More Fun Comics #69

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Graded population

CGC records 43 graded copies for More Fun Comics #69 (1941). Population is the number recorded by this grading source, not the total print run or all surviving copies.

Doctor Fate: "The Shadow Killers"

After returning from his exploration of a haunted region in the Sahara, Everett Dahlen throws a grand house party, at his countryside home, which is attended by Inza Cramer and Kent Nelson. During the party, an unearthly assassin, seemingly a man made out of shadow, steals into the house and murders Dahlen, then flees when Nelson enters the room. Kent pursues, and catches up to, but can not capture, the insubstantial killer. Rather than magically blast the shadow-man, he resolves to learn more about it, as Dr. Fate.

At his gaunt Salem tower, with Inza listening, Doctor Fate pores over a great deal of arcane literature, and theorizes that the late Dahlen's travels had taken him to a lost city in Africa called Ragnor. If so, he now had control of an ancient technology for turning men into animated shadows and enslaving them.

:In Ragnor, several years earlier, two archaeologists found an enormous ruby, and fought over it. Everett Dahlen struck down his partner Ian Karkull and left him to die, taking the ruby, the camels, and all of their water. Karkull survived long enough for his luck to change, and he got rescued by some nomads. He had found something in the city that Dahlen had missed, and was already planning his revenge.

Doctor Fate divines the enemy's identity and location, and he races high over the city to reach his secret laboratory. Before striking, Fate spies on Karkull as he transforms three thugs into shadow-men. They head out to rob a bank, where Fate confronts them. Fisticuffs are useless for both sides, and the bandits realize they also can't work the combination lock. Fate departs, to attend instead to Karkull. But Karkull, by remote control, solidifies his henchmen, who break into the vault and steal some bags of money. They and the money are then returned to a shadow state and they return to the lab. Dr Fate has gotten there ahead of them, and confronts Karkull, who shoots him right in the chest with a ray, a "beam of transareal power." Fate falls down and gets quiet, but this was supposed to blow him to bits, so Karkull pauses to think. Just then the henchthugs return with the loot and while they are distracted with dividing it up, Doctor Fate stands back up. It's a short fight, with fists, knives, and guns proving useless against the Doctor. Karkull activates the Transareal Power Beam again, accidentally killing one of his own punks. Fate blows up the ray projector with a bolt from his fingertip, but Karkull cleverly turns himself into a shadow, thus becoming invulnerable. So Fate blows up the materializer, and effectively condemns Karkull to live eternally as a shadow, unable to touch anything. | Appearing1 = **Featured Characters:** * Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson)) **Supporting Characters:** * Inza Cramer) **Antagonists:** * Ian Karkull) ** Slick ** Hart ** 3rd thug **Other Characters:** * Everett Dahlen * Sahara nomads **Locations:** * New York City Area ** Inza Cramer's Penthouse ** Ian Karkull's secret labortory (near NYC) ** First Federal Bank * Salem ** Tower of Fate * Sahara Desert ** Ragnor **Items:** * Amulet of Anubis * Cloak of Destiny * Helmet of Fate * Globe of White Onyx **Vehicles:** * Nelson's roadster

| Writer2_1 = Joe Donohoe | Penciler2_1 = Joe Donohoe | Inker2_1 = Joe Donohoe | StoryTitle2 = Detective Sergeant Carey: "The Aqueduct Case" | Synopsis2 = | Appearing2 = **Featured Characters:** * Detective Sergeant Carey), City Police **Supporting Characters:** * Sleepy, City Police * more cops, at least three **Antagonists:** * Fatherland saboteurs, at least five: Hans, others ** leader wears a monocle **Locations:** * woods outside of town ** aqueduct shaft entrance ** aqueduct pumping station

| Writer3_1 = | Penciler3_1 = George Papp | Inker3_1 = George Papp | StoryTitle3 = Clip Carson: "The Swamp of Pestilence" | Synopsis3 = | Appearing3 = **Featured Characters:** * Clip Carson) **Antagonists:** * George Harvard, assistant geologist, as "Big Sun" ** two gangster escort ** fake Seminole braves **Other Characters:** * Professor Lovett, geologist * Doris Lovett, daughter **Locations:** * Florida ** Hotel ** Everglades *** fake Seminole village **** illicit oil well *** Lovett's secret pitchblende discovery

| Writer4_1 = Ed Winiarski | Penciler4_1 = Ed Winiarski | Inker4_1 = Ed Winiarski | StoryTitle4 = Captain Desmo: "The Count" | Synopsis4 = | Appearing4 = **Featured Characters:** * Captain Desmo) **Supporting Characters:** * Gabby **Antagonists:** * Count Parla (wears a monocle) ** Parla's bodyguard ** Eddie ** five more masked gunmen **Other Characters:** * Mr. Banks * Mrs. Banks * Enid Banks **Locations:** * West Coast ** Airport ** Banks' Mansion ** Pasa Canyon *** cabin hideout ** Metropolis Hospital **Vehicles:** * Desmo's new plane * Banks' speedplane * gangster sedan

| Writer5_1 = Jerry Siegel | Penciler5_1 = Fred Ray | Inker5_1 = Fred Ray | StoryTitle5 = Radio Squad: "The Priceless Art Treasures" | Synopsis5 = | Appearing5 = **Featured Characters:** * Radio Squad) ** Sandy Keene) ** Larry Trent) **Antagonists:** * stickup gang: ** gangster chauffeurs: Sam, others ** Mr. Rivers, politician (secretly) ** Mr. Wu, art treasure manager (secretly) **Other Characters:** * Dr. Ling * Relief Ball attendees **Locations:** * New York City ** Chinatown ** Rivers Construction Company ** Relief Ball @ hotel **Vehicles:** * Radio Car K-7 * Chinese moving van * stickup gang's sedan * Rivers' limousine

| Writer6_1 = | Penciler6_1 = Harold Wilson Sharp | Inker6_1 = Harold Wilson Sharp | StoryTitle6 = Lance Larkin: "Mystery in Jungletown" | Synopsis6 = | Appearing6 = **Featured Characters:** * Lance Larkin) **Animals:** * Satan, Larkin's horse **Antagonists:** * ex-miners, at least five **Other Characters:** * Bill Wallace * Nadya Wallace * Daddy Wallace **Locations:** * Dutch East Indies See Notes. ** West Sumatra, province *** Jungletown *** Busted Horse-shoe **Vehicles:** * small plane crashes

| Writer7_1 = John Lehti | Penciler7_1 = John Lehti | Inker7_1 = John Lehti | StoryTitle7 = Sergeant O'Malley of the Red Coat Patrol: "Bailey's Nugget" | Synopsis7 = | Appearing7 = **Featured Characters:** * Sergeant O'Malley), of the Red Coat Patrol **Supporting Characters:** * Black Hawk, RCMP **Antagonists:** * Russell, * Russell's partner * Talley, safecracker **Other Characters:** * Old Man Bailey, miner **Locations:** * Canada ** Yukon Territory *** Bailey Camp **Items:** * biggest gold nugget ever found in Canada **Vehicles:** * Talley's yellow roadster

| Writer8_1 = Jerry Siegel | Penciler8_1 = Bernard Baily | Letterer8_1 = Bernard Baily | Inker8_1 = Bernard Baily | StoryTitle8 = The Spectre: "The Strangler" | Synopsis8 = A wealthy man is strangled to death in his own mansion, his head almost crushed, inside of a locked room. Just as Detective Corrigan makes the grisly discovery, a threatening call comes demanding 10,000 dollars. The operator's able to trace the call to the home of Daniel Lakespur. Corrigan confronts Lakespur, but his ghostly powers tell him the man had nothing to do with the murder, especially when it turns out five other men died in identical ways at the same time. A threatening note arrives for Lakespur from "the Tentacle", demanding money or he'll suffer such a dire fate himself if he doesn't pay a ransom, which happens despite police protection.

Finally deciding that seven deaths is severe enough, Corrigan becomes the Spectre to protect the next threatened man. Watching invisibly, he sees a strange plant come to life and try to strangle the wealthy victim, but crushes the deadly flora before it has the chance. His charge safe and the method of murder discovered, the Spectre hurries to where the ransom was meant to be dropped and turns himself into a bag of money. When it's brought back to the greenhouse of the murderous plants' creator, the Spectre changes back into himself. In fleeing the spirit of vengeance, the Tentacle gets too close to his own killer plants and is crushed. | Appearing8 = **Featured Characters:** * The Spectre) (Jim Corrigan)) **Supporting Characters:** * Chief of Police, Cliffland **Antagonists:** * The Tentacle, horticulturist **Other Characters:** * Thomas Bardsley * Daniel Lakespur (wears a monocle) * five more wealthy men * police guard detail * Jake Carstairs **Locations:** * Cliffland, New Jersey ** Police Headquarters ** Bardsley Mansion ** Lakespur Mansion, 1911 Grestoke Road ** Carstairs Mansion ** Carlson Bridge ** Tentacle's Greenhouse **Items:** * walking strangling plant **Vehicles:** * Police Car

| Notes = * Published by Detective Comics, Inc. * **Captain Desmo** ** Desmo is again seen without his white leather helmet, again with the dark glasses. ** Desmo and Gabby get head-konked unconscious, with blunt instruments. Gabby also gets stabbed with a rapier. * **Clip Carson** gets head-konked unconscious, with a wooden club. He also gets hanged by the neck, but saves himself with "that old Hindu rigidity trick." * **Doctor Fate**: ** According to Roy Thomas, in All-Star Squadron Annual #3, Ian Karkull's elaborate attack on eight future U.S. presidents took place on 28 & 29 June, 1941. ** Doctor Fate first encountered Ian Karkull in this issue, and then fought a teamed-up Karkull and Wotan in More Fun Comics Vol 1 70. ** Therefore both of those adventures took place before 28 June 1941. ** According to Green Lantern's remark on page 26 of the Annual, the second Fate-versus-Karkull battle had happened "last year." ** Therefore both of those *More Fun* stories took place not later than December 1940, with earlier Doctor Fate stories being likewise "compressed upstream" on the Earth-Two timeline to compensate. ** At the end of the story, Ian Karkull has been turned into a shadow and can't touch or move things, but he can still speak. ** *"The Shadow Killers"* is reprinted in The Golden Age Doctor Fate Archives Vol. 1 (Collected). * **Lance Larkin** gets knocked out by falling off his horse. ** In early 1941, Japan had not yet invaded Indonesia. * The **Spectre**: *The Strangler* is reprinted in The Golden Age Spectre Archives Vol. 1 (Collected). ** "Lakespur" is the last name of one the Tentacle's victims. It had been the name of one of the towns wiped out in the previous issue's Spectre story as well. * Also appearing in this issue of *More Fun Comics* were: ** "Laffs" by Henry Boltinoff ** "Fatal Mistake" (text story), by Adam Sanford ** "Hear Superman on the Radio!" (1/2-page ad for the The Adventures of Superman (radio series)|*Superman* radio show). ** "Fish Facts" by Henry Boltinoff ** "Here It Is -- Boys and Girls All-Flash Quarterly No.1!" (1/2-page ad for the current issue of All-Flash Vol 1 1|All-Flash Quarterly #1) ** "At the Top of the Field!" (full-page color ad for the ongoing titles of Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Detective Comics, All-American Comics, More Fun Comics, & Flash Comics, plus the current issue of World's Finest Vol 1 2, 96 pages for 15 cents.) | Trivia = * Clip Carson smokes a pipe. | Recommended = | Links =

Creative credits

Writers: Gardner Fox, Joe Donohoe, Ed Winiarski, Jerry Siegel, John Lehti, Jerry Siegel

Interior art: Howard Sherman, Joe Donohoe, George Papp, Ed Winiarski, Fred Ray, Harold Wilson Sharp, John Lehti, Bernard Baily

Source records & attribution

Panel Profits keeps each source identity attached to its edition record.

COMICBASE: comicbase:767246

GCD: 1496

PANEL PROFITS: 2347771