We've gone through seven months of comic books since I last had access to an issue of Detective Comics. No, still no Batman yet. This time we join Larry Steele, Private Eye, as he explores a hidden catwalk under the docks. And, while the story only shows one catwalk, an interesting hideout would be a maze of hidden catwalks running under an entire waterfront.
The lonely building at the end of the pier is a good place for a hideout, and easily defended from anyone approaching by the pier.
But the main reason I was going to share this page was because of the suggestion that in melee combat it can be "too late to shoot". It seems odd to suggest that a gun is useless at point blank range, when it is actually most deadly, and yet in a game mechanics sense it works to make clear distinctions between melee and missile combat.
And here Larry gives us a tip about approaching spooky old mansions. Skip that front door and go in through a window! Then head down to the basement as fast as you can, because that's where the real action is.
It's hard to believe that National Comics was so poor, per-Superman, that they couldn't print all their comics fully in color...
We know from TV cop shows that morgues use long drawers to hold bodies today, but if this page is accurate then morgues were still leaving bodies exposed on slabs as late as the 1930s.
I have a feeling this is not a lair of literal ghouls that Cosmo is going to find, which is unfortunate -- that would make for a really exciting adventure, with the morgue robberies being a great plot hook to lead to a ghoul adventure.
Bruce Nelson observes that yellow peril hoodlums use outdated weapons like knives and hatchets, while Americanized Orientals favor automatic pistols.
(Scans courtesy of
Comic Book Archives)
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