Introducing the vacuum gun: Smash Comics #21 (part 1)

Midnight's fourth foray against crime is chronicled in Smash Comics #21.  This story is especially important because it introduced two major elements of future  Midnight stories:  Gabby the talking monkey (who was, surprisingly, much less cheesy than he sounds), and Midnight's signature sidearm--the vacuum gun.

The story begins with Midnight attempting to bust the perpetrators of a purse-snatching scheme.  When one thug "accidentally" bumps into a young lady on the sidewalk, causing her to drop her purse near a drain; whereupon it is seized by compatriots hiding in the sewer.  

After cuffing the first criminal to a lamppost, Midnight shimmies down the storm drain after his partners.  In the ensuing scuffle, he comes across as unbelievably tough.  Even when smashed over the head with a 2x4, this elicits nothing more from our hero than the observation...

Brief authorial aside:  Can anyone explain this to me?!  Why would it be lucky for him to have worn soft felt?  Wouldn't that make the impact of the 2x4 even worse?  Either Cole got messed up on what he meant to write here, or I'm missing his pun. 

In the panel above, you can see what is (I believe) the very first appearance of the vacuum gun.  Apparently, Cole knew at the time that he wanted to make the sidearm the signature weapon of his hero, since he included this panel focusing specifically on the gun:

One wonders, though:  Did Cole suffer short-term amnesia...or did he simply assume all of his juvenile readers did?  By this point, it has been demonstrated that the vacuum gun is most certainly not Midnight's "only weapon." He used a hypodermic dart in Smash Comics #20, and a regular firearm in Smash Comics #19.

Smash Comics #19

Smash Comics #20

Well, friends, I intended to have a full post on Smash Comics #21 for you, but I simply got distracted with other things and didn't devote the time to preparing the post that I ought to have.  So, we're going to call this "Part 1," and I'm going to invite you back next Monday when we'll be introduced to a certain simian sidekick.