Keen Detective Funnies #v2#12

(December 1939)

Uncle Joe's Christmas Treat: Free Gifts for All (Table of Contents: 1)

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

Script

Joe Hardie (credited as Uncle Joe)

Letters

typeset

Synopsis

"How would you like to get some free Christmas presents from Uncle Joe? Well, I'll be glad to do this--if you'll help me by telling me the things you'd like to have this Christmas! If you will do this, I in turn can help the manufacturers plan for even nicer things next Christmas! Just answer the questions below honestly and carefully and I'll see to it that you get three valuable Christmas gifts absolutely free! I'll be waiting to hear from you, so please answer the questions and send the coupon to me right away!

Indexer Notes

Inside front cover. The questionnaire gives a list of items such as books, cameras, athletic goods, aeroplanes, phonograph and records, pen and pencils set, etc. and asks which items you have, hope to get this Christmas (1939) or hope to get next Christmas (1940). It then lists the options for your free gifts in return for filling out the survey – a selection of publications like "Lionel Train Handbook," "Scott' Monthly Journal," etc., including a self-instruction book on how to typewrite well. Finally, it asks you to tell Uncle Joe what you've influenced your family to buy during the last month.

Along the side are some other ads and giveaway offers, including a plain text ad for Amazing Man Comics and ads for puzzle books from Centaur Publications, Inc.

[Four Gangs against the Masked Marvel] (Table of Contents: 2)

Masked Marvel / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Ben Thompson (signed)

Inks

Ben Thompson (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

detective-mystery; superhero

Characters

Masked Marvel; ZR; ZY; ZL (dies); Anton Roche (villain)

Synopsis

Anton Roche, previously captured by the Masked Marvel, is freed from police custody by three rival gang leaders. They fear the Masked Marvel and want Roche to lead them in capturing him. The gang leaders sell each other out, planning simultaneous crimes. The police ask the Masked Marvel to have one of his men lead a police detachment at the site of each crime. All three of the gang leaders are captured, but ZL is killed in the fighting. The leaders reveal Roche's location, and the Masked Marvel captures him and dumps him out of an airplane with a parachute over the state penitentiary.

Reprints

• in Masked Marvel (Centaur, 1940 series) #3 (December 1940)
• in Collection Fantôme (Editions Mondiales, 1945 series) #[106]
• in Continuum (JMF, 2007 series) #3 (No Date [circa décembre 2007]) [excerpt], #4bis (No Date [circa mars 2008]), #4bis (No Date [circa mars 2008])
• in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #13 - Centaur Chronicles ([August] 2013)

Indexer Notes

ZL was mostly bald, which was rather unusual for a Mystery Man, even an assistant one.

[The Countess Who Feared Radio] (Table of Contents: 3)

Spark O'Leary / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Charles Pearson (signed as Chas. Pearson)

Inks

Charles Pearson (signed as Chas. Pearson)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

detective-mystery

Characters

Spark O'Leary; Drusilla Melick (villain)

Synopsis

Spark sees the Countess de Rossini at a ball with a huge diamond, but she refuses to speak on the radio for him, even after her diamond is stolen. He manages to capture a bit of her tale of the crime on his microphone before she notices him, and a friend of the Countess calls in to say that the woman she heard on the radio did not sound anything like Countess de Rossini. She is revealed to be blackmailer Drusilla Melick, who confesses when confronted with the truth.

[The Fiend's Organ of Destruction] (Table of Contents: 4)

Dan Dennis, F.B.I. / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Sam Gilman (signed as Gilman)

Pencils

Sam Gilman (signed as Gilman)

Inks

Sam Gilman (signed as Gilman)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

detective-mystery

Characters

Dan Dennis; Tick; Inspector Teague; The Fiend (villain)

Synopsis

The Fiend, previously captured and now in an asylum cell, still holds the secret of his musical organ of destruction. Dennis strikes a deal with the Fiend, exchanging the plans for leniency, but while police escort the Fiend to his hide-out other criminals intercept them and capture the Fiend themselves. The get the plans but are paralyzed when the Fiend demonstrates the organ for them. Just then, Dennis arrives, distracts the Fiend with ventriloquism, and uses the organ against its creator. Inspector Teague arrives to find Dennis waiting for him with the paralyzed criminals.

Indexer Notes

Pgs 1, 3-4 and 6 are red/black duotone, while pages 2 and 5 are black and white.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 5)

Comicrimes / activity / 2 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Max Neill (signed)

Inks

Max Neill (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

detective-mystery

Indexer Notes

Each page has one or more puzzles setting up the circumstances of several crimes and asking the reader to work out how the crimes were done. The answers are printed upside-down in the bottom left-hand corner of each page.

Foggy Night, Part II (Table of Contents: 6)

Jerry O'Keefe / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Frank Frollo (signed as Frollo)

Pencils

Frank Frollo (signed as Frollo)

Inks

Frank Frollo (signed as Frollo)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

detective-mystery

Characters

Jerry O'Keefe; Shorty

Synopsis

O'Keefe, a state trooper, gets into trouble with several smugglers. They've already captured his friend Shorty and take them both to their cabin hideout. They manage to escape. Because of concealing fog, the smugglers can't see them. But Jerry can see the head smuggler backlit by the light of the cabin and shoots him, allowing Shorty to get free and bring the police.

Indexer Notes

Pages 1, 3-4 and 6 are red/black duotone, while pages 2 and 5 are black and white.

Fair Exchange (Table of Contents: 7)

text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Sam Gilman (credited)

Pencils

Sam Gilman (credited)

Inks

Sam Gilman (credited)

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Synopsis

Pickpocket gang leader Slim Anderson complains that his three boys aren't bringing in enough loot and that all of the "hicks" in town for the World's Fair should be easy pickings. The boys claim that things have gotten a lot harder because the papers have played up the danger so much the hicks are onto them. They dare him to try it himself. Later, they seem to have great success with a friendly hick, but when they get back to their hideout, they find out the hick was Slim himself, who stole all of their belongings while he let them steal his!

Indexer Notes

There are illustrations of the pickpockets on each page of the text story.

The Doctor's Revenge (Table of Contents: 8)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Claire S. Moe (signed as Clair S. Moe)

Pencils

Claire S. Moe (signed as Clair S. Moe)

Inks

Claire S. Moe (signed as Clair S. Moe)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

crime

Synopsis

A respected doctor is abducted by gangsters just as his son heads off to medical school. The doctor is forced to do reconstructive surgery on the gangsters' boss to help him hide. He loses his practice as a result of accusations that he is protecting criminals, so he fakes his death and when his son tries to avenge him, he reveals himself and poisons the gangster who started it all. Father and son are happily reunited in the end.

Indexer Notes

Pages 1, 3-4 and 6 are red/black duotone while pages 2 and 5 are black and white.

There is no "e" in "Clair" in the signature, although her name is written with the "e" in Jerry Bails' Who's Who, which confirms the script credit.

Lesson #3 (Table of Contents: 9)

How to be an Amateur G-Man! / activity / 2 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

non-fiction; detective-mystery

Synopsis

Various bits of information about fingerprints, invisible ink, the history of the F.B.I., J. Edgar Hoover, the words "cop" and "g-man," crime statistics, costs to the American public, and even some bits explaining the difference between what real crime-fighting is like versus what goes on in comic books. Some items are questions that will be answered in lesson #4, and some are answers from questions asked in lesson #2.

The Devil-God Murder Cases (Table of Contents: 10)

Detective Degan / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Charles Pearson (signed as Chas. Pearson)

Inks

Charles Pearson (signed as Chas. Pearson)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

detective-mystery

Characters

John Degan; Li Wan (villain)

Synopsis

Two mysterious murders lead John Degan to look into a large bronze idol retrieved by an expedition to Tibet that included both victims. When he sees blood and bullet marks on the idol, he consults Chinese scholar Li Wan, who explains that a high priest in a trance could animate the statue. Later, Degan wonders why Li Wan knew so much and returns to find him in a trance controlling the idol. Li Wan's guards fight Degan, but he dodges a hatchet that one guard throws which then strikes Li Wan in the head, killing him.

Indexer Notes

Pages 1 and 3-4 are black/red duotone while pages 2 and 5 are black and white.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 11)

Junior Detective / comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Fred Schwab (signed as Ed Wood)

Pencils

Fred Schwab (signed as Ed Wood)

Inks

Fred Schwab (signed as Ed Wood)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

There's a new kid in town

Genre

humor; detective-mystery

Indexer Notes

red/black duotone

Script credit suggested by Jerry Bails' Who's Who.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 12)

The Eye / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Frank Thomas (signed)

Pencils

Frank Thomas (signed)

Inks

Frank Thomas (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

How did work go today, daughter?

Genre

superhero

Characters

The Eye (introduction); Ann Matte (Matte's daughter); E. D. Mattes (wealthy trader); Talu (Ann's old teacher); Islam Herat (villain); Herat's gang (villains, all die)

Synopsis

Formerly wealthy trader E. D. Mattes and his daughter Ann have been exiled from their home in Afghanistan by Islam Herat, who took over Mattes's business. In New York, Mattes laments that Ann must work and he has nothing left but her.The Eye appears and tells Mattes that if he obeys, all things are possible. Herat plots the death of Mattes so he can capture Ann. The Eye intercepts his assassins in their airplane and blows them out of the sky. Mattes pretends to be his own ghost to get Herat to confess.

Reprints

• in L'âge merveilleux des Comics (J.F.C. Editions, 2012 series) #5
• in Detective Eye (Centaur, 1940 series) #2 (December 1940)

Indexer Notes

No origin or explanation is given for the Eye, and whatever Talu might have told Ann is unrevealed.

Script credit suggested by Jerry Bails' Who's Who.

The Case of the Whispering Light (Table of Contents: 13)

Dean Denton, Scientific Detective / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Harry Campbell (signed as Harry Francis Campbell)

Pencils

Harry Campbell (signed as Harry Francis Campbell)

Inks

Harry Campbell (signed as Harry Francis Campbell)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

detective-mystery

Characters

Dean Denton; Carol; The Conquerer (villain)

Synopsis

A movie star disciple of a new seer called Astra is murdered. Dean realizes that the "magic" crystal balls given to Astra's wealthiest disciples are only loudspeakers controlled through beams of light. He and Carol go to Astra's "Temple of Light." He recognizes the voice of "Astra" as belonging to his old enemy the Conqueror. Denton is captured, and Carol causes a distraction, allowing him to escape. He broadcasts the truth to the remaining followers of Astra, which lures the Conqueror to the station. Denton gets the drop on the Conquerer when he arrives and turns him over to the police.

Indexer Notes

Script credit suggested by Jerry Bails' Who's Who.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 14)

Cop Capers / comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Terry Gilkison (signed)

Pencils

Terry Gilkison (signed)

Inks

Terry Gilkison (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

non-fiction; crime

Synopsis

Strange and amusing trivia involving jail sentences and criminal behaviors around the world.

Indexer Notes

Script credit suggested by Jerry Bails' Who's Who.

This Beautiful Desk for $1.00 (Table of Contents: 15)

Remington Noiseless Deluxe Portable Typewriter / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Letters

typeset

Synopsis

Advertisement for a desk at a discounted price if bought with a Remington portable typewriter.

Indexer Notes

Inside back cover.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 16)

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

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Letters

typeset

Synopsis

Back cover. A plethora of small-print ads.