We haven't been disturbing the peace. Here's a license to have a parade. We're a parade!
Star-Spangled Comics #18 is an issue of the series Star-Spangled Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1943.
Appearing in Newsboy Legion: "The Education of Iron-Fist Gookin"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Iron-Fist Gookin
- Sharpy Pierce
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Synopsis for Newsboy Legion: "The Education of Iron-Fist Gookin"
- Synopsis not yet written.
Appearing in "Stripesy vs. the Star Spangled Kid"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Dugan's Garage
- Flower Field Airport
Vehicles
- first Star-Rocket Racer
Synopsis for "Stripesy vs. the Star Spangled Kid"
- Synopsis not yet written.
Appearing in Tarantula: "Granny Get Your Gun"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Cynthia Agatha Donk impersonator
- three accomplices
Items:
Synopsis for Tarantula: "Granny Get Your Gun"
One midnight, Tarantula's uneventful patrol is interrupted when a little old lady sneaks up on him and covers him … with an umbrella. She claims to be Cynthia Agatha Donk, and to have recently inherited a lot of money, and to crave a career of excitement and adventure, as a criminal. But she also doesn't want to do anything illegal, so she proposes to hire the Tarantula, for $10,000 up front, to keep her out of trouble. Despite his misgivings ("Y-you're Cynthia Donk? B-but that's impossible!") and resolving to turn the money over to the Police Fund, Tarantula goes along with this preposterous scheme. She hands him $20,000 (the extra $10K to cover expenses) and a list of the places she plans to rob tomorrow; they resolve to meet again at midnight at this same vacant lot.
The following midnight, Miss Donk shows up dressed up as a rootin' tootin' cowboy-style bandit, with a sawed-off shotgun, and they proceed to Schmidt's Butcher Store, where she shoots out the lock and they ransack the place, stealing some big hunks of meat which they carry away in a sack. Next stop is the Jersey Grocery Store on Sixth Avenue, then a fish peddler's shop, and she shoots her six-shooter into the air at random as they go. Soon Tarantula is pulling a wagon loaded with stolen rubbish from these stores, and they haven't even gotten to the candy store yet. Finally some cops show up, and it's time for Tarantula to do his part. He shows the cops the deeds to the robbed stores, and tells them that Miss Donk had bought all of them yesterday. They buy this, but they still need to do some arresting, on account of all the gun-shooting that's gone on. Tarantula pulls out a parade license, and tells them that he and Miss Donk are a parade. So now they're off the hook except, wait, is that a peddler's wagon? You need a license for one of those, so they have to get it off the streets or they're under arrest. Tarantula wheels the cart to Miss Donk's house, her strident protests notwithstanding. He leads her to a place that turns out to be the wrong address, then tries again, and they and their cart full of heisted groceries go to an elegant mansion. But once they're inside, they stumble upon a safecracking burglary, in progress!
There's a web-pistol-shooting and peddler-cart-toppling and chandelier-swinging melee, in which Tarantula underperforms so badly that he ends up on the floor and the two burglars get away, plus they abduct Miss Donk. But once they're a safe distance away, "Miss Donk" turns out to be the boss of these two mooks, and a man. This whole scheme has been an elaborate ruse to steal the bonds inherited by the real Cynthia Agatha Donk, which, the impersonator has learned, were earlier sent to a broker at 10 Grand Street. He learned this by peeking inside the cracked-open safe while the other two were fighting the Tarantula. So now they're headed to the broker's office, but before very long the Tarantula catches up to them. While "Miss Donk" yells for help, one thug gets behind Tarantula and knocks him out with a pistol butt, then both goons leave for the broker's office.
Tarantula comes to, and "Miss Donk" goes into her act, but Tarantula has no interest in pursuing these other bad guys, and proceeds to Myers' Candy Shop on St. Paul Street. "Miss Donk" doesn't get it, but "she" plays along; any place but Grand Street is okay with "her." But by what seems to be an unfortunate (for "her") concidence, (and is really some clever planning by the Tarantula), the Candy Shop is on an arcade, whose other end opens onto Grand Street, and they arrive just as the henchmen are coming in at the other end. Only now there are three of them. This time around, Tarantula does much better, and the three are quickly subdued. He then uses his web pistol to truss up the fake Miss Donk as well, finally revealing the suspicions that he'd formed much earlier. He knew Miss Donk was a fraud, and a man, from some tell-tale clues (none of which would be apparent to the reader), and because he knew that the real heiress, Cynthia Agatha Donk, was a cat. Also that "wrong address" that he'd led her to earlier was actually the back door of the Donk mansion, which "she'd" have recognized if "she'd" really lived there. The only reason he'd kept the charade going along this long was that "she'd" paid him a pile of money to help with the robberies, so now, in good conscience, he could keep it, and pass it along to the Police Fund.
Appearing in TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite: "Dealer of Doom"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Raznick
Antagonists:
- Phineas Smythe
Other Characters:
- Mrs. Leland Strong
Items:
Synopsis for TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite: "Dealer of Doom"
- Synopsis not yet written.
Appearing in "Robotman Was Worth His Weight in Gold"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Professor Izra Yenver
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Robotman Was Worth His Weight in Gold"
- Synopsis not yet written.
Notes
- Stripesy vs. the Star Spangled Kid:
- Story begins a few days before July 4, 1941.
- Shortly after this story, Pemberton's parents hire Dugan as a chauffeur.
- The story's date is established in the captions and later reconfirmed by Roy Thomas in Secret Origins v.2 #9, Dec 1986.
- Sylvester Pemberton is only 11 or 12 at this point, per Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 April 2000.
- Pat and Syl both get konked on the head in this story, the first concussions of their careers.
- Tarantula
- Miss Donk and Tarantula begin their crime wave on foot, then suddenly they have a peddler cart. We never find out where they got that cart.
- Miss Donk has two henchmen, then at the arcade she has three. We never find out how the third henchman showed up.
- Tarantula gets headkonked unconscious with a pistol grip, for neither the first nor last time of his career.
Trivia
This issue also contains a Penniless Palmer story (betweeen the Tarantula and T.N.T. ones), drawn and presumably written by Stan Kaye.
See Also
- Discuss Star-Spangled Comics Vol 1 18 on the forums
- Cover gallery for the Star-Spangled Comics series
- Images from Star-Spangled Comics Vol 1 18
Recommended Reading
Links and References
- Star-Spangled Comics #18 index entry
- Star-Spangled Comics #18 "Stripesy vs. the Star Spangled Kid" story online
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