Daring Mystery Comics #2

(February 1940)

Daring Comics' Free $25 Prize Contest! (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

[Voyage to Sunev] (Table of Contents: 2)

Zephyr Jones / comic story / 14 pages (report information)

Script

Joe Cal Cagno (signed)

Pencils

Fred Schwartz (signed)

Inks

Fred Schwartz (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

science fiction

Characters

Zephyr Jones (introduction); Corky Grogan (introduction); King Bolo; Princess Tonka; Birdmen of Sunev; Gen. Roudo (villain); The Parrot-Men (villain)

Synopsis

Scientist and inventor, Dr. Morrison Jones, died before his rocketship that would realize his dream of making the first trip to the planet Mars could be completed. His son Zephyr, however, vows to live out his father's dream.

Reprints

• in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 ([January] 2008)

Indexer Notes

Next appears in Mystic Comics (Marvel, 1940 series) #1. Jerry Bails's Who's Who and the Lambiek Comiclopedia both list Fred Schwab as the artist although "Fred Schwartz" is not listed among his pen names, nor as a separate person. This seems likely to be a confusion of similar names. The Masterworks credits Schwartz as a person and not a pen name.

Cal Cagno was eventually on staff at Timely, and may have already been on staff at this point, making this possibly an in-house / freelance job. Not enough is known about Schwartz to help place the source.

[Origin of the Phantom Bullet] (Table of Contents: 3)

The Phantom Bullet, Scourge of the Underworld / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

Joe Simon (signed)

Pencils

Joe Simon (signed)

Inks

Joe Simon (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Joe Simon

Genre

superhero

Characters

The Phantom Bullet [Allen Lewis]; Benny the Beggar; Alvarez Monez (villain); Bird-Men (villains)

Synopsis

Reporter Allen Lewis is baffled by the death of a wealthy man who clutches a feather in his hand, but soon learns of a mysterious race of "bird-men" that seemed to be involved. Given the secret for a gun that shoots ice pellets by a soon-to-be murdered scientist, Lewis adopts a costumed identity to track down the bird-men at any cost.

Reprints

• in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 ([January] 2008)
• in Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Simon & Kirby Omnibus (Marvel, 2019 series) (2019)

Indexer Notes

Funnies, Inc. material.
Next appearance in The Marvels Project (Marvel, 2009 series) #2

King of the Jungle (Table of Contents: 4)

Trojak, the Tiger Man / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

Joe Simon [as Gregory Sykes] (signed)

Pencils

Joe Simon [as Gregory Sykes] (signed)

Inks

Joe Simon [as Gregory Sykes] (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Joe Simon

Genre

jungle

Characters

Trojak (origin); Trojak's father; Edith Alton; Balu (the tiger)

Synopsis

Trojak, raised in the jungle by a native tribe after his father was killed by hostiles, is encouraged to find his own people and leave the jungle. However, he discovers that the ways of his people are not to his liking, and returns to the jungle to fight off hostile savages attempting to kill a girl who has be-friended him.

Reprints

• in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 ([January] 2008)
• in Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Simon & Kirby Omnibus (Marvel, 2019 series) (2019)

Indexer Notes

Dr. Michael Vassallo disputes the Larry Antonette art credits and suggests that Joe Simon may be the penciller and inker ([email protected]), 24 November 2007 --- CONFIRMED in Alter Ego #76, page 9. Harry Mendryk confirms Simon as writer on atlastales.com based on conversations with Simon.

Funnies, Inc. material.

Six-Gun Dynamite (Table of Contents: 5)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Russell A. Bankson (signed)

Pencils

? (spot illustration)

Inks

? (spot illustration)

Letters

?; most typeset

Genre

western-frontier

Characters

Ozias Wilkins; Mattie Wilkins

Synopsis

Mattie insists that the silver mine Ozias is working is worthless, and insists she will leave him if he continues to work it.

Reprints

• in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 ([January] 2008)

Indexer Notes

Studio or freelance source unknown.

[Introducing K-4] (Table of Contents: 6)

K-4 and his Sky Devils / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

aviation

Characters

Capt. K-4 and his Sky Devils [Lt. Rene D'Auvergne, Lt. Ronald Wolverstone-Clodd] (introduction); Major Von Lutz (villain); the Nazis (villains)

Synopsis

Captain K-4 is assigned to infiltrate and help to destroy the ammunition depot located at the Nazi seaport of Kurtzberg, while disguised as a Gestapo agent.

Reprints

• in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 ([January] 2008)

Indexer Notes

The Masterworks tentatively credits Jack Alderman with the artwork, but Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. via the Timely-Altas list in January 2012 states that he sees no Alderman here. The heads and airplanes are likely drawn by a different artist than the rest of the strip. Jim believes that the same artist likely drew the majority of this strip and the strip in issue #4, or possibly a different artist drew #4 using this story as a close guide. Henry Andrews notes that the airplanes in this issue's story are much more detailed than in #4, indicating that the touch-up artist here did not work on the story in #4.

The story in #4 is from the Chesler shop, so this may be as well, but the unusual panel arrangement here (with wide spaces between the panels) which may or may not be a clue to the strip's origins, has not been spotted elsewhere.

Who in Reality Is Mr. "E"? (Table of Contents: 7)

Mr. E / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

Joe Cal Cagno (signed)

Pencils

Al Carreno

Inks

Al Carreno

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

adventure

Characters

Mr. E [Victor Jay]; Betty; The Vampire (villain)

Synopsis

Mr. "E", enemy of the underworld, sees connections in the recent deaths of several "captains of industry," knowing all four were silent partners in the Snead Oil Company but unaware at the same time that his old enemy, the Vampire, is behind it all.

Reprints

• in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 ([January] 2008)
• in The Twelve (Marvel, 2008 series) #1/2 ([October] 2008)

Indexer Notes

Only golden age appearance. Next appearance in The Twelve (Marvel, 2008 series) #1

Al Carreno was associated with Chesler at this time according to Who's Who, but also with Funnies, Inc. at an unspecified date. Cal Cagno may have been a Goodman/Timely writer. The studio source, if any, for this story is unclear.

[Enter the Laughing Mask] (Table of Contents: 8)

The Laughing Mask / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Will Harr (signed)

Pencils

Maurice Gutwirth [as M. Gutwirth] (signed)

Inks

Maurice Gutwirth [as M. Gutwirth] (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

superhero

Characters

The Laughing Mask [Dennis Burton]; Lester Deeks (villain); Lester's gang (villains)

Synopsis

Dennis Burton becomes the next member of his family to beconme involved in law enforcement as District Attorney, bent on uncovering the plot behind the recent destruction of passenger trains.

Reprints

• in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 ([January] 2008)
• in The Twelve (Marvel, 2008 series) #0 ([February] 2008)

Indexer Notes

Becomes the Purple Mask in the next two issues.
Likely Chesler shop material.

Rush Coupon for Mammoth Catalog (Table of Contents: 9) (Expand) /

Johnson Smith & Co. / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Money and Big Prizes (Table of Contents: 10) (Expand) /

The Crowell-Collier Publishing Co. / advertisement / 1 page (report information)