I'm known as the Invisible Hood. I've come to rescue you and break up the Spade Gang, but above all, I've come for your secret of invisibility, Professor! 
Smash Comics #2 is an issue of the series Smash Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1939.
Synopsis for Espionage Starring Black Ace: "War In the Far East!"
Japan and Russia declare war on each other, and fight large-scale battles, in China.
The Black Ace has to retrieve the stolen plans to the X-Beam (a beam that can completely disable a plane in flight, 5000 feet away, invented by Ellis Cravin), from two crooks (Dynamo and Duke), who murdered Cravin, and are trying to sell the plans to Russia or Japan. Playing an absolutely implausible hunch, Black Ace & Batu travel to Hong Kong, arriving there ahead of Duke & Dynamo. Ace tricks these tools into trying to double-cross the Japanese, which is a very bad idea. He also steals their copy of the plans, and gets to the Hong Kong airfield where Batu is waiting with a fueled-up airplane.
Ace and Batu attempt to fly to India while Duke and Dynamo, and two Japanese fighter pilots, pursue them. Much aerial skirmishing ensues, during which Batu gets bullet-wounded. Batu can fly airplanes, but Batu can't fly airplanes and do combat telepathy at the same time, while wounded. Landing in China, Ace seeks medical help for Batu, and gets a gunshot wound in the process, but so does Dynamo. Duke betrays Dynamo and gets airborne, with the plans; Dynamo teams up with Ace, and they get airborne also. Thousands of feet up, Dynamo suicidally jumps from Black Ace's plane onto Duke's open-cockpit pursuit plane, and while they are fighting that plane crashes.
Appearing in Espionage Starring Black Ace: "War In the Far East!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Batu
- Colonel Atwater
Antagonists:
- Imperial Japan
- Red Army
- Dynamo and Duke (both die)
Other Characters:
- Ellis Cravin (Dies)
Locations:
- New York City
- Washington, D.C.
- Espionage HQ
- Colonel Atwater's favorite restaurant
- Langley Field (Hampton, Virginia)
- Hong Kong
Items:
- Cravin's X-Beam (advanced antiaircraft weapon)
Vehicles:
- Black Ace's cargo plane
- Three advanced-model Japanese fighter planes
Synopsis for The Lone Star Rider: "The Black Gang"
Appearing in The Lone Star Rider: "The Black Gang"
Featured Characters:
- The Lone Star Rider (First appearance) (Origin) (Final appearance)
Animals:
- Lightning, his horse
Supporting Characters:
- Clem Gallent (Dies)
- Sarah Gallent (Dies)
Antagonists:
- Black
- his gang
- Snake McCade
Other Characters:
- Sage town Sheriff
- Deputy Rusty
- old cowpoke storyteller
Locations:
- Old West
- Sage, town
- Sage, town
Synopsis for Abdul the Arab: "The Fate of Bagdad"
Appearing in Abdul the Arab: "The Fate of Bagdad"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Hassan
- Abdul's many tribesmen
Antagonists:
- Sultan Siddi Ben Yusuf
- his many swordsmen
- his executioner, Mustafa
Other Characters:
- Inspector Webley
- Siva
Locations:
- Iraq (described only as Arabia)
- Bagdad
- British Police HQ
- Bazaar
- Ben Yusuf's palace
- Bagdad
Synopsis for Hugh Hazzard and His Iron Man: "The First Trial"
Hugh Hazzard installs a flying device in Bozo the Robot, then is called in to PD HQ, to argue with Commissioner Hunt about possession of the stolen robot. Bozo's recent, deadly, baby-stealing rampage is still a hot topic, among the public and the police, and there is serious resistance to the idea of its reactivation. This argument is interrupted by the report of a kidnapping, of a banker's daughter. Hazzard takes the case, and impersonates Hilton's made-up nephew "Percy Douglas", thus makes his way into the kidnap gang's hideout, where he gets recognized by one of the gangsters. Hugh whips out two automatics, and wounds two of them, but one gangster telephones a warning to his boss. Then Hazzard beats some info out of him: the boss will be flying out from Bush Airport, in his personal biplane. Well now the only way to catch him is with another flying machine, so Hazzard uses Bozo to disrupt the aerial getaway, crashing the plane and bringing in the pilot alive. It couldn't have been done without the use of Bozo the Iron Man, and the Commissioner reluctantly agrees that Hazzard can keep the robot.
Appearing in Hugh Hazzard and His Iron Man: "The First Trial"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Commissioner Hunt
- his policemen, Ryan, et. al.
Antagonists:
- "Gyp" Catrone
- 3 or more henchmen
Other Characters:
- Alvin Hilton, a banker
- Hilton's daughter
- airport attendant
Locations:
- New York City
- Police HQ
- Hilton mansion
- Hazzard penthouse
- Bush Airport
Vehicles:
- Gyp Catrone's biplane
Synopsis for Captain Cook of Scotland Yard: "Stealing the Mona Lisa"
Appearing in Captain Cook of Scotland Yard: "Stealing the Mona Lisa"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Creig Cook, Scotland Yard
Antagonists:
- Rene Landrue
Other Characters:
- Paris Prefect of Police
- Paris plainclothes policemen
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Prefect's motorboat (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Invisible Justice: "The Origin of the Invisible Hood"
The Invisible Hood returns home from another long, hard day of criminal-catching, dressed in that big red bag of a costume, and briefly laments his own visibility, then turns on the radio and learns of the kidnapping of a famous chemist, Hans Van Dorn, who had been working on a new phosphorescent chemical to cause invisibility. The radio story names Garrick Spade, a big-time kidnapper, racketeer, and crime organizer, as the likely suspect in the case. Spade has multiple hideouts, all unknown to Kent Thurston, but a suspicious ad in the next day's newspaper draws his attention to Littleton, Pennsylvania.
Dressed as himself, Kent Thurston arrives at the railroad station in Littleton, hides in the bushes, then ambushes and chloroforms one of the arriving Spade Gang sub-bosses. He steals a recognition token, and bluffs his way into a big gang meeting held in an abandoned mine. In one tunnel, he sneaks away and changes into his red outfit, then finds the kidnapped professor, who has on hand just enough of the new formula to treat Kent's costume, making it, and him, invisible. Then the Spade Gang all come into the room, looking for their missing associate, and very suspicious. The professor plays dumb, while the invisible investigator sneaks out of the mine, knocks out a sentry at the entrance, and steals the gang's car.
Thurston changes clothes then makes an anonymous phone call to the FBI, who promise to send over a squad car right away. They do, and it arrives just as Spade's underlings are all fleeing the state in their big car, a chase ensues which ends badly for the gangsters, who crash off the side of the road along a steep hillside; their fate is uncertain. Back in the mine, Spade finally loses his temper and guns down the old chemist, just before Kent Thurston arrives and guns down Spade. It's too late for the professor, but Thurston promises him to always use the power of invisibility for the good of society.
Appearing in Invisible Justice: "The Origin of the Invisible Hood"
Featured Characters:
- Invisible Hood (Origin)
Antagonists:
- Spade Gang (Single appearance)
- Garrick Spade (Dies)
- Butch (Dies)
- Joe
Other Characters:
- Professor Hans van Dorn (Dies)
Locations:
- Littleton, Pennsylvania
Items:
- Hans Van Dorn's phosphorescent-chemical invisibility formula
Synopsis for Clip Chance at Cliffside: "Electrified Base Paths"
Appearing in Clip Chance at Cliffside: "Electrified Base Paths"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Slick
- Bugs
Other Characters:
- Dave
- Cliffside Rovers (baseball team)
- Hawks (rival baseball team)
Locations:
- Cliffside College
Synopsis for Chic Carter: "Murder At Sea"
Appearing in Chic Carter: "Murder At Sea"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- "Pop", Daily Star Editor
Antagonists:
- Fritz Hoffman, "the munitions king" (Dies)
- Esteban, illicit munitions buyer
- Johnson (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Hoffman's niece (Dies)
- Sea Queen's captain & crewmen
Locations:
- New York City
- Daily Star
- Atlantic Ocean
Vehicles:
- SS Sea Queen
Synopsis for Wings Wendall: "Sabotage"
Appearing in Wings Wendall: "Sabotage"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Military Intelligence
- Wendall's C.O.
Antagonists:
- corrupt mechanic
- Lysa
- tuxedo co-conspirator
- monocle co-conspirator
- Boris
- other thug
Other Characters:
- Pat, test pilot (Dies)
- James Pierce, plane designer
Locations:
- Long Island, New York
- Mitchell Field,
- Pierce Estate
- New York City
- elegant hotel
Vehicles:
- experimental fighter plane (Destroyed)
- Lysa's rakish roadster
Notes
- Abdul the Arab gets a bullet wound.
- Captain Cook:
- The Journeau de Paris and Le Paris Gazette newspapers both spell Cook's name "Craig". However in Smash Comics #4, in a dialogue balloon, Cook himself says it's "Creig".
- Cook smokes cigarettes.
- Chic Carter smokes cigarettes.
- Espionage Starring Black Ace:
- Based on earlier episodes, this issue's story seems to probably take place circa 1938-Sep.
- Black Ace gets a new bullet wound in this story, his second,[1] and Batu gets several.
- Batu will sit out next issue, and then return in Smash Comics #5.
- Colonel Atwater (not named in this episode) looks exactly like a later Eisner character, Police Commissioner Dolan.
- At this story's end, the U.S. War Department does have the blueprints for the X-Beam weapon.
- Wrap-up scene is again set in Black Ace's boss's favorite Washington restaurant.
- Hugh Hazzard smokes cigarettes. So does Commissioner Hunt
- Invisible Justice:
- With this issue, Kent Thurston's feature is now titled "Invisible Justice," but the hero himself was still, and always would be, called the "Invisible Hood."
- Up until now, the "Invisible Hood" has been calling himself that, only because of his true identity being unknown.
- In his civilian identity Kent Thurston packs two handguns, and uses one to kill gang leader Garrick Spade.
- First and last issue for Lone Star Rider by George Brenner.
- Lone Star Rider rides a big white horse, but wears no mask, works alone, and his ammunition is just like everybody else's.
- Wings Wendall: Closing panel announces next issue's villain: "The Hooded Terror".
- Also featured in this issue of Smash Comics were:
- Archie O'Toole: "Midget Auto Races", by Will Eisner
- "Mystery at Catalina, Chapter 2" (text story) by Jeffrey Spain
- Philpot Veep: "The Case of the Missing Walrus", by John Devlin
- Screen Snapshots: "James Cagney", by Bernard Baily
- Small Stuff, by John Devlin
- Sportraits: "Ernie Lombardi", by Gill Fox
Trivia
- Will Eisner signed his Espionage stories as "Will Erwin" and his "Archie O'Toole" stories as "Bud Thomas".
- George Brenner signed his Clip Chance stories as "Scott Sheridan" and his Hugh Hazzard stories as "Wayne Reid".
- Art Pinajian signed his Invisible Justice stories as "Art Gordon".
See Also
Links and References
