Comic Cavalcade #4 is an issue of the series Comic Cavalcade (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1943.
Synopsis for Wonder Woman: "The Purloined Pressure Coordinator"
Wonder Woman designs for the American Navy a new cruiser that can repel all torpedo fire, via a hydraulic pressure coordinator that operates a network of shields. Once the first such cruiser, the U.S.S. Tropica, is finished, it is sent on a transatlantic WAAC convoy - with Diana and the Holliday girls (temporarily made WAAC adjuncts) riding along, secretly investigating Col. Darnell's concerns that Chief Engineer Alltrue Blythe may be a spy.
Three days after launch, the Tropica is attacked by Nazi submarines, which it easily repels. Shortly after, however, the pressure coordinator is stolen - not by Blythe, but by his secretary Bertha, the real spy onboard. Now unable to deploy its shields, the Tropica is quickly sunk by a new submarine. This submarine takes a small retinue of survivors, including Blythe and Bertha, onboard; the remaining WAACs are found and rescued by Wonder Woman, who tows them all to the nearby Verdure Island.
Unfortunately, Verdure has already been occupied by the Nazis, who find Wonder Woman after dark and take her prisoner. When Wonder Woman refuses to explain the mechanics of her pressure coordinator, she is bound hand and foot and left to die in quicksand. Simultaneously, news of the Tropica sinking is broadcast to Steve, who immediately commandeers the invisible plane and flies to Verdure, saving Wonder Woman in the nick of time.
Together, Wonder Woman, Steve, and the WAACs rout the Nazis and recover the pressure coordinator from Bertha, who is forced to confess her treachery under the Lasso of Truth. Subsequently, Wonder Woman apologizes to Blythe for mistakenly suspecting him instead.
Appearing in Wonder Woman: "The Purloined Pressure Coordinator"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Col. Phil Darnell
- Alltrue Blythe
- Maj. Steve Trevor
- Holliday Girls
Antagonists:
- Nazis
- Lieutenant Hans
- Nagle, Bertha
Locations:
- United States of America
- Washington, D.C.
- War Intelligence Headquarters
- Washington, D.C.
- Atlantic Ocean
- Verdure Island
Items:
- Bracelets of Submission
- Lasso of Truth
- Pressure Coordinator
Vehicles:
- U.S.S. Tropica (Destroyed)
- Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane
Synopsis for King: "A Pair of Kings"
Appearing in King: "A Pair of Kings"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- the witch "Witchie"
- "Flathead"
- Maybelle
Antagonists:
- Homer Wolfe
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Gay Ghost: "The Biography of a Nazi"
Appearing in Gay Ghost: "The Biography of a Nazi"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Lt. Charles Collins (Appears only as a corpse)
Antagonists:
- Nazi Party
- Otto Strossel (Dies)
- Gestapo
- Colonel von Kraut
Other Characters:
- Hans Strossel
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Germany
- Kistrau
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Green Lantern: "Have You Read Any Good Books Lately?"
A package comes to Doiby Dickles' door in the middle of the night, but he realizes it's meant for someone else. Plagued by his conscience, he gets up to deliver it in the wee hours to the Jake Blinz it was really meant for. Blinz is ecstatic to learn it's a package from Sure-Shot Sloop, a legendary gangster, giving Blinz designs for infallible crimes. Checking in with Doiby, Alan Scott notices the set of fingerprints in Goitrude's fresh polish from where Blinz touched it; Scott's been so intent on catching Blinz, he's memorized the criminal's fingerprints and was able to recognize them from seeing them on a car hood. He switches to Green Lantern and they fly to Blinz's place, while he and his gang are setting off on their first foolproof crime, robbing storage of optical glass. During the battle a burst of energy from Green Lantern's ring rebounds off a lens, temporarily blinding him and letting the gang get away.
Even though the first job was a bust, Blinz convinces his confederates to go ahead with the next idea in the book: to rob a hospital safe. Green Lantern and Doiby catch up to them again thanks to a trail of lens polish splashed on their car. In the brawl that follows, Doiby inhales some pure oxygen and gets loopy, commandeering the crooks' car and crashing it before chasing them into a cigar store. Green Lantern gets shoved into the wooden Indian chief statue outside when Blinz suddenly bursts through the door, felled by "his mortal enemy - wood", giving Blinz another chance to escape.
Getting desperate, Blinz flees to the country to where old Sure-Shot Sloop's retired, not aware the pair of heroes are crouching on the back of his car. Blinz asks for advice on how to handle Green Lantern, and Shloop gives it to him: retire from crime. That's the only thing that saved him. When GL and Doiby step out to confront the crooks, however, Shloop takes a shot at them and blows up his moonshine still instead when the power ring deflects the shot. The terrific explosion wipes out the criminals. That night, Doiby's extremely exasperated to get someone else's package in the small hours once again.
Appearing in Green Lantern: "Have You Read Any Good Books Lately?"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Jake Blinz
- "Shure-Shot" Shloop
Other Characters:
Locations:
- 196 Udall Boulevard
- Crystal Optical Glass Co.
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Hop Harrigan: "Mark Time, Mister"
Appearing in Hop Harrigan: "Mark Time, Mister"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Tank Tinker
- French Resistance
- Pierre Latouche
Antagonists:
- Nazi Party
- Gestapo
- Vichy French
- Gaston Corbeau (Single appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Charlot Latouche
Locations:
- U.S.A.A.F. Intelligence Headquarters
- France
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Scribbly: "Monty's Girlfriend"
Appearing in Scribbly: "Monty's Girlfriend"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- "Miss. Drizzlewater"
Other Characters:
- Gus Hunkle as "Montmorency Gustavus Hunkel III"
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for O'Malley: "The Man Who Wouldn't Put His Lights Out"
Appearing in O'Malley: "The Man Who Wouldn't Put His Lights Out"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Willie
Antagonists:
- Garfield Golemine
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Sargon: "Turncoat Terrorism"
In the military manufacturing down of Pittsvale, a Dr. Popescu promises to get the relatives of workers out of occupied Rumania. However he's actually a spy who funnels this information to the Nazi war machine, who track these people down and hold them hostage to extort the war workers into sabotaging their own efforts. One has an attack of conscience and tries to warn the police, because the freedom of the world is greater than his own family's, but is shot by Popescu. Sargon hears about the story and magically removes the bullet threatening the man's life. He then discovers Popescu's scheme, and magically reveals the truth in front of the defense workers. He then has the villains beaten into submission by bringing the papers with the damning information to life.
Appearing in Sargon: "Turncoat Terrorism"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Flora
Antagonists:
- Nazi Party
- Iron Guard (Fascists)
- Dr. Popescu/Agent 2P6
Other Characters:
- Marcu Ionescu
- Ellena Ionescu
- Magda Lescu (As a spirit)
Locations:
- Pittsvale
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Hop Harrigan: "Hop Harrigan and the Coconuts"
Appearing in Hop Harrigan: "Hop Harrigan and the Coconuts"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Doctor Bane
- Tuaro
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Flash: "Winky Turns Wrestler"
Appearing in Flash: "Winky Turns Wrestler"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Slits Carson
- Bonecrusher Casey
Other Characters:
- Bronco Bill Boley
- "Ear Biter" Evans
Locations:
- Stranger Sarkow's Gym
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Published quarterly by All-American Comics, Inc. This 92-page magazine sold for fifteen cents a copy, in an era when almost all other comics were 64 pages, for ten cents.
- Also appearing in this issue of Comic Cavalcade were:
- "The Purloined Pressure Coordinator" was reprinted in Wonder Woman: The Golden Age Omnibus, Vol 1.
- This is the first issue of this series to use the contemporary Green Lantern oath. It uses "darkest night" instead of "blackest night".
- The text story "Hop Harrigan and the Coconuts" has the heroes use racial stereotypes and slurs for African Americans very casually, despite none appearing in the tale.
- This is the final appearance of the King in Comics Cavalcade. He will continue for a single story in All-Flash #13
See Also