Kid Komics #6

The Sinister Jap Secret Weapon

After an adventure in the far east, the Young Allies make a stopover in San Francisco to do some sightseeing. They decide to go on a car tour of the city. Once in the care, they discover that they are the only fares on board with the exception of a man sitting at the back of the car. They are soon taken to a deserted part of the city called Little Tokyo. The guide tells them that this is where the Japanese residents used to live before they were sent to internment camps and is completely deserted. That’s when Bucky notices a Japanese man looking out the window of one of the nearby buildings. Ordering the driver to stop, the Young Allies get out of the car to go and investigate. Inside the find, the building deserted but only recently as there are footprints on the dusty floor. Bucky decides they should report this to the police and while the others leave they don’t notice someone reach out of the darkness and nab Whitewash Jones.

Unaware that their friend is missing, they begin to pull out when the tour car suffers a flat tire. Checking the tire, Bucky notices that the tire popped when it ran over the glasses that the strange man in the back of the car was wearing earlier. Spotting the man running away they realize that he is Japanese as well. Toro flames on and flies after the man but he disappears after crossing into a nearby alley. Suspecting that there are Japanese spies lurking around the abandoned neighborhood, the Young Allies decide to split up and look around. Seeing this from a nearby buying, Shanto, the leader of the spies is pleased to see that they are splitting up. While Tubby and Jeff search for Whitewash, Jeff is suddenly snatched by someone through a secret panel in the wall. Tubby calls for help, but when the other Young Allies arrive the trap door is sealed shut. Flaming on, Toro melts through the secret passage revealing a hidden tunnel on the other side.

They discover the Japanese spies but they begin opening fire on the Young Allies with a machine gun. Toro tells the others to run to cover and flies through the hail of bullets to disarm the spies. While the others are busy, Shanto manages to flee the scene, leaving his minions behind. With the situation growing more dangerous, Bucky order Knuckles to go back to the car and guard the tour driver to make sure he stays safe. Once Knuckles is outside, he is ambushed from behind by two Japanese spies who emerge from under a manhole cover. Meanwhile, Bucky and Toro continue to follow the tunnel and find another secret passageway. After Toro melts through it, they find the rest of the Japanese spies who are standing before a massive idol. As it turns out they are preparing to sacrifice Knuckles and the driver to Shinto. The driver is placed under one of the hands of the idol. However, Bucky and Toro attack and destroy the idol before the driver can be crushed. Toro has the advantage against the spies until Shanto uses a hose to douse his flames and they are all taken, prisoner.

They soon learn that Jeff and the others are being forced to load artillery shells into a cannon that they have hidden in the deserted city. With the boys reunited, Shanto decides to take the opportunity to gloat about his master plan. He explains that he and his men hid when Little Tokyo was cleared out and built the artillery cannon to attack American targets from within the United States. Unfortunately for him, Shanto’s gloating gives Toro enough time to dry off and he flames on again. He quickly destroys the cannon while the other Young Allies knock out the spies and tie them up. With the battle over, Bucky and the others load up the spies onto the tour car and they head off to turn them over to the authorities. Along the way, the driver admits that after seeing the Young Allies in action he’s the one who should be paying them.

Recurring Characters

Young Allies (Bucky, Toro, Knuckles O’Toole, Jeff Vandergill, Tubby Tinkle, Whitewash Jones)

The Dealers of Hate

At a munitions factor in Gtrafsburg, Germany, a Gestapo agent gives a speech to the workers, telling them that their efforts will give the Nazis the munitions they need to defeat the Allies. He assures them that one of their best scientists has developed a weapon that will protect the factory from any Allied bombers that come near the facility. One of the slave workers has had enough and takes the risk of escaping the factory in order to warn the Destroyer. The escapee manages to get to a nearby town before he is caught by Nazi troops. However, before they can apprehend him, the man is saved by the Destroyer. The fight attracts the attention of more soldiers, prompting the Destroyer and his newfound friend to flee to a nearby resistance hideout. Along the way, he tells the Destroyer about the secret weapon that is defending the munitions factory. Once they are safe, the former slave tells him that the weapon is a magnet that is made of a rare metal that can only be found in the region. The magnet is powerful enough to attract any plane that is flying within a 100-mile radius. The Destroyer decides that the only way to destroy the magnet is to disguise himself as a worker and sneak inside. However, word of the Destroyer’s presence in the area prompts the Gestapo commander to order the nearby settlement to be burned to the ground. The troops carry out the orders but they find no trace of the masked vigilante.

This is because the Destroyer and the other resistance fighters have retreated to a nearby cave. Once he has put on a suitable disguise, the Destroyer joins a work detail as they enter the munitions plant for their shift. Once inside, the Destroyer orders the other to pour gun powder inside the building where the magnet is being stored. Once this is done, the Destroyer lights the trail on fire. As they flee they are discovered by the soldiers who try to stop them from fleeing. Ditching his disguise, the Destroyer fights through the Nazis leading the factory workers to freedom as the facility, and the magnet hidden inside, are destroyed in a massive explosion.

Recurring Characters

Destroyer, Nazis

The Three Trials of Death

Tommy Tyme and one of his friends are visiting a museum. When they come upon a display of ancient torture devices, the two boys are glad that the only place they will ever see such horrific devices is in a museum. Still, Tommy isn’t afraid and that’s when his friend dares him to use his Clock of the Ages to go 500 years into the past and look at the devices when they were actually being used.

Activating the clock, Tommy is sent back in time to the days of the Spanish Inquisition. He lands in a prison cell occupied by a woman and the racket he makes draws the jailer who whips the boy. Tommy is horrified to see the jailer resort to torture. The jailer gloats that torture is how they make people talk. He then locks Tommy in the cell while he tortures the woman to learn where her father, the duke, is hiding.

Deciding to escape, Tommy takes a risk by jumping out of his cell into the castle moat below. He then goes back into the castle through the front gate and is promptly captured by soldiers. He is brought before the inquisition and they rule that Tommy is to be tortured until he reveals the location of the duke. Tommy soon finds himself strapped to a table. They swing a pendulum over him in an effort to get Tommy to talk, but the boy keeps a brave face. Growing impatient, the inquisitor orders his men to let loose the gorilla to attack the boy. Surprisingly, when the gorilla gets a good look at Tommy the creature drops dead with fright.

That’s when the boy is ordered to be put in the iron maiden. When the executioner opens the torture device he also opens a secret compartment where the duke has been hiding the entire time. While everyone is distracted, Tommy grabs the duke and his daughter and uses the Clock of the Ages to travel a few years forward in time when the inquisition is over. Once they are all safe, Tommy returns to his own time where he tells his friend about the hair raising tale.

Recurring Characters

Tommy Tyme

The Case of the Flying Coffins

In the office of a Japanese admiral, Captain Humaru is being told that his homicidal behavior is no longer being tolerated as it has cost the Imperial Navy to waste far too much manpower. However, Humaru has come up with a brand new plan. Reading it, the admiral is impressed and agrees to let Humaru carry it out, but warns him to be careful of the American pilot known as Jap Buster Johnson.

Weeks later, an American convoy travels through enemy waters to bring supplies to marines that are stationed on the island of Kiwak. When a Japanese dive-bomber is spotted heading their way. As their guns shoot down the plane, they notice the pilot suddenly stand-up moments before it crashes. Jap Buster Johnson also notices that the plane was an obsolete model and figures that it must have come out of a nearby atoll known as Renegade Reef. Even though the atoll appears to be too small for a plane to take off on, Johnson decides to take out his plane to investigate. After a 20 minute flight, they search the atoll but it looks deserted. Still, Johnson refuses to give up and bails out of the plane, telling his copilot to send a ship to pick him up tomorrow. As he parachutes to the island below, Johnson’s suspicions are confirmed as enemy guns try to shoot him out of the sky. Unfortunately, his plane is shot out of the sky, leaving Johnson stuck on the island.

Searching the island, Johnson finds the hidden Japanese base and recognizes Captain Humaru among the men. He overhears Humaru explaining his scheme, they have been intentionally sending their old planes on suicide missions. That’s when Johnson is spotted by Humaru, who orders his men to get him. Fighting past the guards, Johnson shoots Humaru dead and then steals one of the enemy planes. Taking off, Johnson circles back and bombs the atoll, killing the rest of the Japanese soldiers. Returning back to the American destroyer, Johnson shows his commanders the interior of the plane explaining how Humaru was using the old planes as suicide bombers.

Recurring Characters

Jap Buster Johnson

The Silent Death

Seargent Dix is overseeing parachute training and everything appears to be going smoothly until they discover that something has killed all the troops. Examining the bodies they find no evidence of how they may have been killed. His commanding officer tells Dix that these men were under his command and it will be his job to solve their deaths. Returning to base, Dix has autopsies performed on the dead paratroopers and learns that the cause of death was poison.

Searching the base, Dix becomes suspicious of a concession stand that has an unusually high roof. Confronting the salesman, he tells Dix to mind his own business. Attacking the vendor, Dix searches the stall and discovers the high roof hides a lookout where a lip-reader can spy on the colonel and learn when the parachute training was going to happen. When he climbs down the vendor attacks him again, revealing himself to be a Nazi spy named Ludwig Kratz. Kratz gets away, but Dix managed to knock a strange gun out of his hands. Examining the weapon he discovers that it fires tiny darts coated with poison.

The next day, Dix tells the colonel that he will be going up with the other paratroopers. Once in the air, Dix orders the others to stay on board the plane and leaps out alone. After he activates his chute he spots some Nazi spies hiding in the bushes with a special cannon that fires the poison needles. They begin opening fire on him, but the needles have no effect on him. When he lands on the ground, Dix quickly beats the spies in submission just in time for the army brass to arrive and arrest them. When asked how he survived the barrage of poisoned needles, Dix opens his jacket and reveals that he was wearing a vest that shielded him from the needles.

Recurring Characters

Seargent Dix