Uncle Sam Quarterly Vol 1 2

"Raiders of the Deep": An obscure scientist or engineer devised a blueprint for a submersible battleship, but was driven insane from frustration at his inability to sell it to any defense contractors. Whoever he was, he was treated like a demented crackpot for so long that he became one, and sol

"Raiders of the Deep"
Cover
Uncle Sam Quarterly Vol 1 #2
December, 1941
Publisher	Quality Comics
Executive Editor	Everett M. Arnold
Cover Artists	Lou Fine
Raiders of the Deep
Writers	Will Eisner
Pencilers	Lou Fine
Inkers	Lou Fine
Editors	Ed Cronin
War in Kid-Land
Writers	Will Eisner
Pencilers	Dave Berg
Inkers	Dave Berg
"The Villains' Revolt", or "Who Swiped My Comic Book?"
Writers	Will Eisner
Pencilers	Dave Berg
Inkers	Dave Berg
The Fiddler of Death
Writers	Will Eisner
Pencilers	Dave Berg
Inkers	Dave Berg
Margo the Magician: "Origin of Margo"
Writers	Emanuel Demby
The Return of King Killer
Writers	Will Eisner
Pencilers	Dave Berg
Inkers	Dave Berg
Previous Issue	Uncle Sam Quarterly # 1
Next Issue	Uncle Sam Quarterly # 3

Sam, you are not going to die. You are going to live eternally. For from this blood-soaked earth beneath you, will come a new strength, a strength born in the belief of people in liberty and fair play. You shall be the spirit of a new nation, the voice of the people, the defender and fighter for the rights that they believe in.

— The Voice

Uncle Sam Quarterly #2 is an issue of the series Uncle Sam Quarterly (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1941. It was published on December 17, 1941.

Synopsis for "Raiders of the Deep"

An obscure scientist or engineer devised a blueprint for a submersible battleship, but was driven insane from frustration at his inability to sell it to any defense contractors. Whoever he was, he was treated like a demented crackpot for so long that he became one, and sold his plans to an Axis agent. Meanwhile and elsewhere, Buddy Smith invented a "Bumble Boat" which could could travel rapidly above, on, or under the water.

A few days later, a large Navy Yard on the East Coast is attacked by a submersible battleship, inflicting massive damage on the fleet and killing hundreds of sailors, which then moves out to sea and submerges under cover of a smoke screen. By the time Uncle Sam and Buddy reach the scene, in the B-Boat, the monstrous warship is gone. But it re-emerges soon, and Uncle Sam gets aboard it. While he's snooping around, a crewman sneaks up and whaps Sam upside the head with a fire axe, and uncharacteristically, he's momentarily stunned by this. The Axis battleship crew tries to use a depth-charge to destroy Uncle Sam, who instead hefts it and throws it at the embittered inventor, who VERY narrowly evades being blown up, and counters by submerging the giant craft. As hinged hull plates are flipped into place, Unc is momentarily pinned between two of them, but soon he is mostly loose, and using his foot to wedge open the plates. The submerging battleship takes on tons of water, it is sinking, and Uncle Sam really is stuck in place as it does. Meanwhile belowdecks, the ship's captain and its builder are fighting among themselves, with axes, and lot of screaming comes from the compartment in which they are last seen.

Unc escapes from the battleship and Buddy picks him up in the Bumble-Boat. More submersible battleships are on their way, but Uncle Sam radios a warning to the U.S. Fleet, which sends out a formidable force to intercept them. The submersibles slip past that fleet, and close in on the coast. The Bumble Boat zigzags thru the attacking flotila, with all of them firing wildly at it and missing. The boat shoots one torpedo and Uncle Sam throws another one; both are ship-killing hits. By that time, the bypassed U.S. warships have caught up, and a large-scale old-school naval gunnery duel ensues. More U.S. forces, in Flying Fortresses and dive bombers and submarines arrive, and soon the Axis vessels are wiped out.

A few weeks later, the U.S. Navy has got a whole fleet of brand-new Bumble Boats.

Appearing in "Raiders of the Deep"

Featured Characters:

• Uncle Sam

Supporting Characters:

• Buddy Smith

Antagonists:

• American unnamed insane inventor (Dies)
• German Navy
  • submersible battleship crews

Other Characters:

• U.S. sailors (many die)

Locations:

• United States of America
  • Everytown, U.S.A.
    • Uncle Sam's Workshop
  • an Atlantic Coast Navy Yard
• Atlantic Ocean

Vehicles:

• Uncle Sam's ramshackle jalopy
• Buddy Smith's Bumble Boat
  • (it flies and dives)
  • (speeds up to 120 mph)
  • (packs one torpedo tube, and up to 3 torpedoes)
• unknown insane inventor's Submersible Battleship (Destroyed)
• a fleet of Submersible Battleships (Destroyed)
• many conventional U.S. warships (some damaged, some destroyed)
• many more conventional U.S. warships, and aircraft, and shore batteries
  

Synopsis for "War in Kid-Land"

A metal shortage afflicts the nation, as giants threaten miners and frighten them into fleeing their mines. Soon factories are shutting down. FDR calls on Uncle Sam to deal with this. Unc and Buddy visit the mine where the Giants were first heard from, and march inside. A giant sneaks up and pushes them into a seemingly-bottomless pit, and they land in Kid-Land. Children live here, who never grow old. These are the children of Hamelin, lured here centuries earlier by the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin. Also all of the evil giants and witches and goblins of Fairy Tale Land are banished there. Under the rule of the Wicked Witch Queen, these evil creatures are harvesting all the metal ore from the abandoned mines. This whole underground landscape is illuminated by radium deposits.

Uncle Sam, being an adult, must leave Kid-Land, and he marches on over to Evil-Land to confront the bad guys. The Witch Queen meanwhile is rallying up her army for the biggest raid on Kid-Land yet. Kid-Land's defenders under Buddy's direction use flaming archery against broomstick-riding witches, and knock down a few before the rest skreech away, and they use giant slingshots to bonk the charging giants with rocks until they fall down and cry, like the big blubbering cowards they really are. Uncle Sam befriends one giant and learns a few things about Evil-Land society. The Witch Queen has a tantrum about the worthlessness of her troops, and raves about her grandiose schemes, then unleashes a giant Monster. The Monster tramples the Queen and runs away, toward Kid-Land, terrifying everybody else.

Uncle Sam offers to get rid of the Monster if the giants will make peace with Kid-Land. The giants declare peace right on the spot and blame everything on the late Witch-Queen. The Monster attacks Kid-Land and Buddy gets ready to fight it, but fortunately Uncle Sam gets there first, and grapples the Monster. He tosses the beast about a bit, but soon throws it, crashing thru two panels' worth of borders, to land in a volcanic-looking smoke-hole. The giants of Evil-Land promise to work hard and cooperate with Kid-Land. Also they have an elevator, in which they send Unc and Buddy back to the mine. Uncle Sam tells the miners that they'll have no more trouble from the giants, and just like that, they go back to work.

Appearing in "War in Kid-Land"

Featured Characters:

• Uncle Sam

Supporting Characters:

• Buddy Smith

Antagonists:

• Witch Queen (Dies)
  • Giants (reformed)
  • Monster, a Dragon, caged for 500 years (Dies)
  • Witches (scattered)

Other Characters:

• FDR (Cameo)
• Kid-Land Kids
• Pied Piper of Hamelin (Mentioned only)

Locations:

• Rogers Mine
  • Kid-Land
  • Fairy-Tale-Land (Mentioned only)
  • Evil-Land
• Washington, D.C.

Vehicles:

• Uncle Sam's dilapidated jalopy
  

Synopsis for "The Villains' Revolt", or "Who Swiped My Comic Book?"

This story is narrated in verse, and many of the characters seem to be well aware they they are fictional characters. We see Joe Hercules punch one hideous villain (and his handlebar mustache) through a triple-plated vault door, and the villain gets back up, grabs the edge of one panel, and pulls himself out from the 2-dimensional page into the 3-dimensional world, and walks right out of the story. He then organizes a general strike of all comic book villains, giving the heroes nothing to do, thus putting them out of work. The Villain then goes on to kidnap all the artists in the comic book factory, and chain them to their drawing boards, to produce the kind of comics that his villain buddies have always wanted to see. Soon we see, trudging along in an unemployment line, Hercules, Neon, Quicksilver, the Ray, the Black Condor, and others.

Uncle Sam finds out about this, disapproves, and intervenes. He invades the comic book factory and punches out The Villain, who just doesn't stay punched out, and who runs Unc through some production machinery. The two indestructible foes batter one another through some unlikely-looking machinery, and it goes on for quite some time, before Sam does in The Villain with an ink eraser and some white paint. Sam then frees all the artists, and then confronts the picket line of striking villains. He lectures them about their necessity, in the scheme of things, and shames them into going back to their evil work. Soon The Ray is seen punching out a uniformed Nazi, and all is right with the world.

Appearing in "The Villains' Revolt", or "Who Swiped My Comic Book?"

Featured Characters:

• Uncle Sam

Supporting Characters:

• Buddy Smith
• Joe Hercules
• Neon the Unknown
• Quicksilver
• The Ray
• The Black Condor

Antagonists:

• The Villain
  • many more villains

Other Characters:

• comic book artists

Locations:

• the comic book factory
  

Synopsis for "The Fiddler of Death"

Uncle Sam and Buddy are on a train to Washington, D.C. and in their coach are a world-famous violinist and a condemned convict. The convict talks a lot of demented smack about how killing is the greatest power of all, and he's got a lot of it. Some evildoer who knows that Unc is on that train uses dynamite to knock down a tall bridge across a deep canyon; the train plummets hundreds of feet, and almost everyone is killed. Uncle Sam pries apart the coach's roof and carries Buddy to safety, leaving behind the inert forms of Malvolo and Joe Romany, the musician and the convict. Soon doctors arrive and whisk these two, and others, to the hospital. In surgery they find that the convict is dying fast, and the violinist's hands are ruined, so without getting his permission or even informing him, the surgeons graft the convict's hands onto Malvolo. These hands are far larger, stronger, and uglier than his old ones, and Malvolo goes mad. With one of these hands he crushes his violin into splinters, and starts talking the same kind of demented smack that the late Joe Romany had been raving, earlier. Malvolo strangles a nurse, and sneaks out of the hospital via the fire escape, finds his way to the waterfront, sneaks aboard a departing steamship, and leaves the country.

Weeks later, off the coast of South America, the ship's crew finds Malvolo and puts him ashore, where he is attacked by fierce Natives. The biggest strongest fastest Native is the first to come within reach; Malvolo strangles him with one hand; the other Natives proclaim him to be their new leader. That night, in the old chief's hut, Malvolo finds a crude native violin, and meets a wild ape, and learns that he is able to control the ape with the violin. Soon he controls a whole troop of apes. They raid some cities.

A U.S. destroyer on a goodwill tour of South America, with Uncle Sam and Buddy aboard, just happens to show up. Sam is told about the raids, and walks off into the jungle to investigate. He finds Malvolo, they converse, Malvolo accompanies Sam back to the ship, anchored off shore. Malvolo seethes with insane rage as everybody expresses pity about his hands. That night Malvolo strangles a lookout, climbs a mast, and plays his crude native violin. Great apes lumber out of the jungle, a lot of them. They swim out to the anchorage, and climb up the anchor chains onto the destroyer. A big fight breaks out between the destroyer crew and the apes, with much destruction and some deaths. Malvolo sneaks into Uncle Sam's stateroom and tries to stangle him; Sam knocks him across the room with one punch, and he hits his head on the bulkhead. Apes charge into the room and fight Unc; they lose but Malvolo escapes, grabs his violin, and climbs up into the ship's superstructure to play it. But the spell has been broken and the apes go wild. The ship runs aground on a snake-infested reef; large constrictor snakes slither up the sides of the vessel and attack the crewmen. One snake goes after Buddy, who is climbing a mast and going after Malvolo. Sam grabs the snake, Malvolo slides down to the main deck, Sam drops the snake onto Malvolo, it constricts him to death. The apes are still rampaging around the destroyer's decks so Uncle Sam picks up Malvolo's fiddle and plays a tune. All the apes jump over the side and swim back to shore, then Sam smashes the instrument into splinters.

Appearing in "The Fiddler of Death"

Featured Characters:

• Uncle Sam

Supporting Characters:

• Buddy Smith

Antagonists:

• Joe Romany, convict (Dies)
• Malvolo, violinist (Dies)
• two bridge bombers

Other Characters:

• two plainclothes cops (Dies)
• surgeons
• nurse (Dies)
• fierce Natives (one dies)
• U.S. destroyer crew (some die)

Locations:

• Moorehead Prison
• State Prison
• railroad trestle across a gorge (Destroyed)
• hospital in a town with a seaport
• South America
  • jungle

Animals:

• large South American Apes (some die)
• large South American Snakes (one dies)

Items:

• Malvolo's beautiful old violin (Destroyed)
• Malvolo's crude native violin (Destroyed)

Vehicles:

• passenger train from Moorehead to Washington, D.C. (Destroyed)
• tramp steamer
• U.S. destroyer
  

Synopsis for Margo the Magician: "Origin of Margo"

In occupied Shanghai, an American traveling conjurer ("Presto" Webster), and his daughter and son (Margo and Jimmy Webster), help two fleeing Chinese soldiers (Hi and Lo, brothers) hide out from some Japanese soldiers. The soldiers aim their rifles at the three of them, and the stage magician calls on the Rulers of Darkness to aid him, and does a hypnotic magic trick: he influences all three riflemen to aim at himself, thus sparing Margo his daughter and Jimmy his son. And before he dies, he whispers a powerful secret into Margo's ear.

The soldiers try to arrest them then but Margo gets away. Jimmy gets manhandled away to a jail and this is witnessed by an American reporter, Chick Benson, who also gets arrested. Elsewhere in crowded Shanghai, two soldiers spot Margo and attempt to arrest her. Margo throws a rock at them, and the rock grows to a terrible size then returns to normal, and bounces off one soldier's helmet. They run away. Margo the Magician marches into the jailhouse and turns some soldiers' legs into tree trunks, melts some rifles, and borrows some keys, then sets free her brother and his new friend Chick. They team up with two Chinese soldiers, and together they steal a Japanese freight train, and its cargo of food, which they deliver to some starving Chinese refugees.

Appearing in Margo the Magician: "Origin of Margo"

Featured Characters:

• Margo the Magician (Single appearance)

Supporting Characters:

• "Presto" Webster, travelling conjurer (Single appearance; dies)
• Jimmy Webster (Single appearance)
• Chick Benson, reporter (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

• Japanese soldiers

Other Characters:

• Hi, Chinese soldier
• Lo, Chinese soldier
• Chinese audience
• Chinese refugees

Locations:

• Occupied China
  • Shanghai
    

Synopsis for "The Return of King Killer"

The mightiest criminal in the world, Rellik, "King Killer," escapes from prison and murderously rampages thru several cities. King Killer takes over Ghost Town, and sets up a phony gold strike in the nearby hills, and spreads the story by telephone, all across the country. A widespread craze ignites a new gold rush, and lots of people abandon their homes and jobs to rush to Ghost Town. Rellik gets most or all of their money, and they leave town, destitute.

FDR sends Uncle Sam after King Killer, and Unc reluctantly brings Buddy along, even though this is dangerous. Their hunt brings them to Ghost Town, where they meet up with a parade of Rellik's victims who tell Sam their woeful stories. But Rellik's enforcers wear badges, so Unc refuses to fight them, and meekly waits in jail. But then the deputies stupidly kidnap Buddy, who escapes, and uses a barrel of powder to blow up some bad guys. Uncle Sam gets back into the fight with King Killer, and fantastic feats of strength and durability continue, until Killer and Uncle fight their way into a played-out gold mine, which they bring crashing down on themselves. King Killer seems to be dead but Unc and Buddy aren't sure.

Afterward their friend the crazy old prospector finds gold at the bottom of this mine, and splits it up with all his neighbors, and they build a newer, better Ghost Town.

Appearing in "The Return of King Killer"

Featured Characters:

• Uncle Sam

Supporting Characters:

• Buddy Smith

Antagonists:

• King Killer (Apparent Death)

Other Characters:

• Loco, old prospector
• FDR (Cameo)

Locations:

• Prison
• Ghost Town
• Loco's Cabin
• Abandoned Gold Mine

Notes

• Fiddler of Death
  • We never find out who the bridge dynamiters are or what their beef with Uncle Sam was.
  • Medical ethics were apparently very different in the 1940s.
  • In the Quality Universe, great apes live in South America, and they can swim.
  • The U.S. Good Neighbor Policy was a diplomatic campaign to keep Latin American nations from joining the Axis.
• First and last issue for Margo the Magician by Emanuel Demby and "Bill Bydem".
• Raiders of the Deep
  • A submarine crew the size of a battleship crew is killed.
  • U.S. Navy acquires a fleet of Buddy's "Bumble-Boats," but they're never seen or mentioned again.
• In The Villains' Revolt we see five Quality Comics superhero characters, in the same panel, and appearing in a sixth superhero's feature, for what's probably the only superhero crossover in Quality Comics' history.
  • This is the first and last time that Uncle Sam, the Ray, and the Black Condor appear in the same story, in a Quality Comics book.
  • In the 1970s, these characters and a few others would compose the Freedom Fighters, when their licensing rights became the property of DC Comics.
• War in Kid-Land
  • Buddy gets head-konked unconscious.
• Also featured in this issue of Uncle Sam Quarterly was:
  • "Uncle Sam Tells Buddy Who He Is and How He Came To Be" (text story)

See Also

• Cover gallery for the Uncle Sam Quarterly series
• Images from Uncle Sam Quarterly Vol 1 2

Links and References

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