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Sally, Jim's secretary
Villains:
- Phantom Racketeer Chief, secretly the Police Commissioner
- Brick Duker
- his 3 henchmen
- Brick Duker
Other Characters:
- Mayor Jones
- dress shop clerk
Synopsis for Lucky Lawton: "Weasel Joe"
Lucky Lawton, two-gun defender of justice in the Old West, faces a band of ruthless killers.
Appearing in Lucky Lawton: "Weasel Joe"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Pal, Lawton's collie
Villains:
- Weasel Joe (Single appearance)
- six henchmen (some die)
Other Characters:
- Jeff Todd
- several bank tellers (all die)
Locations:
- American Old West
- Lucky Lawton's hidden cabin
- Lucky Lawton's hidden cabin
Synopsis for Hurricane Hansen: "Von Gruch's Pocket Battleship"
Hurricane Hansen, Yankee sailor in the British Navy, gets himself captured by an enemy battleship, escapes, recruits four assistants, and takes over the warship, sails it into a British port, and moors it.
Appearing in Hurricane Hansen: "Von Gruch's Pocket Battleship"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Appleby, his First Mate
Villains:
- Captain Von Gruch, Kazilian Navy (captured)
- battleship crew (captured)
Other Characters:
- Captain Bitts, RN
- three other allied prisoners
Locations:
- Earth-S
- North Atlantic Ocean
Vehicles:
- HMS Surprise (warship disguised as a tanker)
- Kazilian pocket battleship (captured)
Synopsis for Mark Swift and the Time Retarder: "Among Pirate Perils"
Mark Swift and his teacher Rodney Kent are observing events of 1699, via Kent's marvelous Time Retarder. They watch as Blackbeard and two pirate crewmen bury a large sea chest on a small island, then as Blackbeard pulls out a brace of pistols and shoots both crewmen, and leaves. Swift and Kent emerge from the Time Retarder and check the bodies; one pirate, Patch, is still alive. Patch tells them that Blackbeard's crew live in terror of their bloodthirsty captain, and that Blackbeard has a secret partner aboard his ship, who only comes out at night, and whom the crewmen believe to be Satan. Patch teams up with Rodney and Mark, to take down Blackbeard.
At dusk they swim out from the island to Blackbeard's ship, then Swift and Kent clamber aboard it. One crewman spots them, yells, and attacks them with a cutlass, but Rodney punches him out and takes his cutlass. The rest of the crew by now has them surrounded, and they're taken prisoner. To teach him a lesson, Blackbeard has young Mark thrown into a storage hold, half full of gold and jewels, then slams the hatch on it. A red-faced horned figure of terror creeps out of the shadows. Meanwhile Patch has been treading water next to the hull, working on his own entryway onto the ship; he opens a port and scrambles into the same part of the hold where Mark and the devilish figure are. Patch attacks the fiend with a big knife, but gets overpowered and throttled, until Mark breaks a big glass bottle across the back of the devil's head. They unmask the unconscious devil, and Patch recognizes him as Silly Phil, Blackbeard's servant. All of this gives Mark Swift a big idea, which he tells to Patch.
At dawn, the anchor is weighed and the pirate ship sets sail. Almost right away the lookout spots a richly-laden merchant ship, and Blackbeard sails into position to attack it. Strapped to the front of one of Blackbeard's cannons is Rodney Kent, and Blackbeard plans to fire that one first. Meanwhile the merchantman's crew are unlimbering and loading their own cannons. They also get off the first shot of the battle, and an amazing shot it is: the cannonball strikes the Jolly Roger flag and knocks it to the deck. The superstitious pirate crew are aghast! At that dramatic moment, Mark Swift bursts out of the cargo hold, wearing the Satan disguise, and Patch jumps out right behind him. Blackbeard is quite startled to see Patch alive and blurts out a confession of having murdered him, right in front of his crew. Mark uses a cutlass to cut Rodney's straps, then hands him the cutlass and pulls out a pistol, and Patch joins them, also wielding a cutlass. The whole rest of the pirate crew attack them.
Observing all this, from a diminishing distance, is the captain of the merchant ship, which is still approaching. He orders his crew to come alongside and board the pirate ship, and they engage the pirate crew, mostly with cutlasses. Amid the fight, Kent singles out Blackbeard, and wounds him. Seeing this, the rest of the pirates surrender. The merchant captain offers Rodney all of the treasure in Blackbeard's ship's hold, as a reward, but Kent asks only to be put ashore at the little island, where he leads the honest crew to the spot where Blackbeard's chest is buried. Then Rodney and Mark wave goodbye to their new friends, and climb back into their very odd looking Time Retarder, and leave that time and place.
Appearing in Mark Swift and the Time Retarder: "Among Pirate Perils"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Rodney Kent
Villains:
- Blackbeard
- Silly Phil, his servant (as Satan)
- his crew
Other Characters:
- Patch, a pirate
- merchant ship captain
- his crew
Locations:
- Earth-S, 1699
- Atlantic Ocean
- Carolina Coast region
- small island where Blackbeard's Treasure is buried
- Carolina Coast region
- Atlantic Ocean
Items:
- Rodney Kent's Time Retarder
- Blackbeard's Treasure
Vehicles:
- Blackbeard's Pirate Ship
- armed merchant ship
Synopsis for The War Bird: "The Return of Baron Bruht"
Baron Bruht escapes from a French prison camp, steals an airplane, and flies back to Sermia, shooting down one French patrol plane along the way. Eagle Squadron's commander sends Tom "War Bird" Sharp out after the Baron. He catches him in mid-dog-fight, in which the Baron shoots down another French plane then escapes.
Bruht next is placed in charge of a huge land offensive. Antiaircraft covering fire for this offensive is provided by a special train, with heavy naval cannons. The War Bird kills some Sermian spies, learns about the train, steals a Sermian uniform, sneaks into Sermia on foot, infiltrates the antiaircraft train, sabotages at least one of the big guns, gets caught, and fights his way into the locomotive cab. He climbs atop the boiler, and throws a grenade onto an upcoming bridge, damaging it badly enough to cause the train to wreck, and leaps clear before it does so.
The War Bird and the Baron fight another aerial duel, and Bruht shoots down Sharp, who bails out. The Baron lands, captures Captain Sharp, and forces him to fly back to the Sermian airfield in his Sermian warplane. Before they can get there, at least seven French fighter planes show up, and while Bruht is noticing this, Sharp starts a fistfight in the cockpit, disarms Bruht, and takes charge of the plane. The incoming fighters are the Eagle Squadron, Sharp's own unit, whom he has quietly called in earlier. But he's still in a Sermian warplane, and it's on fire, and the fighters are shooting at him, so he abandons the burning plane, by leaping onto an underpassing French plane, then wing-walking to the fuselage. The Sermian plane with Baron Bruht in it crashes, but Sermian troops show up to extract him from the wreckage, and he vows he'll have revenge.
Appearing in The War Bird: "The Return of Baron Bruht"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- the Major, French Army
- Eagle Squadron, French Air Corps
Villains:
- Baron Bruht, Sermian Air Force
Locations:
Vehicles:
- French fighter planes (one stolen, two shot down)
- Bruht's Sermian fighter plane, w/ Skull & Crossbones markings (shot down)
- steam locomotive + at least ten flatcars, with antiaircraft cannon (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Lee Granger, Jungle King: "The Djinn"
A vast swarm of flying, bat-winged, manlike demons becomes a threat to Lee Granger's Pygmy friends, and he puts on a motorized, winged, flying suit to combat them. To help him out, his new girlfriend Ameera puts another flying suit on Eric, the talking lion, then straddles Eric like a pony, and rides into the battle. Lee gets captured by the Djinn, but ends up escaping, and soon afterward kills the Djinn Chieftain with a pistol shot.
Appearing in Lee Granger, Jungle King: "The Djinn"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Eric the Talking Lion
- Tribe of Pygmies
Villains:
- Djinn Chieftan (Dies)
- Djinns, large numbers of them
Other Characters:
- Ameera
- Ameera's Arabian tribesmen (many die)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Granger's one-man flying suit
Notes
- War Bird is shot down for the second time,[1] by Baron Bruht.
Trivia
- Hurricane Hansen's villain, Von Gruch, wears a monocle.
- Jim Dolan's car has big white tires with no treads.
See Also
Links and References
- ↑ Slam-Bang Comics #1, Slam Bang Comics #3