Ah-ha! But I have given the Earth a man who shall be a MASTER of men! He will rid the world of evil and cruelty! People know him as Captain Triumph! 
- — Destiny, of The Fates
Crack Comics #28 is an issue of the series Crack Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1943.
Synopsis for Captain Triumph: "The Magic Sword"
Lance Gallant tells Kim Meredith the truth about himself, Michael, and Captain Triumph.
A mad scientist, Dr. Eaton, invents a uranium-powered disintegrating ray, and calls it the Magic Sword. His treacherous assistant, Miss Cairo, puts a hypnotic whammy on the scientist and uses the Magic Sword for evil purposes. She shakes down a racketeer, Big Jim Corley, but is interrupted by Captain Triumph. They clash. Both ordinary bullets and Miss Cairo's disintegrating ray are useless against Captain Triumph, but not against the floor below him, so the bad guys all escape this scuffle.
Resuming the investigation in his own identity, Lance gets caught by the bad guys. Cairo has bumped off her rival gangster, and now gets ready to burn down his house, with Lance tied up inside it. But as soon as they leave, Corley turns out to be not quite dead, and frees Lance, who turns into Captain Triumph, and sets out after the murderers. Following Corley's dying tip, he overtakes them at the Governor's Mansion, and listens in as Miss Cairo demonstrates the Magic Sword, slicing a nearby freight ship in half, and demanding that the Governor keep his cops and troops out of Summit City, which she intends to take over. With thousands of lives as stake, the governor caves. Just then Captain Triumph swoops into the room, disarms Miss Cairo, destroys the Magic Sword, pummels her thugs, and administers an old-fashioned spanking to Miss Cairo.
After hospitalization, Dr. Eaton's mental faculties are restored to normal, and the U.S. government gains the secret of his uranium discoveries.
Appearing in Captain Triumph: "The Magic Sword"
Narrators:
- The Fates: Chance, Destiny, and Fortune
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Miss Cairo
- Dr. Eaton, hypnotized
- Crackers, stooge
- Turk, stooge
- 3rd stooge
- Big Jim Corley, racketeer (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Police Inspector
- Officer O'Malley
- arson witness
Locations:
- Summit City
- Governor's Mansion
Items:
- Eaton's "Magic Sword", a uranium-powered disintegrating ray
Vehicles:
- Gallant's red open-top roadster (Destroyed)
- Freighter (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Inkie: "Crack Comics Art Department"
Under intense deadline pressure, cartoonist Al starts to draw a three page story, overnight, featuring a brand new character, but falls asleep at the drawing board. The character's model drawing comes to life and becomes three-dimensional. He's only a few inches tall. He accidentally spills some ink onto the unfinished first page, and slips and slides around in it, trying to not fall down. This accidentally spells out the name "Inkie," which he adopts as his name. Inkie then grabs a pen and produces a 3-page story:
- The Adventures of Inkie
- In the Village of Smorgasbord the Giant-Raid Warden warns the town that a giant is coming and everybody flees to the giant-raid shelters. But luckily Inkie is on the scene, and he quickly takes charge, rushing out to meet the giant outside of town. Inkie provokes the giant into pursuing him, then jumps out of the panel, and rips a crack in the drawing, thru which the giant falls. The giant gets stuck in the ground, up to his neck, and Inkie boasts that this proves that the pen is mightier than the sword.
Back in the art studio, the next day begins, as Al's editor arrives, finds Al still asleep, reads the finished story, and is very pleased with it.
- Inkie breaks the Fourth Wall to address the readers, asking us to join him again next issue, and to never reveal the secret how this strip is really produced.
Appearing in Inkie: "Crack Comics Art Department"
Featured Characters:
- Inkie (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Al, cartoonist
- Editor, (hath a lithp)
- three cartoonists and a janitor
Locations:
- Crack Comics Art Department
- Village of Smorgasbord (in the story within the story)
Synopsis for "Hack O'Hara: Baby Carriage Trouble"
Appearing in "Hack O'Hara: Baby Carriage Trouble"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- G.G, O'Hara's lawyer
Antagonists:
- murder gang
Other Characters:
- desk sergeant
Locations:
- Precinct House
- Silver Toe Club
Vehicles:
- O'Hara's Hack
- baby carriage w/ corpse inside
- baby carriage w/ gas bomb inside
- baby carriage w/ loot inside
Synopsis for Alias the Spider: "Suicide Club!!"
Appearing in Alias the Spider: "Suicide Club!!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chuck, the Spider's Chauffeur
Antagonists:
- Mr. Death (Single appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Suicide Club
- James Wentworth (Dies) (and as a spirit)
- four other members
- two former members: Gordon, Ferres (as spirits)
Locations:
- New York City
- Broadway
- highway outside of town
Items:
- Ace of Spades card
Vehicles:
- The Black Widow (stolen and crashed)
Synopsis for Pen Miller: "The Axis Bonnet"
Undercover Nazi thugs are completely made fools of by Pen Miller and his cartoonist pals Jack and Bill.
Appearing in Pen Miller: "The Axis Bonnet"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Chop Chu, butler, aka "Choppy"
Antagonists:
- three Nazi agents
Other Characters:
- Jack and Bill, Pen's fellow cartoonists
Locations:
- New York City
- 144 Spruce Blvd., apartment building
- Nazi hideout
Vehicles:
- Miller's car
Synopsis for Black Condor: "Black Dragon"
Appearing in Black Condor: "Black Dragon"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Dr. Foster
- Wendy Foster
Antagonists:
- Draku (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Simms, FBI Agent
Locations:
- Washington, D.C.
- Dr. Foster's house
- 16 Larchmont Lane
Items:
- Foster's poison gas antidote formula
- Black Condor's ray gun
- Black Ray can cut thru iron bars.
- Black Ray can cut thru iron bars.
Synopsis for The Clock: "The Kiss of Death"
Dagga Valenz is trying to start a revolution in Cuba so she can take over the country. The Orchid is investigating Senorita Valenz, and enlists the Clock to bust her. Dagga kills her marks with poisoned lipstick, seven of them in one week. With Butch Buchanan's aid, the Clock captures Dagga, who then dies by either accident or suicide, of cobra venom poisoning.
Appearing in The Clock: "The Kiss of Death"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Dagga Valenz (Dies)
- Pedro, henchman
- Mr. Giles (Dies)
- Mr. Gilt (Dies)
- Janes (Dies)
Other Characters:
- The Orchid
Animals:
- Dagga Valenz's Cobra
Locations:
Notes
- Black Condor
- Elsewhere in the Quality Universe, the Black Dragon Society has also appeared as enemies of Rusty Ryan,[1] the Sniper,[2], and the Blackhawks.[3] In this appearance they are mostly American hoodlums, recruited by a Japanese agent. Draku is ironically and gruesomely crushed to death under a falling stone dragon.
- Dr. Foster knows Tom Wright's secret identity. Wendy Foster does not.
- The Clock isn't wearing a mask in this episode.
- Inkie features a comic story, which Inkie himself writes and draws, within a framing story. Within this inner story, Inkie has what amount to reality-bending super-powers, as he is able to move in and out of panels, tear pieces of art, and redraw circumstances to his own advantage.
- Pen Miller packs a semiautomatic handgun.
- Also featured in this issue of Crack Comics were:
- Molly the Model, by Bernard Dibble
- Rube Goldberg's Side Show, by Rube Goldberg
- Slap Happy Pappy, by Jack Cole
Trivia
- Alias the Spider
- Caption describes the villains, Mr. Death, as a black-caped figure, but the art only shows a dark business suit.
- Jack Cole signed his Slap-Happy Pappy strip as "Ralph Johns."
See Also
Links and References
