Action Comics Vol 1 27

From Hey Kids Comics


Action Comics Vol 1 27.jpg
Published
Released
June 25, 1940
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Quote1.png Another debt I owe Miss X! Her shot hit my scalp and must have returned my senses to my paralyzed nerves! From then on I pretended to be a rat-man to find out the Gorrah's plans! He'll never bother us again! Quote2.png
-- Tex Thompson

Appearing in Superman: "The Brentwood Rehabilitation Home"Edit

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Adversaries:

  • Mr. Tweed (Single appearance)[1]
  • Mrs. Tweed (Single appearance)[1]

Other Characters:

  • Davey Merrill (Single appearance)[1]

Locations:

Items:

  • None

Vehicles:

  • None

Synopsis for Superman: "The Brentwood Rehabilitation Home"Edit

Clark Kent is amazed when Lois Lane agrees to go on a date with him. As he calls at her house he finds her on the phone pledging a donation to the Brentwood Rehabilitation Home for wayward boys. Clark says he's heard bad things about the home, but Lois doesn't believe him, so instead of going on their date, they drive out to the home for a tour. The home's owners, Mr. and Mrs. Tweed, impress Clark and Lois with the facilities. But just as they are leaving, one of the boys, Davey Merrill, climbs over the wall to talk to them. He claims the Tweeds mistreat the boys and use them as slave labor to produce goods that they sell for profit.

Lois wants to return to the home to gather evidence, but Clark feigns cowardice so he can slip away and change into Superman. As Lois and Davey re-enter the home, they narrowly escape an attack from Black Satan, the watchdog, but are captured by the Tweeds inside the home. Davey is put in a small locker as punishment, and Lois is locked in a cell in the basement.

Superman returns to the home and, after freeing Davey and Lois, takes on Mr. Tweed. Tweed tries to defeat Superman with various attacks but Superman is unaffected. However, Mrs. Tweed has recaptured Lois and together the Tweeds tie her to a table with a circular saw, threatening to cut her in half unless Superman leaves them alone. Superman disables the saw and captures the Tweeds as they attempt to escape in an elevator.

Appearing in Pep Morgan: "The Track Meet Fix"Edit

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Cole (Single appearance)[1]

Adversaries:

  • Gamblers (Single appearance)[1]

Other Characters:

  • Bill (Single appearance)[1]
  • Coach Jones (Single appearance)[1]
  • Sheriff Blake (Single appearance)[1]

Locations:

Items:

  • None

Vehicles:

  • None

Synopsis for Pep Morgan: "The Track Meet Fix"Edit

Pep is the favored racer to win the annual quarter-mile run for his college. In the locker room, he overhears some shady gamblers talking with one of the runners. They were going to place a bet against Pep, and planned to rig the race so that their guy won. Before Pep can round the lockers to find out who was speaking, they were gone!

Pep takes his place on the track as the race starts. A rival runner, Cole, manages to beat Pep after tackling every turn without going wide, a feat that shouldn't be possible. After the race, Pep finds pock marks on Cole's side of the track, evidence that he was wearing illegal spikes. He talks to the coach about it, but when they ask Cole to see his shoes, they find nothing out of the ordinary. It is forgotten for now, with Pep promising to train even harder for the next race.

A year later, on the night before the big race, Pep is visited by one of the gamblers. He offers Pep one-thousand dollars to throw the race tomorrow. Angry, Pep responds with a one-punch knockout. The next day, Cole is nowhere in sight. It's discovered that he was hurt in an accident, which made Pep the shoe-in to win. All the odds being in his favor explained why the gamblers were so desperate for him to lose. Apparently, after last night, they reported him to the police station for assault. Sheriff Blake arrives on the field with a warrant for Pep's arrest, but after hearing his side of the story, the two come up with a plan. Blake fakes a fainting spell before he can serve Pep the warrant, so that Pep can still enter the race. The gamblers are furious when they see Pep running ahead of the others. But they don't get to see him win, because the sheriff arrests them for illegally gambling on a college sport.

After setting a new record for the state, Pep visits Cole in the hospital. The gamblers threatened to kill his sister if he didn't comply, or he never would have cheated. But now that they were gone, he wanted to go back to running a clean race.

Appearing in The Black Pirate: "Fight to the Finish"Edit

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Jeanne

Adversaries:

  • Captain Ruff's brother (Final appearance)

Other Characters:

  • Captain Tavish (Single appearance)[1]
  • Captain Andago (First appearance)

Locations:

Items:

  • Ruff's Gold

Vehicles:

  • Tavish's ship

Synopsis for The Black Pirate: "Fight to the Finish"Edit

After beating down the brother of Captain Ruff with his bare hands, the Black Pirate takes Jeanne and flees to the pier. He hires a ship to take them to Bristol, where he plans on buying the Sea Queen, a ship he's had his eye on, with the gold he "liberated" from Captain Ruff.

Appearing in Three Aces: "The Blue Raider"Edit

Featured Characters:

  • The Three Aces
    • Fog Fortune
    • Whistler Will
    • Gunner Bill

Supporting Characters:

Adversaries:

  • The Blue Raider (Blackie Dawes) (Single appearance)[1]

Other Characters:

  • Bill (Single appearance)[1]

Locations:

Items:

  • None

Vehicles:

  • The Aces' Planes
  • The Blue Raider's Plane

Synopsis for Three Aces: "The Blue Raider"Edit

Planes that fly over the Rockies are being forced down and robbed by the mysterious Blue Raider. The Three Aces decide to investigate for themselves.

Appearing in Tex Thompson: "The Return of the Gorrah!!"Edit

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Bob Daley
  • Janice Maloney Also appears as Miss X
  • D.A. Maloney

Adversaries:

  • One-Eyed Gorrah
    • Bonno (Single appearance)[1]
    • unnamed rat-men (Single appearance)[1]

Other Characters:

  • Tiger Dixon (a boxer) (Only appearance; dies)
  • Reb Horton (Dixon's manager) (Single appearance)[1]
  • Bomber Brennen (Single appearance)[1]
  • Joey Gonomi (Single appearance)[1]

Locations:

Items:

  • The Gorrah's Teleprojecto
  • The Gorrah's rat-man formula

Vehicles:

  • The Gorrah's car

Synopsis for Tex Thompson: "The Return of the Gorrah!!"Edit

In a far-off corner of the globe, the Gorrah reads a newspaper story about Tex Thomson's exploits, and resolves to visit Tex's home city to settle an old score, and possibly take over the city. One evening soon after that, Tex and Bob are attending a boxing match, where they meet D.A. Maloney and his daughter Janice. From behind the scenes, the Gorrah is responsible for the murder of Tiger Dixon, the boxing champ. Tiger was dosed with nepthogas, causing him to suffocate, but it looked as if he was punched to death by the challenger, Bomber Brennen. Tex figures this out right away, in the champ's dressing room and confronts Tiger's manager, Reb Horton, who quickly squeals on Joey Gonomi, Bomber's manager. Suddenly the lights go out, two shots ring out, the lights go back on, and Dixon's manager is gone. Instead of pursuing, Thomson (who is still attached to the D.A.'s office) goes out and questions some stool pigeons, but gets no information.

The next morning, a box of lilies and a threatening note are left at Tex's front door; he and Bob drive to the florist's shop in check it out, and they're run off the street by Miss X, driving a bigger car; she tosses something into Thomson's car; it's a note, alerting them to a hidden door in the back of the shop. The florist proves uninformative but sure enough there is a secret door behind the flower case. The florist tries to run past Bob, who knocks him unconscious. Bob and Tex find a wide winding staircase around a stone column in the back, and then are knocked out with gas. Two weird yellow men with pointed ears drag them away, and throw them into a room with another man, who turns out to be Joey Gonomi, and claims to have been kidnapped out of his own house. He also claims not to have murdered Tiger Dixon, but admits that he was planning to do so after the fight. Then the Gorrah appears, screened on the wall by his teleprojecto, to gloat and exposit most of the plot, and display the missing Reb Horton, who now has also been turned into a rat-man.

He challenges Thomson to step into the next room and fight him, but before that can even start to happen a rat-man throws a gas grenade into the prisoner-holding room; all three men are knocked out, and taken to an operating room, where Tex and Bob are shot up with a strange fluid, which puts them under the Gorrah's mental control, and soon will turn them into rat-men. Then all three prisoners are dragged outside and almost are put into the Gorrah's car, when a shot rings out. Thomson is hit! The Gorrah sends two rat-men to pursue the shooter, a fleet-footed girl, who gets away by running past a policeman. Thomson's wound is superficial; his scalp has been grazed, the group gets in the car and drives to the waterfront.

The Gorrah's plan is for Thomson to distract the guards at Pier 12, while he and his rat-men sneak past and plant some bombs amongst a secret shipment of military dive-bombers; Thomson complies. Police sirens approach, and it's time to flee the scene, but Thomson covers the Gorrah with a pistol; he's been faking the mental domination! The Gorrah flees, taking Bob with him; Tex shoots but misses; Harbor Police and Miss X soon join the chase, with a speedboat. A deck-mounted cannon disables the Gorrah's boat, and Bob is rescued, along with three rat-men and the Gorrah. Tex grabs some rat-man antidote from the Gorrah and shoots up Bob with it. Miss X slips away.

At story's end the Gorrah is in police custody, and Tex reveals to Bob that he got his wits back because of the scalp-grazing pistol shot from Miss X.

Appearing in Clip Carson: "Hollywood Advisor"Edit

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Buzz Bailey (First appearance)

Adversaries:

  • Mr. Dennis (Single appearance)[1]

Other Characters:

  • Archie Norton (Only appearance; dies)
  • Jean Norton (Single appearance)[1]
  • Mike (Single appearance)[1]
  • Snyder (Single appearance)[1]

Locations:

Items:

  • None

Vehicles:

  • None

Synopsis for Clip Carson: "Hollywood Advisor"Edit

Clip Carson is in Hollywood serving as advisor for an adventure film. While talking with his old friend, Buzz, Clip learns about a shady producer to watch for named Snyder, who sends his men out to secretly film other movies in production, so he can distribute them himself without spending a dime.
A few hours after Clip arrives in Hollywood, the director of the film, Mr. Dennis, introduces Clip to Archie and Jean Norton, married Hollywood actors, and the stars of his picture. The Nortons argue with each other during the whole drive down to the location of the shoot, with Clip having to suffer listening to them the whole way.

After ending a scene, some of the extras notice Archie Norton lying very still on the ground, thinking he fainted. Clip inspects Mr. Norton, discovering that he was dead from a gunshot wound! But from whom? At first he suspects the victim's wife, Jean, who showed little grief for the loss of her husband. But when confronted, she denied any wrongdoing, claiming she'd never risk her life or career on murder. Clip's friend Buzz catches him on the way out of the trailer, The two of them find Dennis to report that they hit a dead end on leads. While speaking, Clip notices Dennis fidgets with something he was wearing around his neck. But when he reaches out to get a closer look at it, Dennis recoils, hastily explaining it's just an instrument for showing the scene the way it appears to the cameras.

Later that night, clip heads back to the site for another look at the body. Someone else is already there when he arrives, and as Clip calls out, a second intruder hits him from behind, knocking him out! When consciousness is restored, Clip meets Buzz and is told Snyder's men were seen filming in the area, stealing scenes. That information suddenly gives Clip clarity on the situation. He knows what to do, now! With Buzz phoning the police, Clip Carson seeks out Director Dennis. He tells the director that he's under arrest, since a secretly filming camera of Snyder's caught him murdering Archie Norton. Desperate, Dennis pulls out a gun and fires, but Clip's draw is quicker! The truth was they didn't have footage of the murder, but Dennis's reaction proved he did it. He was in love with Jean Norton, and would do anything, even kill, to have her.

Appearing in Zatara: "The Vanished Explorer"Edit

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Adversaries:

  • Frank (Only appearance; dies)
  • Shrimp (Only appearance; dies)
  • Ahmed "the Great" (Only appearance; dies)
  • a tribe of Link Men (Single appearance)[1]
  • Unnamed Arabs (Single appearance)[1]

Other Characters:

  • Raoul D'Armand (Single appearance)[1]
  • Kara (Single appearance)[1]

Locations:

Items:

  • None

Vehicles:

  • None

Synopsis for Zatara: "The Vanished Explorer"Edit

Spending the day at the Adventurer's Club, Zatara is told about the French explorer Raoul D'Armand, who has disappeared somewhere in the African wilds. D'Armand was searching for the "missing link", the lost species that connects humanity's evolution from the ape. Always up for a good adventure, and genuinely wanting to help, Zatara announces his intent to find D'Armand and bring him safely home.
The danger of the trip is made apparent immediately after Zatara and Tong reach the dock, as an assassin tries to kill them before they can board the ship. Zatara quickly turns the gun into a balloon, then questions his would-be murderer. The man exclaims he was paid by someone at the Adventurer's Club who overheard Zatara's plan to rescue Raoul, and wanted to make sure he failed. Zatara and Tong knew they would need to be careful from here on.

In Cairo, Zatara hires a caravan for the trip through the desert. Unknown to the magician, he is being followed by Frank and his partner, Shrimp. Frank sent the failed gunman after them back at the docks, now he was going to finish the job himself. Jealous of Raoul D'Armand's fame, Frank wanted him dead so he himself could become known as the top researcher in the field. Once he lets Zatara find the missing explorer, Frank would kill them both!
Apparently, Zatara and Tong will be having troubles aplenty, as late at night, their Arab guides steal all their supplies, food, and guns and try to escape into the desert. A spell causes the supplies to jump out of the thieves hands and berate them before flying off back to Zatara and Tong. The two continue on their way without further help, except for that of Zatara's own magic. Frank and his own hired band of Arab mercenaries continue to follow, though they have a harder time getting through the brush. Eventually, the magician and his assistant come to a high plateau towering above them. A simple spell carries the two to the top, where they become surprised at what they find.

What they thought was a plateau turned out to be a big mesa, which had a vast grassy field as far as the eye could see. Turning themselves light as feathers, the companions float high above to get a better view, and soon they come across an ancient walled-in city. Amazingly, several ape-men could be seen wandering within it's walls! Can this be a lost city of the "missing links" that Raoul D'Armand had been seeking? Perhaps the missing explorer was already inside? Zatara and Tong sneak into the central chambers of the city, where they meet Kara, a young woman claiming to be the leader of the "link-men". She is troubled that she is expected to sacrifice a man who came to their city, like Zatara, whom she has fallen for. Zatara asks Kara to take them to the man. In the dungeon, they finally meet Raoul D'Armand in the flesh! He was taken captive by the ape-men months ago. Most of the time he spent teaching Kara English. But when she tried to help him escape, her people would always stop her. But now that Zatara's here they may have a chance, as the magician has already put together a plan.
Outside the walls, Frank and the Arabs have armed themselves and wait for Zatara to reappear. If he has Raoul with him, they will kill them both.
Inside, Kara announces to her ape-men that the sacrifice will proceed at noon, if the sun god wills it so. Zatara bides his time atop one of the outer walls. He doesn't notice the gunman from Frank's group below take aim, the bullet hitting him in the shoulder! Tong helps his master get below, just in time for the sacrifice ritual. A word of magic and all the sunlight in the room goes dark. For a moment, the link-men believe their god is displeased with the chosen sacrifice. Zatara, Tong, and Kara use that time to untie Raoul and escape down the corridor. The link-men soon realize they were deceived and give chase! Once the group reaches the exit, they notice the armed Arabs waiting for them. Trapped between angry ape-men and a hail of gunfire, Zatara speaks fast! First a spell to make the Arabs run backwards, then quickly turning the apes into stone statues. Later, Frank is betrayed by his group, the Arabs fire on him and his assistant, killing them.

Two weeks later, Zatara's shoulder has recovered, and he and Tong bid newly wedded Raoul and Kara farewell, as they head back to New York city and another adventure!

NotesEdit

  • Superman: The Brentwood Rehabilitation Home is reprinted in Action Comics Archives, Volume 2.
  • Tex Thomson: The Gorrah was last seen in Action Comics #18. He'll be back in Action Comics #38.
  • Zatara is very rarely shot, headkonked, or otherwise injured, but in this issue he gets a bullet wound.
  • Aside from the stories above, this issue contains:
    • "No Greater Courage" by Ivan Dmytryk (text story)
    • "Tiny"
    • "Mr. Pots" by Bernard Baily


TriviaEdit

  • No trivia.

See Also[edit source]


  • None.


  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 First and only known appearance to date besides flashbacks