It'll take me an hour to get to the Bolton Estate by car - so there's only one thing to do!" 
Smash Comics #3 is an issue of the series Smash Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 1939.
Synopsis for Espionage Starring Black Ace: "The Plot To Take Alaska"
When the president sends out freighters to bring all US citizens home for their own safety, circa maybe 1938-Oct-late, an unnamed European nation decides to sink them as part of its elaborate and improbable plan to seize Alaska (the schemers look Russian, or at least European). The Black Ace is in Europe, and infiltrates the mercenary submarine crew assigned to destroy the ships. Crew-recruiting takes a week and crew-training takes "a few weeks." So by late November(?) the sub intercepts the American convoy. With the help of an American mercenary, who has a change of heart, then gets killed in this story, Ace takes on the submarine crew while shirtless and wearing a monocle, and at the end of that fight he's in charge of the sub. He brings the sub to the surface, where it's quickly sunk by gunfire from U.S. destroyers, then he organizes the surviving few merc submariners and keeps them calm until rescue divers arrive.
Appearing in Espionage Starring Black Ace: "The Plot To Take Alaska"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Colonel Atwater
Villains:
Other Characters:
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Cameo)
- unnamed American mercenary
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- pirate submarine
Synopsis for Chic Carter: "Noted Explorer Lost"
Appearing in Chic Carter: "Noted Explorer Lost"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Red Branigan
Villains:
- Mongolian bandits
Other Characters:
- Pop
- Dennis Courtney
- Valarie Bruce
- General Chang
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Captain Cook of Scotland Yard: "Monster Walks the Streets of London"
Appearing in Captain Cook of Scotland Yard: "Monster Walks the Streets of London"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Craig Cook
Supporting Characters:
- Chief
- Kelly
Villains:
- Professor Dwyer
- Dwyer's unnamed talking ape (Dies)
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Invisible Justice: "The Pirate Submarine"
In New York Bay, a pirate submarine has been robbing and sinking ships, striking every midnight. Kent Thurston books passage aboard the S.S. James, and at midnight, in N.Y. Bay, the pirates strike again. While they’re busy stealing a gold shipment, Thurston gets invisible and dives over the side, swimming to the nearby submarine’s position, and climbing aboard, then sneaking inside. This sub is the world's most advanced, it dives deeper and runs faster, etc etc and its developer, John Webb, is a hostage aboard it, forced to run the sub for these gangsters. The gang’s hideout is in an apparently-abandoned two-masted schooner, anchored in the middle of the bay. The Hood questions Webb, then sneaks aboard the schooner and cuts its anchor rope with an ax; the small ship begins to drift. That’s a big problem for the gangster crew, so while they scramble to re-anchor the craft, the Hood grabs Webb (unconscious right then due to a beating), and sneaks back aboard the submarine, changes back to mufti, and revives Webb. They team up to operate the sub, but before they can get clear of the schooner, the boss gangster shows up in the control room with a pistol. Thurston disarms him then takes him out in two punches. At story's end, the pirates are turned over to the Coast Guard and the prototype submarine is turned over to the Navy.
Appearing in Invisible Justice: "The Pirate Submarine"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Pirates
Other Characters:
- John Webb, submarine builder
- Watkins, USCG commander
Locations:
- New York City
- New York Bay
Items:
Vehicles:
- S.S. Baldwin (sunk)
- S.S. Wales (sunk)
- S.S. Pomeroy (sunk)
- S.S. James
- prototype submarine
Synopsis for Clip Chance at Cliffside: "Rivalry with Ray Snort, Part 1"
Appearing in Clip Chance at Cliffside: "Rivalry with Ray Snort, Part 1"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Spud
Villains:
- Ray Snort
- Poke
- Slip
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for John Law, Scientective: "Death in the Sky"
Appearing in John Law, Scientective: "Death in the Sky"
Featured Characters:
- John Law, Scientective
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- James Rowan, as The Avenger
Other Characters:
- June Carter
- Jack Smith
- Mike Ross
- Mr. Carter
- Tony
- Davis (Dies)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Wings Wendall: "The Plot Against the Panama Canal"
Appearing in Wings Wendall: "The Plot Against the Panama Canal"
Featured Characters:
- Wings Wendall
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- The Hooded Terror
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Hugh Hazzard and his Iron Man: "Von Hutz's Plan"
At the Naval Base in New York City, two spies, "Number Five" and Carl, under the direction of boss spy Von Hutz, kidnap a security guard, and torture him, with hot needles under his fingernails, to learn which vault holds the plans to a new torpedo bomb, then blow up the vault and steal the plans. Hugh Hazzard, Ace of Crime-Busters, has been listening in on the spies’ radio comms, and when they are coordinating their escape plan, he switches the call to his “teleradio,” and by means of his “super-seper-iconoscope” is able to get an overhead video view of the villains’ fleeing car, AND an image of Von Hutz at his spy-base. He overhears as Von Hutz directs his agents to the Bolton Estate, where a getaway airplane awaits them, while on another frequency, a short-wave radio broadcast helpfully fills in the details about the stolen set of plans. Hazzard gets aboard his super robot, using straps to ride it like a pony, and flies off in pursuit.
Using a telescope, he spots the car, and arrives ahead of it at the estate, then watches from concealment as the two-seat biplane takes off, leaving Von Hutz behind. Hugh sends Bozo after the plane, which is armed with a tail-mounted machinegun, which is ineffectual against flying Bozo, who zooms into position ahead of the plane and causes a mid-air crash. The two spies parachute to momentary safety, but Bozo snags them up before they even reach the ground, and carries them back to Hazzard’s position. There, Hazzard has gotten sneaked up on and captured by Von Hutz, who ties him up but carelessly misses the concealed control board under his lapel, with which Hazzard recalls Bozo, for a last-split-second rescue. While the robot unties the investigator, Von Hutz flees, into his powder shed, where he sets a trap by lighting a fuse, then leaves by the back door. Bozo pursues him into the shed, just as it blows up, but is undamaged. Bozo then subdues Von Hutz, gathers up both other spies, and the stolen plans, and Hugh sends him flying to Washington DC to turn them all in.
Appearing in Hugh Hazzard and his Iron Man: "Von Hutz's Plan"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Von Hutz (Single appearance)
- Spy Number Five (Single appearance)
- Carl (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Bolton Estate
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Also appearing in this issue of Smash Comics were:
- Abdul the Arab: (The Capture of Livingston) by Vernon Henkel
- Philpot Veep: "The Distressing Affair of the Persecuted Panhandlers" by John Devlin
- Archie O'Toole: (King O'Toole To Visit America) by Will Eisner
See Also