Feature Comics Vol 1 61

Feature Comics Vol 1 #61 Published Released October, 1942 August 26, 1942 Issue Details Pages 68 Original Price 0.10 Cover Artists Gill Fox Publisher Quality Comics Indicia Publisher Comic Favorites, Inc. Brand/Imprint Quality Comic Group Doll Man: "The Scientist Slaves of Yvette De Mortire" Pencilers Reed Crandall Inkers Reed Crandall Editors Gill Fox "Big Top" Pencilers Bernard Dibble Inkers Bernard Dibble "Zero, Ghost Detective: "To Return from the Dead"" Writers Toni Blum Pencilers Al Bryant Inkers Al Bryant "Spider Widow and the Raven: "Kidnapping on the Midnight Express"" Writers Frank Borth Pencilers Frank Borth Inkers Frank Borth "Mickey Finn" Writers Lank Leonard Pencilers Lank Leonard Inkers Lank Leonard "Fargo Kid: "Escape of the Nazi Seamen"" Pencilers Alex Koda Inkers Alex Koda "Lala Plaooza" Pencilers Bernard Dibble Inkers Bernard Dibble "Swing Sisson: "Sabotage In Seattle"" Writers Phil Martin Pencilers Phil Martin Inkers Phil Martin "Reynolds of the Mounted: "Fortress of Spies"" Pencilers Art Pinajian Inkers Art Pinajian "Rusty Ryan: "The Chinese Doll"" Writers Paul Gustavson Pencilers Paul Gustavson Inkers Paul Gustavson "Samar: "The Wagi-Wagi Incident"" Pencilers Rafael Astarita Inkers Rafael Astarita "Spin Shaw: "The Nazi Gold Theft"" Pencilers Witmer Williams Inkers Witmer Williams Previous Issue Next Issue Feature Comics #60 Feature Comics #62

This is a job for the Doll Man.

-- Doll Man

Appearing in Doll Man: "The Scientist Slaves of Yvette De Mortire"

Featured Characters:

•  Doll Man 

Supporting Characters:

• Dr. Keen, president of the Institute of Science
• Dr. Kwikmind, an expert

Adversaries:

• Yvette DeMortire
  • her uniformed squad of hench-stenographers

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

• hydrocatharsis ray

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• 
  
  

Synopsis for Doll Man: "The Scientist Slaves of Yvette De Mortire"

At a convention in the Hall of the Institute of Science, Yvette De Mortire, at the podium in a slinky evening gown, irradiates a roomful of distinguished scientists, including Dr. Roberts, with her "hydrocatharsis ray," which puts a sodium-pentothol-style whammy on them all; the scientists all start blabbing their important secret science ideas, while DeMortire's squad of male secretaries, dressed in hotel bellboy uniforms, circulate among them and write down everything they hear (much of which isn't even in complete sentences). Then they leave. The brain-scrambled scientists wander randomly; it takes a full day to get them all rounded up; Dr. Roberts finds his way home, staggers in, says nothing and passes out, from "exhaustion and probably amnesia," according to Darrel Dane.
-- Yvette DeMortire is the only nonbrainscrambled attendee of the convention, hence the only suspect, so Darrel visits her apartment, changes size and clothing, and breaks in through the transom. Inside he finds a dead guy, with a dagger stuck in his back, who has written a message in his own blood: "secret swamp." In the nearby fireplace, charred but not burned, Doll Man finds a fragment of a map, marked "secret swamp." He also finds, and takes home, a heart-shaped locket containing photos of two teens: (younger Yvette and Stephan Bois).
-- Meanwhile at a hidden lair in the secret swamp, mad science weapons are being tested and the four stenographers are typing night and day. One of them goes mad and declares his love for Yvette; she scornfully slaps him silly with one of her shoulder-length gloves and orders him back to work. Doll Man arrives, riding a bat, and uses a bent sapling to catapault himself into De Mortire's observatory, landing on the lens of her telescope as she observes the Moon. Acting on a psychological hunch, he places the locket portrait of the boy teen on the lens; Yvette's icy demeanor completely transforms and she gets all swoony over "Stephan," then faints. A hard-faced hag (Yvette's sister) rushes into the room, spots Doll Man and shoots at him with a revolver, then prepares to deal harshly with unconscious Yvette. Doll Man causes her to fall down a flight of stairs, but she recovers and tosses him into a can of rubber cement, but he wrenches himself out of it; she sics her squad of secretaries on him and he beats them all up. Then Yvette shows up, sobbing, having some sort of psychological breakdown, and the hag steps out of the fight and hustles Yvette into another room, and berates her: "Where are the brains I beat into you, Sister ??" Outside the room, Doll Man learns the backstory of Yvette and her late suitor Stephan from one of the stenographers; they team up, enter the room, and contrive to get the wicked sister's hair caught in the rolls of a printing press. The still-unnamed stenographer pitches some woo at Yvette, but first there's this problem of all these empty-headed scientists, but that very evening they are all reassembled at the Institute, and re-irradiated with the hydrocatharsis ray, which has retroactive powers when applied a second time.
-- We never do find out who the dead guy in Yvette's apartment was or who killed him or why.

Appearing in "Big Top"

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Synopsis for "Big Top"

Reprints from the Big Top comic strip

Appearing in Zero, Ghost Detective: "To Return from the Dead"

Featured Characters:

• Zero, Ghost Detective

Supporting Characters:

Adversaries:

• a ghost
• Windsor

Other Characters:

• Matilda (Death)
• J.M. Fons

Locations:

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• 
  
  

Synopsis for Zero, Ghost Detective: "To Return from the Dead"

• Synopsis not yet written.
  
  

Appearing in Spider Widow and the Raven: "Kidnapping on the Midnight Express"

Featured Characters:

•  Spider Widow 
•  the Raven 

Supporting Characters:

Adversaries:

• Nazis

Other Characters:

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• 
  
  

Synopsis for Spider Widow and the Raven: "Kidnapping on the Midnight Express"

Dianne Grayton, secretly the mysterious Spider Widow, rides the Midnight Express through the mountain country of the East Coast, preoccupied with thoughts of "the Raven." Obliviously seated right across from her in the same coach is Anthony Grey, secretly the Raven, obsessing over the Spider Widow. The train is wrecked by Nazi spies and hired gunmen, who abduct selected survivors: government officials, war manufacturers, military officers, and Dianne. The Raven leaps aboard their truck, rides it undetected, and at the Nazi hideout he attacks the leader and his bodyguards. During that fight, Dianne sneaks into a nearby stable, changes into her Spider Widow outfit, and steals two horses, then returns to get Raven onto a horse and away from there. They soon very luckily encounter a whole lot of soldiers, out on maneuvers, and tell the C.O. about the sabotaged train, then lead the army to the secret base, where the bad guys are quickly rounded up.

Appearing in "Mickey Finn"

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Synopsis for "Mickey Finn"

Reprints from the Mickey Finn comic strip

Appearing in Fargo Kid: "Escape of the Nazi Seamen"

Featured Characters:

• Fargo Kid

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Synopsis for Fargo Kid: "Escape of the Nazi Seamen"

• Synopsis not yet written.
  
  

Appearing in "Lala Plaooza"

Featured Characters:

• Lala Palooza

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Synopsis for "Lala Plaooza"

Reprints from the Lala Plaooza comic strip

Appearing in Swing Sisson: "Sabotage In Seattle"

Featured Characters:

• Swing Sisson

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Synopsis for Swing Sisson: "Sabotage In Seattle"

• Synopsis not yet written.
  
  

Appearing in Reynolds of the Mounted: "Fortress of Spies"

Featured Characters:

• Sgt. Jim Reynolds, RCMP

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Synopsis for Reynolds of the Mounted: "Fortress of Spies"

• Synopsis not yet written.
  
  

Appearing in Rusty Ryan: "The Chinese Doll"

Featured Characters:

• Rusty Ryan

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Synopsis for Rusty Ryan: "The Chinese Doll"

• Synopsis not yet written.
  
  

Appearing in Samar: "The Wagi-Wagi Incident"

Featured Characters:

• Samar

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• 
  
  

Synopsis for Samar: "The Wagi-Wagi Incident"

• Synopsis not yet written.
  
  

Appearing in Spin Shaw: "The Nazi Gold Theft"

Featured Characters:

• Capt. S.R. "Spin" Shaw, USN

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• 
  
  

Synopsis for Spin Shaw: "The Nazi Gold Theft"

• Synopsis not yet written.

See Also

• Write your own review of this comic!
• Discuss Feature Comics Vol 1 61 on the forums
• Images from Feature Comics Vol 1 61

Links and References

• Feature Comics #61 entire issue
• Feature Comics #61 index entry

Footnotes

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