Smash Comics #7 - pt. 4

We're back to John Law, Scientective, and last post I had wrongly assumed he was going to use the broken hose as an improvised rope and grappling hook, but more cleverly he had used it to siphon water out of the trap and keep his head above water.

If you can choke down the racism of Wun Cloo, there's an interesting story about foiling an extortion racket with minimal fighting skills.

$50 a week doesn't seem that unreasonable; I wonder if that was something racketeers would have charged in 1940 or if this was meant to be humor.

And here is an intriguing use of invisible ink, though I doubt wearing a confession on the back of your shirt would carry much legal weight.

Hugh Hazzard goes big this month with Hitler, robbing Fort Knox. Well, the story says it's not him, but you see that mustache and you just know better, just like you know "Fort Adam" is really Fort Knox. In the hands of a better writer, this "Goldfinger, but with Hitler" story could be awesome...but "Wayne Reid" was George Brenner, so...

There actually had not been a "public enemy no. 1", officially recognized by the FBI, since 1936, but the concept was clearly still popular in the public consciousness and with comic book writers. Public enemies will be a step above master criminals in the hoodlum hierarchy.

I think we've been able to establish before that Hugh Hazzard is based out of NYC. So, Bozo would need to be able to fly at 390 MPH to get to Fort Knox in 2 hours.

This scene anticipates the end of The Rocketeer movie, when the mobsters turn on the Nazis, by 51 years. Pipalle punches Hitler in the face one year before Captain America famously does.

If you thought Hitler only used gas chambers, you'd be wrong; apparently he had a love for the cliched and also used rooms where the walls close in on you too.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)