One of the hard parts of being a Golden Age aficionado is something that Internet tropers call “Early-Installment Weirdness.” That brings us to the subject of today’s spotlight, the caped crusader called Spy-Smasher! Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of Whiz Comics #2 awaits!

WHIZ COMICS #2

Writer:  Bill Parker
Penciler: C.C. Beck
Inker: C.C. Beck
Colorist: Bill Parker
Letterer: Uncredited
Editor: Bill Parker
Publisher: Fawcett Publications Inc. (Fawcett Comics)
Cover Price: 10 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $250,000.00
Release Date: January 12, 1940

Previously in Whiz Comics: During the Wild West publishing days of the late 1930s, it was a free-for-all to get comics on the stands, especially after the debut of Superman set the superhero genre on fire. Initially, Fawcett Comics intended for this anthology to be entitled Flash Comics, but after creating an “ashcan” copy to secure copyright, Fawcett discovered that All-American Publications had beaten them to the punch. Cue their second attempt, Thrill Comics, which also failed to secure a trademark, possibly due to UK Publisher Gerald G. Swan’s title of the same name. By the third try, Fawcett also changed the name of the flagship hero to Captain Marvel (which Fawcett editor Ralph Daigh testified in court was his idea, but some attribute to copyright failure), and finally, Whiz Comics was born!

We looked at all that Captain Marvel stuff over a decade ago, but today we’re here to check out the first appearance of Fawcett’s third most-popular hero after Captain Marvel and Bulletman, the legendary Spy-Smasher! (Buckle up, Faithful Spoilerites, this one’s a weirdie.)

A series of remarkably-well-drawn disasters strikes a number of important Navy targets, destroying cutting-edge military hardware designed to protect the shorts of the United States against the madness spreading across Europe in 1939/1940. But who could be behind it all?

Why, if it has to be ENEMY SPIES, opines one Admiral Corby!

The art here is by C.C. Beck, the same man who handled the debut of Captain Thunder Marvel, but somehow, it’s an entirely different aesthetic, and one that I find to be the most impressive part of this introductory story. As Alan Armstrong takes his leave, we transition to later that night, as Admiral Corby’s home is targeted by burglars under the command of a mysterious villain called The Mask, seeking secret plans hidden in his safe.

It’s clear from that response that this isn’t the first time Spy Smasher has appeared to… uhhh… smash some spies. In fact, it seems that wherever The Mask’s men go, they find themselves targeted by the man in the red cape. Of course, it does feel a bit odd that the hero stays entirely in shadow in that first appearance, but when it happens again, it seems like Beck and Parker are going for something different among the army of post-Superman supermen. Spy Smasher continues to stay in the shadows as he returns to his Gyrosub, trailing the villains to their lair, and following as they escape in the stolen Navy dirigible.

The one thing that I remember about Spy Smasher is how very generic his costume always seemed. A dun-colored shirt and jodhpurs, a leather pilot’s helmet and boots, with only the red cape really standing out and screaming “superhero.” After reading this story, it feels like that design came from the fact that the first three outings of Spy Smasher keep the hero obscured entirely in shadow. Beck makes up for the lack of a colorful hero with interesting layouts and design work, with touches like Spy Smasher’s reflective pilot’s goggles glowing out of his shadowy figure. As the story ends, Admiral Corby receives the plans stolen from his safe, with only one question sharply on his mind.

Now, on the face of it, it’s a fair question in-universe. For readers, though, it’s hard to commit to the question as a mystery when there are only four named characters, and only one of them can possibly be the masked hero. The Spy Smasher portion of Whiz Comics #2 is a tidy little tale featuring some very well-done art by C.C. Beck and a number of very strange decisions creatively and artistically, ending up with an above-average 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. One thing that is easy to see, though, is why Spy Smasher was chosen to star in the 1942 serial that bears his name, with his off-the-shelf costume, no hard-to-reproduce super-powers, and his cool, easy-to-make-a-miniature-of Gyrosub.

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WHIZ COMICS #2

67%

67%

An Odd Gimmick

Much like The Green Turtle and Bronze Man, Spy Smasher spends the entire story in the shadows, an unusual choice that throws off the whole rhythm.

• Writing

  6
• Art

  7
• Coloring

  7
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
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