Doc Wackey Goes Berserk!: pt. 2 (Smash Comics #37)

Smash Comics # 37 (November 1942)

Midnight feature (Doc Wackey Goes Berserk!)

Last week, we left the super-powered Doc Wackey outshining all competition at the Interstate Track Meet.  Unfortunately, when Doc tries to retrieve the champion's cup, an azure-suited official pronounces our beloved inventor "nuts" and tells him to "scram!"

This dismissal of the hypersonic elderly is not, however, shared by all meet attendants.  Among the remarkably large throng gathered to take in an afternoon track meet, are two members of the Big City underworld.  One, a weirdly bug-eyed chap whom we later learn is named Skull Duggery, has somehow spotted what everyone else  missed--that Doc did, in fact, win the race!

Sorry, but this is plot hole #3.  If the idea is that the race official--whose primary job is to organize and pull off the races--doesn't know Wackey is the winner because the old coot was moving too fast for the human eye to follow, then how does Skull Duggery spot him?  I guess it works if we posit that Skull's eyes look so weird because he's got some sort of superhuman power of his own...sort of like Mantenna from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe? 

Mantenna

If we grant that possibility, we should consider whether Skull might have some additional powers--like insane charisma. Why do I say this? Glad you asked. 

Following Doc's unceremonious booting from the cinder path, Skull and his unnamed co-worker approach Wackey with a proposal that he abandon goodness and "get even with stupid humanity" (as it turns out, by robbing banks).  Seemingly as soon as he hears the specifics of Skull's evil plan, Wackey signs up enthusiastically.

Bear in mind, dear reader, that this is the same Doc Wackey who's: 

• been fighting crime alongside Midnight since Smash Comics #23 (Jun 1941), 
• heroically agreed to exchange his life for Midnight's one month ago, 
• and single-handedly completed a home-construction pro bono one page ago 

but nevermind any of that!  It's totally believable that this weird dude with big eyes wouldn't have to do anything more than suggest, "Hey wanna be a crook?" and Doc's ready to go full Clyde Barrow.

As fortune (or Providence) would have it, shortly after his reversion to criminality Doc bumps into Midnight and company.  Though they still can't communicate with him due to Doc's buzzing verbalization, our (still unnamed) professor has an idea for getting around that barrier!

He leads the entourage across the street to a music shop where he has Doc speak into a recorder.  The prof takes the resultant vinyl (because...it's the 1940s) and plays it on a "very slowly revolving turntable" to find out what Doc's trying to say.  Unfortunately, just as Midnight learns what his old pal is planning, Doc vanishes again! 

This brings us up to--what is it now--plot hole #5?  In the first place, if Doc was this committed to his new path, why'd he bother to go with Midnight and others in the first place?  Why go through all the rigamarole of recording his voice, when there's so many places that need robbing? This makes it look like Wackey is pretty firmly committed to his instantaneous reversion to evil.  (Keep that in mind as we move through the rest of the story.)

Furthermore, even if we buy that Doc is ready to "chase them Benjamins," why would he do so "for Skull Duggery"?  What's Skull contributing to this venture?  I mean, if we do presume Skull has some kind of powers (maybe mind-control) this might make sense...but it's kind of hard to conclude that since Cole never gives us any explicit reference to such powers.

The next thing the reader knows, the First, Second, and Third National Banks are all robbed by Doc. Midnight concludes that the mystery prof.'s injection has "set Doc berserk" (thereby supplying the story both a title and a rationale), so he concludes the rational solution:  mystery prof must now inject BOTH Midnight AND Gabby so they'll be fast enough to catch Doc and put a stop to his wrongdoing!

Plot hole #6 (or 7...really, who's counting anymore?) Okay, so up to this point, we've established that Doc who started this issue as a "good guy" has suddenly gained powers from a serum and also decided to become a villain again.  In other words, the serum made Doc turn to robbery.  The panel above sure makes it seem like this is the conclusion Midnight's reached.  Yet, if so...if the serum amplifies BOTH physical speed AND moral viciousness, WHY INJECT TWO MORE PEOPLE WITH IT?!  Isn't this likely to just produce three super speed villains?  If it's not a guarantee, isn't this at least a potentiality that would be worth, oh I don't know,a moment or two of discussion?

Meanwhile, Doc--for reasons that are never explained--drops off all his ill-gotten loot with Scull (Yep. You read that right.  The spelling of the character's name varies within the same story. #plothole8) only to have the money bags vanish just as quick as they're set down.

Of course the money is retrieved by Midnight who, then, goes on to return it to each of the banks. Following this, Midnight returns to Skull/Scull's hideout to "straighten out Doc."

Since the upper limits of the speed being imparted by this serum aren't really defined, I can't technically call this one a "plot hole," but I would encourage you to consider just how fast Midnight would have to be to pull this off.  Midnight didn't know where Doc had gone once he left the music shop.  Therefore--at best--Dave and Gabby have to: (1) receive the speed serum, (2) split up and scour the city to locate Doc--presumably prior to his thefts so that he'd know where to return the money to, and precisely how much needs to go to each location, and (3) follow Wackey back to Skull/Scull's hideout where he can retrieve the cash before returning it to the banks.


Back at the villain's hideout, Gabby and Skull/Scull are both trying to woo Doc's sentiments.  Midnight shows up and lends his voice, and the reader gets the impression Doc is about ready to rejoin the forces of light.

It comes as a bit of shock, then, when you turn the page only to see a recapitulation of speed lines and befuddled bank tellers as Wackey ROBS EACH OF THE BANKS A SECOND TIME!!!  The fact that these robberies are of Wackey's own volition is underlined by him announcing he's "old enough to make [his] own decisions" and his "mind's made up."  At this point, Midnight reluctantly adopts his standard practice of using force to subdue evil-doers.

So Midnight seizes the Doc and (one supposes) tries to beat some sense into him. (At least, that's how I'm interpreting the whirlwind.)  Eventually--and quite inexplicably--Doc "comes to his senses."  With a morally evasive, "they misled me" (Really, Doc?  Who mislead you?  Wasn't Skull/Scull pretty up front about what he was suggesting from the very beginning?  And did you just announce...like one page ago...that you were "old enough to make up my own mind"?!) and an implied commitment to return the twice-stolen money, Wackey once again, more or less gets a pass from the usually law-and-order focused Midnight.  What the heck is going on here?! 

Having returned the cash, Wackey races back to Skull/Scull's hideout and beats the other robbers (you remember, the ones who haven't actually committed any crimes in this issue!!) unconscious and leaves them for the cops. Then, rather than stick around to face the music himself for--you know, his own felonies--this newly re-re-restored champion of justice decides he wants to go back to the track meet and get a trophy for the mile run.

Unfortunately for Doc, his serum runs out of juice just before the finish line, so our beloved inventor-turned-felon-turned-crime-fight-turned-felon-turned-crime-fighter-again has nothing to show for his trouble except sore feet.

Oh yeah, and we STILL don't have a name or any follow-up on this mysterious professor who can raise the dead and give super powers to old men.
once he says he'll return t

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