Somebody doesn't want me to play -- oh-oh -- What's this ?? A parachute! 
Smash Comics #15 is an issue of the series Smash Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1940.
Synopsis for Espionage Starring Black X: "Fort Johnson Blown Up!"
Probably circa 1940-July, a new bomb-planter is at large, and has already blown up Fort Johnson plus five other strongholds, including at least one 20-story skyscraper . Seven seemingly-nameless gas-masked brown-jump-suited purely-mercenary bomb-planters are doing all this, at the direction of green-business-suited bespectacled buzz-haircutted also-nameless guy, who in turn is backed by a foreign government. In New York City they blow up a bridge and a power plant on the same day! Black X expects that they will next strike at a dam or reservoir in the same city; he and Batu fly to New York, and visit a dam excavation, and punch out a security guard and examine the blueprints.
One section of blueprints is missing; Fritz Moronoff (a civil servant of some sort) is in charge of the charts, and he lives at the very expensive Diplomat Hotel; Q.E.D. Black X zooms downtown and breaks into his home and beats him in a gunfight and extracts a confession: the bombers plan to blow up the Golder Dam, that very night. Meanwhile back at the dam excavation, the guard has recovered and called in the local cops, who cordon off the tunnel, at the bottom of which are at least six of the bomb-planters, planting a time-bomb. Black X & Batu return to the construction site from downtown, [so the Golder Dam IS near NYC or at least in NYState]. Batu uses a hypno-telepathic whammy to get them past the cops, and they quickly find the bomb team; Black X charges, he punches out two, and Batu knocks out one, and BX knocks down three in one unlikely-looking move, then he cranks open a valve which floods the chamber or tunnel that they're in, which in turn disables the bomb, then he superhumanly cranks the floodgate shut again, before they all drown, then keeps beating up badguys until the cops find their way in. The cops recognize the famous secret agent and are big fans.
Appearing in Espionage Starring Black X: "Fort Johnson Blown Up!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Fritz Moronoff, a corrupt civil servant
- seven unidentified mercenary bomb-planters
Locations:
- The Golder Dam, near New York City
- The Diplomat Hotel, in New York City
Synopsis for Chic Carter, Ace Reporter: "Phantom of the Opera"
Appearing in Chic Carter, Ace Reporter: "Phantom of the Opera"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Sgt Monahan
Antagonists:
- The Phantom (Dies)
- his insane master (Dies)
Other Characters
- Soprano (Dies)
Locations:
- New York City
- Daily Star Building
- Opera House
Synopsis for The Purple Trio: "Murder in the Wings"
Appearing in The Purple Trio: "Murder in the Wings"
Featured Characters:
- The Purple Trio:
- Rocky Hill, strongman
- Tiny Todd, midget
- Warren, ventriloquist
Supporting Characters:
- Sandra Starr, Purple Trio protege
Antagonists:
- three gangsters
Other Characters:
- Rosita, greatest singer in America (Dies)
- Boldoni Brothers, acrobats
Locations:
- big theater
Vehicles:
- Police "Black Maria"
Synopsis for Clip Chance at Cliffside: "Baseball Gamblers"
Late in Cliffside College's summer vacation season, Clip Chance gets invited to fill in for some sidelined players in an amateur baseball game, in Spud Doyle's home town. Sports-wagering gamblers respond by coshing Clip over the head, kidnapping him, and flying him to Cliffside, but on the way out of town they fly over the county baseball field. The game is in progress. That's when Clip wakes up, notices that he's in an open-cockpit plane and has a parachute strapped on, so he jumps out of the plane, lands in center field, and belatedly joins the game, just in time to spark the local Reds to victory over the local Blues.
Appearing in Clip Chance at Cliffside: "Baseball Gamblers"
Featured Characters:
- Clip Chance (Final appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Spud Doyle (Final appearance)
Antagonists:
- two sports-gambling kidnappers
Other Characters:
- The Reds, amateur baseball team
- Coach Jones
- Dick Arnold
- Gil Fox, new fellow
- The Blues, amateur baseball team
- Cronin
Locations:
- Doyles' house
- Cliffside College (Mentioned only)
- county baseball field
Vehicles:
- Gamblers' open-cockpit biplane
Synopsis for Invisible Justice: "Evening in the Oriental Museum"
Appearing in Invisible Justice: "Evening in the Oriental Museum"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Nolan, Assistant Curator, secretly terror gang boss
- mummy-wrapped terrorist
- knight-armored terrorist
- one plainclothes terrorist
Other Characters:
- Ruhle, Chief Attendant
- Curator Robbins
- Betty Robbins, daughter
Locations:
- Oriental Museum
Items:
- Invisible Hood's Invisible Cloak
Synopsis for The Ray: "Cadava the Crumbler"
At a masquerade ball a beautiful woman named Diane is enticed by a man dressed as a knight, who abducts her back to his sewer lair. He reveals himself as her former fiance, Cadava, hideously disfigured in a scientific accident. To vent his anger at the world, he shows Diane the city above being devastated by a doomsday machine he's built. However the Ray flies right into Cadava's lair riding the light beams from the broadcast to the villain's monitor. Cadava drowns in the waters of the sewers, while struggling with the hero. With him and his weapon destroyed, Ray becomes a giant and puts the fallen buildings back together.
Appearing in The Ray: "Cadava the Crumbler"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Diane
Antagonists:
- Cadava the Crumbler (Dies)
- Soo Choo, gnomish henchman (Dies)
Locations:
Items:
- Cadava's Televo-Ray (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Wings Wendall: "Vulcan Metz"
Appearing in Wings Wendall: "Vulcan Metz"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Military Intelligence Chief
Antagonists:
- Vulcan Metz, former famous actor, spy from Vandam
Other Characters:
- Diplomat from war-torn Baltica
Locations:
Vehicles:
- new model fighter plane (stolen, recovered)
- S.S. Richlieu, passenger liner
- Vandamian medium bombers (at least 1 destroyed)
- Vandamian fighter planes (at least 1 destroyed) (1 captured, abandoned)
- Baltican fighter plane (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Magno: "The Electrocution of Bob Green"
A murder was committed and the wrong guy got framed for it, young Bob Green. On execution evening, Magno the Magnetic Man showed up at the guy's death-row cell, disguised as his elderly mother, for a private chat. Magno swapped clothes with Green (who then was escorted out of the prison), and used a black wig to disguise himself as the condemned man. The electric chair seemed to kill him, but in the Medical Examiner's office, Magno sat up, punched out the M.E., stuck him in a closet, changed into his superhero costume, and left.
Outside the prison, in an "Atlas Electric" truck, Mike Harvey and Bob Green waited for Magno to land on the truck's roof, then drove away. At Madison and Elm, Magno used some fire escapes to levitate himself to the top floor of an apartment building, and into the apartment of "Weasel," from whom he demanded the identity of the real killer who framed Bob Green. Weasel played dumb but Magno beat a confession out of him, and he also ratted out his boss, Spatelle. Magno punched Weasel out, then used his powers to arrive rapidly at Spatelle's hide-out, where he disarmed and knocked out a gunman, then lurked about until he overheard Spatelle's new scheme: to produce some evidence that proves that innocent Bob Green really is innocent, and collect about fifty grand from the state for executing the wrong guy. Magno confronted Spatelle, thrashed him, thrashed his unnamed associate, and sent them by truck (w/ Mike still driving) to the State Prison, where they confessed to the murder and the shakedown scheme.
Appearing in Magno: "The Electrocution of Bob Green"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Mike Harvey
Antagonists:
- Spatelle
- Weasel
- unnamed associate
Locations:
- State Prison, Death Row
Vehicles:
- "Atlas Electric" lineman's truck
Synopsis for Abdul the Arab: "Shara"
Appearing in Abdul the Arab: "Shara"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Hasan, the Turk
- Sheik Ali Bey, Abdul's father (Dies)
- his horsemen (some die)
Horses:
- Bethsheba, Abdul's white horse
Antagonists:
- Achmed, the Bedouin (Dies)
- his band of cutthroats (some die)
Locations:
Synopsis for Bozo the Iron Man: "The Ghost Gang"
Appearing in Bozo the Iron Man: "The Ghost Gang"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Ghost Gang (one dies)
Other Characters:
- Pat kelly, cop (Dies)
- Izzy Kohen, cop
Locations:
- Abandoned Peters Mansion = haunted hideout
Vehicles:
- cars
Notes
- Abdul the Arab
- Abdul approaches his 23rd birthday.
- Abdul's father is killed in battle; Abdul takes over leadership of his tribe.
- Bozo the Iron Man
- Hugh Hazzard gets head-konked unconscious.
- Last issue for Clip Chance by George Brenner
- Clip gets head-coshed unconscious, with a blackjack, one last time.
- The amateur athletes are all named after Brenner's fellow editors at Quality Comics.
- At story's end, the sports-gambling kidnappers are still at large, and unnamed.
- Espionage
- This story ends with Black X briefing his boss, as always, but somewhere other than Black X's favorite restaurant in Washington DC, for the first time ever.
- Invisible Justice
- Kent Thurston gets thrown across a room and hits his head on a pillar, and is knocked out.
- Magno
- Mike Harvey might or might not know Tom Dalton's dual identity, but he does assist Magno on this case, and Magno's costume has no mask.
- Ray
- Using his Televo-Ray, Cadava the Crumbler destroys several large buildings in New York City. They then are set back upright by the Ray, wielding the strange forces under his control. Casualty count unknown. Afterward this is never mentioned again.
- The Ray gets head-konked unconscious with a heavy club.
- The mystic power in the Ray's fingertips brings Diane from her stupor.
- Wings Wendall
- Wendall gets shot down, and survives a crash landing.
- Also featured in this issue of Smash Comics were:
- Wun Cloo by Gill Fox
- "Small Stuff" (1-panel gags) by John Devlin
- Archie O'Toole by George Tuska
- Sportraits: "Bobby Feller" by Gill Fox
- Jimmy Christian: "The Coward" (text story) by Robert M. Hyatt
Trivia
- Alex Blum signs his work on Purple Trio artwork as "S. M. Regi."
- Art Pinajian signs his work on Invisible Justice as "Art Gordon."
- Bob Powell signs his work on Abdul the Arab as "Powell Roberts"
- George Brenner signs his work on Clip Chance as "Scott Sheridan," and his work on Bozo the Iron Man as "Wayne Reid."
- George Tuska signs his work on Archie O'Toole as "Bud Thomas."
- Lou Fine signs his work on The Ray as "E. Lectron."
- Will Eisner signs his work on Espionage as "Will Erwin."
- The plot of Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera" gets recycled at least thrice in this issue, in Chic Carter, in Invisible Justice, and in The Ray.
- Wings Wendall smokes cigarettes.
See Also