Prize Comics #2 - pt. 5

   

This close to the end of the issue, I probably would have been forgiven for skipping the last story, but tucked away at the back of the issue is the only good feature in this issue, so of course we're going to look at Storm Curtis of the United States Coast Guard!

The date on the newspaper clipping tells us this adventure started back on December 26, 1939. There have been at least two real S.S. Lincolns, the first was sunk in WWI and the second was built in 1944 during the next war, but there was likely no real S.S. Lincoln at the time of this story.

Just to make sure we remember our terms, Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. 

A trawler is a vessel that trawls, and trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats.

The reference to a tramp refers to a boat or ship engaged in the tramp trade, which is one that does not have a fixed schedule or published ports of call.

I think this page is really remarkable. When I read it, on the following pages I kept waiting for the trick to be revealed, the trick of how Storm planned to survive that shot in panel 6. A bulletproof vest, most likely, I thought. Only, there was no trick. He really just stood there, face-to-face, with the bad guy, without any protection from harm, because he should.

He does win in the end, though there's more shooting ahead, and a bit of unnecessary sexism in the finale...so I think we're going to end this while we're ahead.

(Scans courtesy of Digital Comic Museum.)