The Massive, Extravagant, Over-the-top Golden Age JSA Re-read

Replies

- JD DeLuzio > The Baron May 22, 2026 at 5:41pm
Captain Comics May 26, 2026 at 12:43pm
FEBRUARY 3, 1942

World's Finest Comics #5, Spring 1942, Detective Comics Inc.
Cover by Fred Ray

Superman
"The Tower of Terror"
By Jerry Siegel and John Sikela (13 pages)

The local Native Americans are none too happy when wealthy Brent Matthews plans to move their Indian Tower from Mastodon Lake to his estate, and Lois and Clark are there to get the story. Matthews has gotten a death threat in the form of an arrow on his pillow, which Clark recognizes as a "war arrow." Also objecting is Lemuel P. Potts, "specialist in Indian lore at Mosely Museum." After a couple of attempts on Mathews' life and on a workman, the latter by an Indian "ghost," Superman decides to move the tower himself, which he does by lifting it and carrying it. Matthews is then kidnapped (by ordinary suit-and-tie thugs), and Superman catches them and takes everyone to the police station (in the course of which he lifts a speeding train over their car). However, the thugs are killed by arrows before they can confess, and the archer can't be found. Later, Matthews and Lois are kidnapped by the Ghost Indian, and left bound at the top of the tower. The Ghost Indian collapses the tower with "a weird tune from a strange instrument." Superman saves Matthews and Lois, but the tower collapses on the Ghost Indian. The Ghost Indian turns out to be our only suspect, Lemuel P. Potts. He knew from his studies of treasure in the tower and he meant to get it first.

Takeaways
- This one's pretty silly. How is a "war arrow" different from any other kind of arrow, and how would Clark know the difference? Obviously, no matter how strong you are, you can't lift a brick tower that's several stories tall without it collapsing from its own weight. Also, no North American tribes built thit thing, which looks like a medieval castle turret. Also, you can't lift a speeding train over a car — it would result in the moral equivalent of an airborne train wreck, as trains are not designed to fly, or be lifted into the air by one end. The couplings would break, and train cars would spin every which way at high speed. (That's the best outcome I can imagine, given all the inertia at play here.) Also, Potts appears to collapse the tower with, I dunno, Indian magic? Plus, it was Vikings, not Native Americans, that hoarded treasure. What would "Indian treasure" by tribes near Metropolis consist of? Beads? Buffalo hides? The story still has that early Superman sizzle, but you have to swallow a lot of impossible things before breakfast.
- "I can't get to sleep — worrying about Lois ... she has a better aptitude for getting into trouble than anyone I've ever known!" This almost feels like a mission statement.
- By Baron's Law, Professor Potts is a cousin of Pepper Potts.
- The usual stinger at the end, where Clark ends up scooping Lois, is relegated to a single word balloon.
Where I Read It: Superman: The World's Finest Archives Vol. 1

Sandman
"Gems of Jeopardy"
By unknown and Cliff Young (10 pages)

Dian summons the Sandman because a friend is in trouble. Gay Thompson's brother is an ex-con who has threatened to kidnap her son, and wants her husband's diamond collection. Gay doesn't want her husband to know about the brother. The trio plan to trick the brother with fake diamonds, but for some reason, Sandman has to steal the real ones. That involves safecracking and gassing the husband, Fred. But he knows Gay is with Dian at the Walmont Hotel, barges in, and thinks Gay is working with the Sandman to rob him. In the confusion the brother, who has been following Gay, swipes the diamonds. Then he kidnaps the son, Billy. Sandman chases him down, defeats him, and turns him over to a random motorcycle cop. The brother pulls a gun, and the cop shoots him dead. "I think — it's better this way," Sandman says. It turns out Fred knew about the brother before he married Gay, and all misunderstandings are straightened out.

Where I Read It: Online.

Takeaways
- I was hoping for some kind of twist at the end, where the kidnapper wasn't the brother at all, like in a recent Mr. Terrific story with a similar plot. But nope, it's a pretty straightforward — and pedestrian — story.
- Sandman gets to safecrack one more time ... only not really, as he knows the combination (from Gay Thompson).
- The introductory caption says Sandman is "armed with a gasgun and a sack of loose fine sand." Well, that should terrify crooks everywhere. Actually, Sandman does find an aggressive use for the sand, by throwing in the kidnapper's eyes, but c'mon, sand is not a weapon. I can see why they wanted to upgrade the guy. (Whether they succeeded is another conversation.)
Fun Facts:
- This is the final Golden Age story with Sandman's gas mask. Its last appearance in Adventure Comics was issue #69 (three months ago), and its last appearance in All-Star Comics was issue #9 (last month). World's Finest completes the set.
- This is Dian Belmont's last appearance in World's Finest Comics, and penultimate appearance in the Golden Age overall. (Her last is in All-Star Comics #15, with all the JSA "girlfriends.")
- The next issue of World's Finest will not only reflect the new costume, but also feature the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who took over the home strip in Adventure Comics #72 (March 1942).
Batman and Robin
“Crime Takes a Holiday”
By Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos (13 pages)

Brains Kelley convinces "Big John" Waller and Dude Davis to have their mobs stop all crime "at midnight tomorrow." These three "crime lords" apparently run all crime in Gotham, because at midnight all crime stops. Batman is suspicious, and commits a crime as "the Gold Coast Kid." He is caught by Big John's gang, who are impressed with his skills, and is invited to join their gang. He discovers the gangs of the three crime czars are pulling jobs out of town, dressed as other criminals, who get the blame. Eventually Batman and Robin are captured (as always happens) and they are put in a death trap instead of being killed outright (as always happens) and they escape (as always happens). Then they and the police catch the three gangs red-handed, as Batman had learned their plans as the Gold Coast Kid.

Where I Read It: Batman: The World's Finest Comics Archives Vol. 1

Takeaways
- As noted, there's a pattern to many Golden Age Batman stories — first battle, capture, escape, final battle — but they were meant to entertain kids and obviously succeeded (since Batman was so popular). They don't hold up well when read one after another by adults 84 years later, but I understand they weren't meant to.
- The most amazing part of the story is that all crime in Gotham City is controlled by three men. It's not hard to believe that gangsters, hearing of the crime ban, would fear the crime bosses enough to lie low. What's hard to swallow is that this threat worked its way to every pickpocket, purse-snatcher and juvenile delinquent in a major city. I'm not sure you could achieve that sort of blanket awareness today, even with TV and the internet. And whatever era you're in, there are the desperate, the drug-addled, the mentally challenged.
Continuing: Zatara, Crimson Avenger, Red White and Blue, Goggles, The King, Lando the Magician. TNT and Dyna-Mite make their second appearance (the first was in Star-Spangled Comics #7), but why they appear here, I have no idea.
- The Baron > Captain Comics May 26, 2026 at 1:39pm
  
  TNT and Dyna-Mite make their second appearance (the first was in Star-Spangled Comics #7), but why they appear here, I have no idea.
  
  There was space open and a story available?
Philip Portelli May 26, 2026 at 4:15pm

SUPERMAN: they never explain why the Ghost Indian can evade Superman for so long besides to keep the story going!

When Clark leaves Lois, telling her he's going to bed, I thought he did that to follow her but no! Clark really went to bed!

So Potts was the archer shooting all those war arrows? He should have been fighting Green Arrow!

SANDMAN: I had no idea that an "old" Sandman story was out after the "new" Sandman debuted. They must have had some inventory stories left. I guess they had to coordinate with All Star Comics and had a leftover!

BATMAN: the cities the Gotham criminals invade are Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis, all in the Midwest, quite the drive if Gotham is supposed to be New York City!

can see the three crime bosses ordering the local gangs but what about the Joker, Penguin and Catwoman? Why would they obey?
Captain Comics May 27, 2026 at 11:28am

When Clark leaves Lois, telling her he's going to bed, I thought he did that to follow her but no! Clark really went to bed!

I found that surprising, too.

So Potts was the archer shooting all those war arrows? He should have been fighting Green Arrow!

At first I thought it funny that a museum guy could shoot arrows so well. But, I wrote it off that he was a Native American exper, so maybe archery and other native skills were his hobby. But what's unexplained -- among many unexplained things here -- is how he gets close enough to shoot two men with police all around and then "vanishes." How did he pull that trick off?
Captain Comics May 27, 2026 at 11:32am
FEBRUARY 7, 1942

Batman #10, April-May 1942, Detective Comics Inc.
Cover by Fred Ray and Jerry Robinson. It's sort of metaphysical, with Batman and Robin acknowledging that they are pen-and-ink characters.

Batman and Robin
"The Isle That Time Forgot!"
By Joseph Green, Bob Kane, Robinson and George Roussos (12 pages)
Batman and Robin / comic story / 12 pages

For his birthday, Dick Grayson receives his own Batplane. (It's good to be rich.) A hurricane blows them off course to an island where Robin sees a dinosaur and Batman sees (with binoculars) a man and woman being captured by cavemen. They land, and are also captured by cavemen. The cavemen are under the command of a Professor Moloff, who wants to keep the island secret until he can write a book about it and become rich and famous. B&R turn the tables on the cavemen, who flee when the entire group is attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Batman defeats the dinosaur by tying a batrope to a tree and throwing a noose around the T-Rex's neck. The man and woman are Dan and Dolores. The latter faints, but the former knocks Batman out with a rock, and summons two men out of the shrubbery to kidnap Robin. They talk of a "Big Guy." Batman is left to a boa constrictor, but a mystery ally kills it with a rifle shot. Robin is put in a huge animal cage, where he is menaced by a saber-tooth tiger. He calls Batman on his belt radio, who is currently being menaced by Professor Moloff, who means to kill him, and indicates "Big Guy" killed the snake. He escapes and goes to Robin's aid. He kills the tiger, which turns out to be an ordinary tiger, dressed up as a saber-tooth. They discover Moloff has caught up with Dan and Delores, and means to kill them. Batman intervenes, while Robin circles around — to discover "Big Guy" is a movie director, filming from the shrubbery. When he saw Batman land in his movie set — the dinosaur and cavemen are also fake — he decided to film them secretly to make his movie better, and was protecting them with his rifle. Dan, an actor, was jealous and hated Batman. And the threat from Moloff was real.

Where I Read It: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 3

Best line:
- Robin: "Batman! Pinch me! I think I see a dinosaur — a dinosaur!"
- Batman: "Don't get gay! You know as well as I do dinosaurs lived millions of years ago!"
OK, I know language changes, and I'm not going to point out every time words like "gay" or "queer" are used in the 1940s with their original meaning, but become double entendres in 2026. But "Don't get gay!' sounds like a Saturday Night Live sketch or South Park episode waiting to happen.

Takeaways
- That was a pretty convoluted story, but it makes sense in the end and was a genuine mystery for a while, with a lot of moving parts. Well done, Joseph Greene, whoever you are.
- I don't think it was explained why the fake cavemen were working for Moloff. Wouldn't they be working for the movie director? Maybe Moloff hired his own thugs and made them wear cavemen outfits. Or the director told his extras to do it.
- The dinosaur was a robot, which belonged to the movie company. But it isn't the one that ends up in the Batcave. That one came from "Dinosaur Island!" in Batman #35 (June-July 1946). That I have to explain which robot dinosaur Batman decided to keep as a trophy is a testament to the character's awesomeness.
- This story breaks from the standard Batman story I described in the last post. Which automatically elevates it.
- Somebody tell Gary Larson about a tiger wearing fake teeth. There's a great joke in there somewhere.
- I just noticed: Nobody says "keep 'em flying" randomly in Batman stories. Or at least not lately.
Batman and Robin
"Report Card Blues!"
By Greene, Kane, Robinson and Roussos (13 pages)
Batman and Robin / comic story / 13 pages

Fearing a bad report card, Tommy Trent runs away from home. Batman and Robin break up a bombing, only to be caught in the blast. The escaping crooks change their bakery truck to a butcher truck, and give runaway Tommy a ride, so they will look less suspicious when they are pulled over at a police roadblock. The thugs take the boy to the boss, Milo the Florist. He tells Muggsy to kill the boy, but Batman and Robin, having followed a trail of rolls that Tommy dropped out of the truck, burst in. This being a standard Batman story, the Dynamic Duo are captured and tied up. They escape (it involves a fern and a radiator ... honestly, it's not very plausible).

This being a Golden Age story, the boss has left his plans written down at his desk. So B&R go to the three addresses where Milo and his gang (plus Tommy, brought along as hostage) are running a protection racket. Batman stops one gang, Robin another, but at the third, a department store, the two are ambushed. Tommy sets off the sprinklers with an arrow from the sports department that he sets afire, which summons the fire department. The crooks are overwhelmed, and Tommy goes home a changed boy, who will now stop playing hooky and try to get good grades.

Where I read it: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 3

Best Line:
- Batman: "Solid, Robin ... solid!"
When did Batman start using jazz slang? Is he trying to be ... cool? Next issue: Zoot Suit Batman!

Fun Facts: No giant props, but the Dynamic Duo make use of specialized equipment at a barber shop and an amusement gallery.

Batman and Robin
"The Princess of Plunder!"
By Jack Schiff, Ray, Robinson and Roussos (13 pages)

Socialite Marguerite Tone, secretly Cat-Woman (sometimes Cat Woman), holds a party where the posh guests are sent out on a scavenger hunt. Cat-Woman (complete with giant cat-head mask) sends her gang out as well to rob wealthy Gothamites, pretending to be on the scavenger hunt. When Batman and Robin break up one such burglary, they have to call Tone to verify the crooks' cover story. He recognizes Cat-Woman's voice. Batmsn lets the crooks go, but decides Bruce Wayne will attend Tone's next party.

Tone's next party is a masquerade, and Bruce Wayne attends as Batman. He discovers he's one of many Batmen, and just like an earlier Hourman story, several of them are gangsters there to rob the place, and mistake the real Batman as one of their gang. They meet with Cat-Woman, and a late-arriving Batman reveals that one is an imposter. Batman (and a late-arriving Robin) clean up the gang, but let Cat-Woman go. "You can't prove I commited any crime," she says by way of explanation to the reader. Which seems unlikely, since they're charging the Bat-gang with something, and the gangsters are certainly going to point her out as the boss. But OK.

Cat-Woman's next scam is to train gangsters as servants, and have "Marguerite Tone" recommend them to her rich friends. At a dinner, Bruce Wayne recognizes one of the servants as a criminal and tumbles to the scheme. He breaks it up, but Cat-Woman escapes.

Her next scheme, which she conveniently has written down and leaves behind, is the "finder's fee" scam from a recent Wildcat story. Batman and Robin break that up, too, and when a henchman decides to shoot Cat-Woman, the Dark Knight stops him. A grateful Cat-Woman kisses him, and he is in a daze as she escapes. Robin thinks he let her go on purpose.

Where I Read It: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 3

Takeaways:
- This story is full of stolen plot ideas, and too many schemes (like Penguin in Batman Returns, which is my gold standard for Too Many Schemes). Many of the now-becoming-routine Catwoman tropes appear as well, such as her yearning for the big, strong Batman and him letting her ecape, to Robin's chagrin. It's all redeemed by being a Catwoman story, which is a relief from all the generic suit-and-tie gangster stories.
- I read somewhere, in some Bat-history or other, that Catwoman's giant cat-head mask appeared only once, in her debut story in Batman #1. Clearly, that is untrue. Shame on you, author of whatever book it was that said that! I have been carrying that erroneous bit of info around in my head for decades. It makes me fear how many other things I "know" that aren't true.
- Jeff of Earth-J has more to say Catwoman: Nine Lives of a Feline Fatale.
Batman and Robin
"The Sheriff of Ghost Town!"
By Bill Finger, Kane, Robinson and Roussos (13 pages)

Various people at loose ends — a prospector (Cactus Tom), an orphan, a homeless Dust Bowl couple, old people, etc. — accidentally revive a ghost town in an unnamed Western state, and christen it Sunshine City. But Frogel and his desperados arrive, and take over. Young Joe the orphan boy gets the word out via radio and newspaper in nearby State City that they need Batman's help. Bruce and Dick hear it on radio news and fly out to "the desert" in the Batplane.

Batman stops the hoods from killing young Joe, and the town runs him for sheriff (against Frogel). He wins, and Frogel and his gang make a pretense of going legit, waiting for B&R to leave. Meanwhile, the town prospers and money is being sent from nearby Cactus City for lights and roads ... on a stagecoach, of course. Sheriff Batman appoints Deputy Robin to ride shotgun, but his gun has blanks, because, as Frogel later says, Batman "don't believe in usin' shootin' irons — the fool!" He has a point. Why send someone to ride shotgun ... without a shotgun? Robbers with six-guns on horses wearing handkerchiefs over their faces hold up the stagecoach, kill Cactus Tom and kidnap Robin. Robin leaves a trail with the blank cartridges.

When the stagecoach arrives, Batman and a posse set out to find the gang. Initially Batman is reluctant to let "graybeards" form a posse, but he is impressed by their fighting spirit, inspired by their frontier ancestors. They follow the cartridges, and capture the gang. The leader, Blackie, confesses they're working for Frogel. Batman returns to town to confront Frogel in the saloon which, of course, looks like a WIld West saloon from a John Ford movie. Batman defeats Frogel and the town erects a statue to Cactus Tom.

Takeaway: I'm not going to point out all the anachronisms in this story, which I find a bit silly. As we've discussed about other Golden Age stories set in the West, they're just excuses to write a Western, using the tropes 1940s kids were familiar with from radio, TV, movies and, of course, other comic books. So "Sheriff of Ghost Town!" gives us Wild West set pieces involving stagecoaches, saloons and six-gun shoot-outs, despite the 50 or 60 years of progress between the WIld West and 1942.

There is one bit of silliness I have to get off my chest, though, and it's not specifically an anachronism. It's the bit with the cartridges.

Can you imagine how many blank cartridges Robin woud need to lay a trail in the West, across distances crossed by horse? It would be a huge amount, which would be an unnecessary burden to carry, and Robin doesn't even have pockets. And, rationally, he wouldn't have very many to play his role as "stagecoach shotgun." The simplest approach would be to carry a rifle that's fake or unloaded. He might carry one or two blanks for show (or, more specifically, sound), but not the metric ton he'd need to leave a trail. Further, to leave said trail successfully, all the cartridges he threw would have to stay exactly where he threw them and not, say, roll off into the brush to lie unseen. It's preposterous every way you look at it. Finger just re-used his own "hostage leaves a trail" idea that he used in the last issue of World's FInest Comics, only less plausibly this time.

Fun Fact: When typing "stagecoach shotgun" above, I initially typoed "stagecoach shogun." And now I want to see that movie.

Where I Read It: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 3
- The Baron > Captain Comics May 27, 2026 at 12:13pm
  
  Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shōgun, retired in 1868, and lived until 1913, so it's not entirely impossible.
- Jeff of Earth-J > Captain Comics May 27, 2026 at 1:06pm
  
  When did Batman start using jazz slang? Is he trying to be ... cool?
  
  I don't know when he started, but he was still a hep-cat in 1967 (Blackhawk #228) when he said (to President Lyndon Johnson, no less), "It's a fact, sir. The Blackhawks are washed-up has-beens, out of date antiques, a danger to national security! To put it bluntly... they just don't swing!"
Captain Comics May 27, 2026 at 3:35pm

Maybe he was already doing the Batusi in 1942, and we just didn't know!
Captain Comics May 28, 2026 at 11:14am
FEBRUARY 10, 1942

Flash Comics #28, April 1942, All-American Publications Inc.
Cover by E.E. Hibbard. That’s a bunch of 1942 movie stars in the background. How many can you name? My wife and I got seven. (Clockwise from bottom left: Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Charles Boyer, Clark Gable, Orson Welles, Betty Grable, Ginger Rogers, Tyrone Power.)

The Flash
By Gardner Fox and E.E. Hibbard (13 pages)

Hollywood producer Patrick Mount is running a gang in New York. Flash breaks up a robbery at the Babybird nightclub (he and Joan went there after the theater — pretty high living for working stiffs), but Mount arrives and says it was all a publicity stunt for his upcoming movie, Guns of Gangland. It's not true, but everybody buys it. Mount decides to get rid of Flash anyway, by offering him a job in the movies. Flash doesn't like the idea, but Joan makes him go. Flash is the target of numerous assassination attempts in Hollywood, which Mount writes off as publicity stunts (although Flash is aware they were plenty lethal). But then he is strafed by an airplane, and the pilot says Mount is a gangster who runs gangs all over the country. Flash captures Mount and his gangsters. Peripheral characters are described as being redeemed by ratting out Mount's gangs around the country.

Takeways:
- Flash running by people at high speed develops into a running gag with a doorman and his toupee. It doesn't go anywhere, but it's amusing.
- Mount says "I'll offer [Flash] a movie contract! If he wants to turn it down, his girl friend won't let him. Hollywood glamour and all that will get her if it doesn't get him!" Which is exactly what happens, because girls in Golden Age stories aimed at 10-year-old boys are usually foolish.
- It took me a minute to get the pun with Pat Mount's name. But then someone referred to "Patty Mount's studios" and I thought, duh, Paramount. The Hollywood publicity man for Pat Mount's studios is Cam Shott, which needs no explanation. The New York publicity man is Artie Hale, and if that's a pun I don't get it.
- Hale doesn't like his job. "What is it they all like about Hollywood, I'll never know! Me — I hate the business! I'd like to be a fireman, myself!" This is another bit that doesn't go anywhere, but I appreciate the little bit of characterization for a character who's just passing through the story. It made me think of Hermey in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the toy-making elf who'd rather be a dentist.
- Flash keeps frustrating Mount's Hollywood gangsters by vibrating their heads through car doors, so they are trapped in the doors like old-fashioned stocks. This running gag is extended to Mount himself at the end. There are many door puns.
- I am aware that vibrating through objects is a modern explanation. Back then, the explanation was the old "straw through a tree in a hurricane" idea, which disregards that human beings are not straws. if Flash was actually throwing people fast enough to go through objects, they would die horribly. So in my head canon, he was vibrating them through objects instinctively, but just didn't know how he was really doing it until Barry Allen came along to explain it.
- The pilot tells Flash to "keep 'em flying," and since he's a pilot, I'll allow it.
- Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich appear together in the final panel at Maribou (Malibu) Beach. Gable was married to Carole Lombard at the time, who would soon die in a plane crash while on a war-bond tour. Gable himself would use his celebrity to enlist for combat duty after her death, despite being too old by Army Air Force rules. Some celebrities avoided service, but people like Lombard, Gable, Benny Goodman and Jimmy Stewart stood up when it counted.
Where I Read It: Online.

Johnny Thunder
By John Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier (8 pages)

Daisy Darling is going to say with her Aunt Panzy for an extended visit, and Peachy Pet creates a distraction (which involves getting Johnny into a fistfight) to get on board the airplane with her. Meanwhile, Dagwood Derringer has lost control of Flyhi Airways to Philbert K. Awfulcoffee, and boards the same plane to commit sabotege in revenge.

Best Line: "My girlish mind can take this no longer," Daisy says. "I'm fainting!" It's funny because it makes fun of making fun of women.

Takeaways:
- I'll ignore the phyics being violated in this story, because it isn't a serious story. Sadly, it's also not a very funny one.
- Johnny calls his ward "Peachy Pet Thunder." So maybe she's officially adopted. I didn't think wards took their patron's last name, because everything I know about wards comes from Batman comics.
- Why does Aschmeier draw Peachy Pet like a small, angry gangster? I can easily picture her with a cigar in her mouth, holding a chatter gun and wearing a pinstripe suit. I have hard time picturing her as a little girl. Even though there are pictures.
- Thunderbolt is assigned the "keep 'em flying" line. But since he's rescuing Johnny and the others from a falling plane, it actually works.
Fun Fact: GCD says this is the last Golden Age appearance of Daisy Darling. That's not really true, as DCU Guide says she appears in three more Johnny Thunder stories before Black Canary takes over the strip (Flash Comics #39, 42 and 65). But it is, more or less, the end of her tenure as a supporting character. I tend to think of Golden Age titles and strips as rather static — the stable creative teams lead me in that direction — but I’m learning there was a lot more evolution than I had previously considered. Here, for example, we’re losing the girlfriend angle in "Johnny Thunder," apparently to focus on Peachy Pet. It’s not an improvement to my eyes, but like with Percival Popp in "Spectre" and the Three Nitwits in "Flash," it must have seemed like one to the writers and readers of the day.

Where I Read It: Online.

Hawkman
By Gardner Fox and Sheldon Moldoff (9 pages)

A giant white bird carries off a farmer, and then Shiera. Big Red reports the big bird to Hawkman, who discovers it's a mechanical bird, and the guy inside shoots him in the shoulder. He assigns a chimney swift to follow the robot, while he returns to Hawk Valley to dress his wound. The guy inside is Karl Mangam, who built the robot. He knows Shiera is a friend of the Hawkman, and takes her to his "deserted house on the tip of Hawk Mountain," where he builds a mechanical person who looks and acts just like Shiera. Hawkman and his bird army arrive, and he is fooled by the fake Shiera, and returns her to Hawk Valley. She is terrified of the birds, which confuses Hawkman. He goes back to the house in search of the other people the mechanical bird snatched. Meanwhile, Mangam is going to change Shiera's face (and somehow her hair color) with wax. He does the same for some crooks he sends to rob a bank, promising to change their faces when they return. He also coats the floor with wax, which traps Hawkman when he lands.

But the wax wears off on Shiera and Hawkman recognizes her. (Although there's no reason she couldn't have just said, "Hawkman it's me. They dressed me this way. I'm not a witch.") He uses his wings to pull free of the wax, which apparently our brilliant scientist didn't think of. (Dude, it's his only super-power.) Hawkman beats up Mangam, and the crooks return to get Mangam themselves, because his wax wore off while they were robbing the bank and cops recognized them. Hawkman beats them up, too, and the cops arrive, having followed the bank robbers.

Back at Hawk Valley, the fake Shiera has completely vanished. "I thought that would happen," Shiera says. "She wasn't real. But a sort of image that Mangam conjured up with his rays ... and when the rays wore off, she disappeared." Despite Mangam saying that she was like the robot bird, and despite Hawkman physically carrying her to Hawk Valley.

Then Shiera breaks the fourth wall to tell the readers to buy U.S. Savings Stamps, and to "keep 'em flying!"

Where I Read It: Online.

Takeaways
- Here's another polymath with advanced skills in a number of unrelated fields, from building robots, to using wax in surprising ways, to whatever the fake Shiera was (which involves the ubiquitous "rays"). Mangam's a scientist, and therefore able to do whatever the plot calls for, which just seems like lazy writing to me. It does, however, feel very Flash Gordon-y, which I suspect is one of the strip's inspirations.
- In regard to fake Shiera ... what the what, now? Rays?!??
Continuing: The King, The Whip. Last appearance of Les Sparks, Radio Amateur. So no we have even less Sparks than before. (Sorry.)

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