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in: Whitney Ellsworth/Executive Editor, Jack Kirby/Cover Artist, Joe Simon/Cover Artist,
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Star-Spangled Comics Vol 1 11

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"Newsboy Legion: "Paradise Prison"": One night on Suicide Slum, a shop window gets broken, and a shadowy figure climbs inside. But the Newsboy Legionnaires saw everything. Big Words thinks the small shape of the burglar must mean it was a kid, like them. If so, they could handle him themselves.

Star-Spangled Comics #11 is an issue of the series Star-Spangled Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1942.

Synopsis for Newsboy Legion: "Paradise Prison"

One night on Suicide Slum, a shop window gets broken, and a shadowy figure climbs inside. But the Newsboy Legionnaires saw everything. Big Words thinks the small shape of the burglar must mean it was a kid, like them. If so, they could handle him themselves. Slipping inside through the same broken window, the boys catch the thief. They recognize the kid as Muggsy Baker, who was sent away to a reform school. Muggsy says he recently ran away, and was only stealing because he was hungry. The school he escaped from is forcing kids to work long hours, or else they get thrown in solitary with only bread and water. It sounds terrible, and the newsboys want to help those poor kids. All of a sudden, a light shines through the window at them. It is Jim Harper! Disappointed because he believes that they were the ones who broke into the store, Jim has no choice but to report them to the judge. The boys are innocent, but Tommy keeps his pals from speaking out. If they want to help those kids, getting sent to the reformatory is the best way they could do it!

The next morning, the judge sentences the kids to the State Reformatory for Boys. However, the Reformatory doesn't seem like a bad place at all! They are greeted warmly by the warden, given a feast with the other children, and even get to watch a Superman movie. It's starting to look like Muggsy was lying through his teeth! After a few days, though, Tommy accidentally falls down a coal chute. In the boiler room he finds Muggsy locked in a cell. Warden Goodley had him locked up and beaten for telling the legion how bad it was here. The warden was afraid that Tommy and his pals would contact the Guardian if they found anything suspicious, so he's been treating them extra nice. Meanwhile Scrapper and Big Words overhear the Warden talking to one of the guards about fooling the brats so they don't tip off the Guardian. Gabby also learns the truth from a few of the kids themselves who were told to act like everything's fine until he and his newsboy friends were transferred. But now that the gang are aware of the truth, what do they do?

Every morning, Warden Goodley broadcasts a daily update over the radio about his Reform School. This keeps the donations coming, which he then pockets. This time, the Newsboys break into the room while the broadcast is going on and shout into the mic for their pal, the Guardian, to come help them! The guards smack them around and drag them out. But in the apartment of Jim Harper, he hears the broadcast loud and clear, and changes into his Guardian outfit. He makes way to the reformatory and climbs a drain pipe up to the warden's office. The warden gloats that he was glad the brats did what they did, because now he didn't have to spend money on them anymore. No one would believe their word over his. The Guardian crashes through the window, grabbing Goodley by the lapels. He forces the Warden and the guard to take him to the boys. They descend staircase, to the cells below the school. There the kids are, happy to see the Guardian got their message. But reinforcements were coming, the guards swarm over Guardian and the Newsboys! Warden Goodley finds a tommy gun and threatens that he'll shoot the kids unless the Guardian surrenders! The hero has no choice. In a cell behind them, nobody notices Muggsy reaching for the keys of a fallen guard. The warden is tackled by Muggsy, and the Guardian and his young pals take advantage by pounding the surprised guards. Once Scrapper gets his hands on the gun, the fight is over!

Warden Goodley and all his corrupt guards get arrested. Muggsy speaks up for the Newsboy Legion, they weren't the ones who broke into the store. The Guardian tells him that he and the other children will be getting better help from now on. There won't be a need for any reform school once society takes better care of the underprivileged youth.

Soon the Legionnaires are back in Suicide Slum selling papers, and trying to get patrolman Jim Harper to admit he's the Guardian.

Appearing in Newsboy Legion: "Paradise Prison"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Mister Goodley (Single appearance)
  • Pete (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Muggsy Baker (Single appearance)
  • Superman (Cameo)

Locations:

Items:


Synopsis for Star-Spangled Kid: "Case Of The Crippled Car"

Pat Dugan loses his job after the tires are stolen off the Pemberton family limo. Sylvester helps his friend by tracking down the thieves. They find the tire theft is part of a larger plan by the Japanese to steal America's much needed rubber, and send it back to their own Nazi forces. The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy put an end to the operation in the only way they can, with their fists! Pat finds his tires, recognizing them easily from the many times he's worked on the car, being loaded aboard a merchant ship. The duo fight off the remaining crew. The authorities are notified, and the Star-Spangled Kid and his pal leave for home. Now that the tires have been replaced on the limo, Mr. Pemberton gives Pat his job back.

Appearing in Star-Spangled Kid: "Case Of The Crippled Car"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Mr. Koto (Single appearance)
  • Joey (Single appearance)

Locations:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for Tarantula: "Galloping Gold"

John Law, better known as the Tarantula, heads to the wild west on news that his nemesis Bardon has headed there after escaping jail. A rash of cattle rustling has struck the local ranchers but there's no clue to where the robbers took them. Tarantula finds the thieves have borrowed a trick from the god Mercury and tied brooms to the stolen cattle's tails so they erase their own tracks. Tarantula is knocked out by one of Bardon's gang, but is saved when one of them tries to be ironic and shoot Tarantula with his own gun, which doesn't fire bullets and only snares Bardon. A group of ranchers arrive at Bardon's hideout having followed a trail of web Tarantula left for them. Outnumbered, Bardon tries to ride away but his horse trips and bucks him to a fatal drop down a waterfall.

Appearing in Tarantula: "Galloping Gold"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Hungate and various ranchers (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for Penniless Palmer: "Mystery of the Crosseyed Crocodile"

A guard at the Akin Tank Plant gets surprised by an intruder near the large stuffed crocodile display. Before he was knocked out, the guard noticed that the crocodile's eyes were crossed. But when he wakes up, the eyes were back to normal. The next morning, the bewildered guard seeks aid from Penniless Palmer. Despite the objections from Bunny and Oxie, Pen takes the case.

He discovers that the crocodile's eyes were recently replaced. That may explain why it was looking cross-eyed before, because someone was trying to pry them out. The manager, Mr. Sutter, seems nervous when asked where the crocodile came from. Nevertheless, he sends them to the taxidermist who did the job. There is a gang of thugs waiting for them there. Oxie and Pen fight them off, and free the tied up taxidermist. He shows them the only two eyes he had left for a crocodile. After examining them, Pen buys the eyes with the last of his savings. He understands what is going on, now. They need to hurry back to the plant.

They grab the manager as he's trying to run away. He keeps yelling about the sun coming up. Pen makes him explain, how the crocodile had a bomb planted inside, that was set to blow up the whole plant! Sutter has been working with Fifth Columnists, and the glass eyes he put in the croc were actually magnifying lenses. So when the sun hit them, they'd refract the rays into a hot beam that would touch the bomb inside and set it off. He didn't put them in right the first time, which is why the guard saw them as cross-eyed. After knocking the guard out, Sutter placed them in the right spot.

The police arrive and offer Pen a reward for solving the case. Pen tells them to put that money towards the war effort.

Appearing in Penniless Palmer: "Mystery of the Crosseyed Crocodile"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Manager Sutter (Single appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Guard Jones (Single appearance)
  • Tell the Taxidermist (Single appearance)

Locations:

  • Akin Tank Plant

Synopsis for TNT & Dan: "Case Of The Missing Memory"

Tex N. Thomas, known better as TNT, and his protégé Dan the Dyna-Mite face off against "Honest" Judson Cross, a crook who stole money from a charity for blind children. During the scuffle, TNT gets hit in the head and loses his memory. Cross convinces him that he's a member of their gang, and so TNT turns against his partner, Dan! Unfortunately, the atomic energy charge in his body has already exhausted itself, so Dan can't fight back. But, after escaping the room he's thrown into, the teenage hero is able to find Tex and touch their rings together, with the resulting explosion curing Tex of his amnesia. Afterwards, the dynamite duo work together again to take down Judson Cross and his mob.

Appearing in TNT & Dan: "Case Of The Missing Memory"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Judson Cross & his henchmen (Single appearance)
    • Butch (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for Robotman: "Adventure Of The Plundering Jap"

Paul Dennis is approached by a group of "businessmen" who are willing to buy all the scrap machinery in an abandoned factory that Dennis owns. However, it's Robotman that sees the connection between this offer and a string of scrap metal robberies that have been occurring. He follows the scrap until it leads him to the thieves' hideout. It turns out his "visitors" were working for the Japanese, who were loading a shipment to be taken back to Japan. But instead of money, the leader wants to pay the surprised men in lead! Robotman saves them, though he also knocks the the crooks out afterward, and then races to stop the ship from leaving with the scrap metal! He dives underwater, and guides the ship's rudder using his own strength, so that it steers toward the coast guard. With the case all wrapped up, Paul Dennis returns to his research in the lab.

Appearing in Robotman: "Adventure Of The Plundering Jap"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Slanteyes (Single appearance)
  • Bignose (Single appearance)
  • Dude (Single appearance)
  • Mickey (Single appearance)

Locations:

Vehicles:

  • Autogiro

Notes

Trivia

  • The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy created special "maneuvers". These moves are mostly illegal for anyone who isn't a costumed crimefighter to use.
    • "Maneuver Z-33": Knock two enemies together by punching them.


See Also


Links and References

  1. ↑ 1/Star-Spangled Comics #2, 2/Star-Spangled Comics #3, 3/Star-Spangled Comics #6, 4/Star-Spangled Comics #10, 5/Star-Spangled Comics #11
  2. ↑ 1/Star-Spangled Comics #7, 2/Star-Spangled Comics #11
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