Midnight's Inexplicable Adoption of Doc Wackey: Smash Comics #23 (June 1941)

Where Smash Comics #21 introduced the world to Gabby the talking monkey, two issues later Jack Cole brought out another character who was to be a long-term Midnight ally--Doc Wackey. Yet one could be forgiven for expressing skepticism about the trustworthiness of this partnership based on the doc's initial foray into the reader's consciousness.

Over the long-term, Cole presented Wackey as a stock "absent-minded-professor" character.  While there are elements of this first story that could be interpreted that way (e.g., Wackey's reference to the money he's stolen as "payment" for imparting the "gift of youth"), it stretches even childish credulity to believe Wackey could be this innocent.  

If, as Wackey declares throughout the story: (1) youth is a self-evident gift, and (2) Wackey clearly "deserves" to be rewarded for the boon he's brought to mankind, then why doesn't he use the youth-restoring pills on himself?   

Furthermore, if all of the Doc's actions are above board, then it's challenging to explain why his island compound seems to have a ready-made security system that imprisons Midnight? 

After jailing Gabby and the now-babe Midnight, Wackey heads off to "an appointment" with the (conveniently named) financier, Doble Assetts.  

Meanwhile, in an effort to restore Midnight to his correct age, Gabby manages to acquire an untested powder that will either reverse the effects of Wackey's youth pill...or kill Midnight. (No pressure, though, Gab!)

Luckily the power is successful (I know you were getting pretty worried, weren't you?) 

Once restored to his correct age, however, Midnight still faces the problem of being held in a metal cage; but never you fear, dear reader, for it's DEUX EX MACHINA to the rescue!!!!!!  Midnight produces (from somewhere) a jar of acid to eat through the lock.  

Midnight and Gabby catch up to Wackey at the penthouse of Doble Assetts, where they arrive just in time to prevent the forcible infantilization of the financier.  

Wackey plunges out of a nearby window and parachutes gently to street-level; but it's Midnight and his trusty vacuum gun in hot pursuit!  I just realized that Midnight was Batman before Batman was Batman.

 

When hunter and prey reach the ground, the obligatory car chase ensues.  As before, Midnight apparently deems it wise to entrust the control of a moving vehicle to his monkey sidekick, while himself dramatically leaping from said automobile (apparently, pausing to close the door mid-leap--Remember kids: safety first) towards that being operated by the fleeing Wackey.  

Unfortunately, Wackey's vehicle inexplicably "swerves out of control" leaving our intrepid hero dangling from the remains of a stone bridge. 

Shortly, Wackey is hauled from the water by Midnight.  Now having committed a number of big money robberies, assaulted citizens (to say nothing of assaulting and imprisoning Midnight himself!), you'd think--based on Dave Clark's history to this point--that Wackey is in for some serious comeuppance, right?  Instead, we get this:

What the WHAT?!?!  I'm pretty sure that Julie the Jerk, Hart & Bently, Chango the Magician, Morris Carleton, and others would've enjoyed getting a Midnight-approved mulligan on their felonies as well. 

Oh, and in case your mind wasn't bothered by why Midnight's letting a criminal go free, but IS tortured by wondering how a talking monkey could possibly drive a car too--we find out Gabby uses stilts to reach the pedals. 

Alan Scott: the OG GL.

If you've been around superhero comics much, you likely know that there was a Golden Age version of Green Lantern well before Hal Jordan, or John Stewart, or Kyle Raynor
.

This guy's name was Alan Scott, and today (thanks to Pappy and his Golden Age Comic Blogzine, I finally got to read my first, authentic Alan Scott adventure. Aside from Scott's annoying sidekick, Doiby, I didn't think the ole' story was too bad...but I recommend you head over to Pappy's site, and read it for yourself...then, come back here and tell me if I'm wrong about Doiby.

Smash Comics #22

Smash Comics #22 continues the theme of biblical justice advanced in previous Midnight stories.  (see here and here).  This one is a bit unique, however, in that the opening crisis threatening the denizens of Big City is not magical wizards, or collapsing infrastructure, but a simple milk shortage.

The idea that the local man of mystery would be concerned about "the hungry babies" is a beautiful sentiment...and one that gets at the heart of the sort of thing I think God is preoccupied with. 

His suspicions raised, Dave deploys his new simian sidekick (see last week's post) to scout out the headquarters of the two companies.  Gab learns the attacks are part of a corporate war for dominance by-any-means-necessary, and that Ajax Co. thugs intended to hijack tomorrow's Sterling Co. milk train at 12:00 AM.

Naturally, Midnight crashes the planned donnybrook.As an aside: this fight scene offers another good example of the variant colors seen on Midnight that I referenced in an earlier post, though this time they're in the same issue! 

After summarily dispatching the Ajax attackers, we shift to a celebratory scene at Sterling headquarters, where Sterling CEO Bently has drawn the mistaken conclusion that Midnight is taking his side. Our hero arrives just in time (as Providence would have it) to correct this notion.

Not taking too kindly to these threats, Bently responds by spraying Midnight full in the face with ammonia stored in a lapel sprayer. What is this guy, a supervillain?  Were ammonia-loaded self-defense lapel pins a common personal security device amongst 40's era executives?

After overpowering the blinded hero, Sterling personnel tie Midnight to a chair in the office (because...I guess that's just the thing to do when threatened by a masked vigilante?)

Our hero is unmasked to satisfy Bently's curiosity about the crime-fighter's true identity, yet Clark manages to maintain his secret by....wait for it...making silly faces. I know it was the 1940s...but I'm still amazed that this kind of conflict resolution flew even then...even in a publication intended for children 

As it turns out, while Midnight was defending the Sterling train from Ajax thugs, Sterling thugs were "doping up" the Ajax milk supply.  (It's never stated precisely what the milk is doped with, but a prediction that "the hospitals will be overrun with future Sterling customers" seems to imply it's not a drug to make them high, as much as something to make everyone sick.)

Once Midnight is left alone with the obligatory single guard, cries of "Help! Murder! Police!" emerge seemingly from thin air.  The protests ratchet up the anxiety level of the inexplicably jumpy crony, but nothing prepares him for coming face-to-face with the origin of the voice.

After the worst gun-toting criminal henchman in history faints from seeing a talking monkey, Gabby frees Midnight and the two set off to prevent the distribution of the tainted milk.  

Unfortunately, by this time (i.e., sometime after 2:00AM) the milk has already been delivered to the homes of customers. (In case you didn't know, rather than purchasing milk at a grocery store, back in the day it was far more common for people to have their milk delivered every morning to their door step...much like their newspaper.  You can learn more about it here.)

Given this unfortunate turn of events, our heroes conclude there's only one reasonable thing to do.  What? You thought I was gonna say "take to the radio waves of UXAM and warn the city?  Contact the cops and hospital and quickly spread the word of this danger to public health?  No. no. no. no.  See that's why you're you, and Midnight is the hero of Big City.

The only rational response to a situation like this is to drive around the city firing a handgun from a moving vehicle at private homes and citizens so as to shatter the glass bottles containing the poisoned beverage.  Granted, when most folks do this it's cause to have them arrested; but we're talking about Midnight here--he of freakishly superhuman marksmanship.

Following the destruction of the diabolical dairy products, Midnight places a call to the offices of Thomas Hart (Ajax CEO).  Posing as Bently, Midnight claims Sterling is ready to sell out to Ajax, and invites Hart to the Bently home that evening to sign the appropriate legal paperwork.  He then seems to have placed a similar call to Bently posing as Hart.

When Bently, then, arrives at the Hart residence prepared to accept the surrender of Ajax only to find the latter anticipating Bently's submission, tempers quickly rise to the point of fisticuffs

After allowing the two commercial titans to go at it for awhile, Midnight emerges from the shadows to explain that he decided that since the two had chosen to ignore his warnings, he decided he'd spare his own knuckles and them them punish each other.  Additionally,  Midnight announces (whilst holding the two at gunpoint) that their companies will henceforth be kicking in $50,000 each for the "annual milk fund.")  I'll leave it to you to ponder the wholesomeness of a child's symbol of justice extorting money out of citizens without bothering with any messy "justice system procedures."

The story ends (rather ironically) with a fourth-wall breaching panel in which Midnight directly addresses the reader with a morality lesson.

Smash Comics #21 (Part 2)

Welcome back to Part 2 of our look at Midnight in Smash Comics #21.  Last time we considered both the superlative toughness of Big City's main mystery man, as well as the introduction of his "vacuum gun."  We pick up with both here.

After using the vacuum gun to latch onto the getaway boat, Midnight (who by this point has apparently recovered from the effects of being bludgeoned over the head) is able to fully arrest the momentum of said nautical transport with only his strength, the silk cord of the vacuum gun, and a little bit of mechanical leverage.  I can't help but wonder if any kids in the 1940s got their arms pulled out of socket after trying a similar stunt.

 
As the criminals "burn up water" (i.e., swim away) Midnight elects to retrieve the young lady's pocketbook so as to return it to her.  He discovers the purse belongs to a Miss O'Day of 322 Main Street.

Cole seems to have made a slip-up in his writing here, as Midnight ponders  why the heretofore unnamed "Julie the Jerk" went to the trouble to steal Miss O'Day's purse.  In essence, Cole has Midnight proclaiming who's behind the theft before he could've known.

 

Julie and Midnight independently race towards the O'Day home.  The latter arrives first, and while casing the exterior to determine the threat level to Miss O'Day, Midnight is arrested by the impress of a pistol muzzle and the order to "Reach for it!" The only thing more shocking than that a mere human might get the drop on our intrepid hero is to discover the gunman is not a man at all--but a monkey!

Thus Cole introduces his second major element of Midnight lore--and the hero's future "sidekick"--Gabby the talking monkey.  Miss O'Day reveals that through ten years of research, she's learned how to give animals the power of speech. 

Midnight, in (I trust) well-meaning but nonetheless ham-fisted (by contemporary standards of social discourse) fashion expresses his admiration/shock that a beautiful woman could've pulled out such a scientific coup.

In typical comic fashion, just at this moment Julie and his henchmen burst upon the scene, demanding that Miss O'Day hand over her purse (which we now know contains the research notes outlining her incredible scientific processes) and threatening to kill Midnight.

The quick-thinking Gabby, however manages to knock Julie's firearm off-target (thus saving our hero's life) and shutting out the house lights.  In the ensuing chaos, the crooks make off with Miss O'Day, and Gabby and Midnight join together in hot pursuit.

As criminals and heroes race up a narrow mountain road, Midnight informs Gabby they cannot fire at their quarry (presumably because of the risk they might hit Miss O'Day). Instead, we get to see another deployment of the vacuum gun, as Midnight uses it to pluck one henchman after another from the open-top car.  In addition to having the most impenetrable skull on the planet, Dave Clark is also blessed with the marksmanship of a Special Forces sniper.

 
In the panic of the moment, Julie loses control of the getaway car and crashes into a tree, killing the beautiful and brilliant Miss O'Day in the process.  The criminal mastermind flees on foot.  Enraged that his plans for fortune have been thwarted, Julie adopts a "scorched earth policy" by setting fire to the documents outlining the process for giving animals speech.  While fleeing the still pursuing fedora-domed avenger, Julie falls from the cliffside and is impaled upon the steeple of a valley church.  Much like the case of Mr. Dobbs in Smash Comics #19, here again Cole's villain is ultimately undone by a Providential comeuppance.

The final panel of Midnight's Smash #21 panel depicts the aftermath of Miss O'Day's funeral, wherein Midnight "adopts" the orphaned Gabby and gives him the calling to become a "living memorial to a great woman!" by joining forces with Midnight against crime.

If you just can't get enough thoughtful analysis of this story, I recommend reading this excellent post from Cole historian/biographer Paul Tumey at his Cole's Comics blog.

Hela: an opponent for all seasons

Though the stated purpose of this blog is to focus on superheroes, when you run across a great discussion of an interesting villain, you just gotta share it, right?

Here's a helpful overview from The Peerless Power of Comics blog of one of Thor's classic nemeses--Hela the death goddess of death. Enjoy, and go ahead and add TPPOC to your blog feed.

Ka-Zar: 1971

Diversions of the Groovy Kind has graciously shared with us a copy of a 1971 Ka-Zar adventure.  For those who might not know, Ka-Zar was Marvel's version of the "jungle man" hero best exemplified by Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan.

Anywho, this particular adventure takes place in Ka-Zar's home, the Savage Land (a sort of, "land that time forgot") hidden away in Antarctica.  The SL is populated by all sorts of prehistoric animals and weird evolutionary hypotheticals (e.g., the "lizards who walk like men," "man apes," etc.) 

What really makes this particular story engaging is the plot.  It presumes that in 1971, World War II was still raging in this hidden land as a result of Nazi and Allied seamen who were both stranded in the strange land.  

Like most comics from the era, it doesn't take long to read and the artwork is super-cool!  I strongly recommend you give it a read.  Ole Groove make turn me into an avid Ka-Zar fan if he keeps this up. (Something that my Tarzan-loving grandfather would probably be quite happy to see.)