Crack Comics #24 is an issue of the series Crack Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 1942.
Synopsis for Black Condor: "The Secret of the Hills"
Appearing in Black Condor: "The Secret of the Hills"
Featured Characters:
Villains:
- Herr Dimler
- dozens of troops
Other Characters:
- J. Emory Glover
- fake hobo FBI agent
- captured U.S. troops
Locations:
- Northwestern Rail Line
- secret side-track in a tunnel in the hills
Items:
- Condor's Black Ray Pistol
Vehicles:
- three stolen troop trains
Synopsis for Spitfire: "Rangoon, Burma Road"
Appearing in Spitfire: "Rangoon, Burma Road"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chuck
Villains:
Other Characters:
- Clipper Davis, Tex's old pal
- American Volunteer Group
Locations:
- Rangoon, Burma
- hidden airfield on the Burma Road
Vehicles:
- British supply ship
- 3 or more A.V.G. Brewster F2A Buffalo fighters
- 9 Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-51 light bombers (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Don Q: "The Island of Dread"
Appearing in Don Q: "The Island of Dread"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Li'l Pierre, his valet
Villains:
- Pretzer
- henchmen
Other Characters:
- James Cordell, Secretary of State
- his private secretary
- stranded maniac (Dies)
Locations:
- Washington, D.C.
- coast of Guiana
- "Island of Dread"
- Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Vehicles:
- disguised Nazi raiding ship (Destroyed)
- U.S. submarine
Synopsis for Pen Miller: "Sharp-witted Extortionists"
Appearing in Pen Miller: "Sharp-witted Extortionists"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chop Chu
Villains:
- thugs
- "Meatax"
- 2 others
Other Characters:
- Hotel Detective
- Gary Harewave, movie star
- Inspector Naylem
Locations:
- Thumble Hotel
Synopsis for "Jane Arden // Lena Pry"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Jane Arden // Lena Pry"
Featured Characters:
- Jane Arden (across top halves of pages)
- Lena Pry (across bottom halves of pages)
Synopsis for Hack O'Hara: "In the grip of the Butcher"
Appearing in Hack O'Hara: "In the grip of the Butcher"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Officer O'Grady
Villains:
- the Butcher
- the Gurley Gang
Other Characters:
- "Scoop"'s girlfriend
- "Scoop" the reporter
Locations:
- slaughterhouse, outskirts of town
Items:
Vehicles:
- O'Hara's hack
Synopsis for Alias the Spider: "The Yellow Scorpion"
Appearing in Alias the Spider: "The Yellow Scorpion"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chuck
Villains:
- Japanese agents
- Yellow Scorpion
- Hiakatsu, kamikaze minion
- Yellow Scorpion
Locations:
- New York City
- Navy Yard
Items:
- Spider's Web, (constricting weapon)
Vehicles:
- The Black Widow (the Spider's car)
Synopsis for Tor, the Magic Master: "In the Jungles of Panama"
A Japanese expeditionary force establishes a beach-head encampment on the coast of Panama, and befriends the local Indians. This takes several weeks.
Jim Slade's editor sends him to Panama, ostensibly to photograph the San Blas Indians, but mainly to see if there is any Japanese monkey business going on. This takes a few weeks, but eventually Jim makes some friends among the San Blas. One friend shows him the Japanese bivouac area; it's pretty big. Jim tries to rally the San Blas against the Japanese, which is a lot to ask, but he promises them that Tor, the Magic Master will help them, and suddenly they're all on board! Jim in his pith helmet and jodphurs steps into the dense undergrowth, and out steps Tor in his tuxedo and cape.
The Japanese get word from their scouts of the coming attack and dig in to defend their position. For the first few moments it seems as if numbers, spears, and blow-guns could actually prevail, but the Japanese open up with machine guns and throw grenades. So then looks like a short fight, but then the Magic Master steps onto the scene, and with a spoken spell renders all the Japanese gunpowder inert. It now comes down to machetes and spears versus bayonets, with not enough bayonets, so the Japanese troops retreat to their steamship. Jim Slade gets good photographs of much of this. With a spoken spell, Tor turns the small ship into a carnivorous, ship-sized, talking turtle, and it gobbles up the soldiers one at a time until they're all gone.
Afterward Jim remains in Panama at least long enough for his photos to get published and the newspapers to get shipped down to Panama; he's very pleased with the story.
Appearing in Tor, the Magic Master: "In the Jungles of Panama"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
Other Characters:
- San Blas Indians
- young Choco
Locations:
Vehicles:
- small Japanese steamship (transformed)
Synopsis for "Ned Brant"
(newspaper strip reprints)
Appearing in "Ned Brant"
Featured Characters:
- Ned Brant
Synopsis for The Clock: "The Knife Throwing Gang"
In a deserted warehouse on the waterfront, a bored and nervous gang of knife-throwers hides out, and passes the time with knife-throwing target practice. They’re pretty good.
Meanwhile at his home, Brian O’Brien, in his tuxedo, reads up on the knife-throwing gang’s exploits, wonders when they’ll strike next, and wonders why Butch isn’t back home yet. A timely radio news report tells him that the gang has just gotten their tenth victim. Butch shows up and tells Brian that she knows where the gang is hiding. He puts on his mask, and they go there in O’Brien’s car, but approach the warehouse on foot; one guard gets punched out before they enter. It’s dark inside, and they stick close together, but the bad guys are ready for them and snap on the lights just before attacking. The Clock punches two of them out of the fight, but gets clubbed on the head and knocked out. Butch squares off with the gang’s boss, pastes him a good one, then runs away while his head is still ringing. As she flees farther into the warehouse, she tosses crates and things into the bad guy’s path, then gets into a good hiding place. When another thug shows up with a gun, she drops a crate onto his head.
Meanwhile the Clock has recovered consciousness, and is confronted by three knife-throwers, in their makeshift throwing range. They talk smack about target practice, but he just jumps in and punches them out, one, two, three. Then the boss thug runs into the room, and he brings a gun. But Butch is right behind him, and flips his own hat over his eyes, making enough of a distraction for the Clock to one-punch this last guy out also.
Appearing in The Clock: "The Knife Throwing Gang"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Butch Buchanan
Villains:
- Knife-Throwing Gang
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Black Condor:
- This issue's Black Condor story is the last one to be drawn and inked by Lou Fine.
- In "The Secret of the Hills", Dimler and his troops wear swastikas with the points backward, but in the captions they are called "Nazis."
- Don Q:
- In "The Island of Dread", Pretzer and his troops wear normal swastikas.
- Also appearing in this issue of Crack Comics were:
- "Molly the Model" by John Devlin
- "Rube Goldberg's Side Show" by Rube Goldberg
- "Snappy" by Arthur Beeman
- "Code of Dishonor" (text story), featuring Eric Vale) by Larry Spain
See Also
Links and References
Look at how sad this is making Batman. You did this.