On eBay, a dealer offered me a pretty good deal on a beat-up Detective #223. I decided to go for it. I will have one comic with the Captain Compass feature! Plus the Batman story is titled “The Batman Dime Museum.” That looks interesting.

And a friend of mine helped me get a pretty good deal on Detective Comics #259, the first Calendar Man, which is ridiculously over-priced. I love the old Calendar Man! He’s awesome! Modern Calendar Man started out as a poor man’s Hannibal Lector and has become a pretty typical comic book serial killer with an obsession with holidays and dates. Ho hum.

I'm finally back to Detective Comics #25!

The second feature is Larry Steele, Private Detective, and it's attributed to Will Ely.

Larry Steele first appeared in Detective Comics #5 and appeared in most issues up to #63. (He skipped #27 and #28, and again #34 to #42.) He appears to have been replaced by The Boy Commandos, who first appeared in Detective Comics #64.

So ... getting back to Larry Steele. The story in #25 is the second part of a two-parter. A little research reveals that Larry Steele had a lot of two-part stories during his run in Detective Comics. This one is called The Model Murder Mystery. Apparently there are a lot of dead models and a very sinister artist who is developing a process that turns dead people into his art pieces!

The second part starts off with Larry being knocked out by the crazy artist DuVal at DuVal's studio. From the dialogue, it seems that DuVal had ambushed him.

DuVal injects Larry with a chemical and mumbles that Larry Steele will be DuVal's next "life" painting.

A concerned policeman is looking around in the studio and he deduces DuVal has kidnapped Larry. Moments later, the police arrive en masse and tear the place apart looking for Larry or DuVal or some clues or something. He couldn't have got past them. Where did DuVal go?

They find a secret panel and there's a secret stairway leading down. DuVal hears them coming down the stairs and tries to escape. The police find Larry, lifeless, on a table. DuVal slugs a cop and gets away, somehow.

Larry has merely been drugged and the police take him to the hospital.

Back at the scene of the crime, an unnamed policeman finds a formula that seems to be dripping with portent.

(Like many other comic book stories of the early Golden Age, the Larry Steele story doesn't always spell it out for you a lot of the time. There aren't very many captions, and when you do get a caption, it is frequently very stingy with information. So sometimes I'm guessing in these summaries. Was the first policeman in the hallway or in the lobby when he first appeared? Or maybe he had walked into the studio just seconds after DuVal had tried to sneak away via the secret panel. YOU CAN WRITE YOUR OWN STORY!)

The top of Page Four doesn't have a caption of any kind but Larry is in the hospital and he has recovered. He tells a doctor that he's OK. He just needed some time for the drug to wear off. Somehow Larry has gotten ahold of the formula that the policeman found at the bottom of the previous page. He says it's fantastic!

A rare caption tells us that "DAYS PASS, DUVAL IS HIDING IN A CHEAP HOTEL -"

He's reading the newspaper and he laughs about the formula that Larry was talking about. It seems he has a new formula and it's perfect. He mentions some beautiful models he would like to have tried out his new formula on - Maxine, Lucille - but they are unavailable, probably because he killed them in Part One.

DuVal sets his sights on Yvonne, and he's going to follow Steele to find her! (Why following Steele will lead him to Yvonne is not otherwise explained. Is she his girlfriend? Is Steele just checking up on her after a bad experience in the first part? Does he think DuVal will try to get her and he's using her as bait? Just pick one!)

DuVal hears Larry give the address to the cab driver - 148 W. 86th Street. The evil sculptor goes to the address to wait. After a while, I guess he assumes Steele is done, and so he goes up the fire escape. He enters the room and abducts Yvonne and tries to force her to the fire escape.

Larry has been chatting with a policeman in the lobby. No details are given, but perhaps they are discussing whether there really is a flying man operating in Metropolis.

As Larry leaves, he sees some commotion on the fire escape. "That's Yvonne's room! I've got to stop this!"

Somehow, DuVal gets Yvonne to the street and takes off in a cab. Larry follows in another cab.

We're running out of space so Larry quickly rescues Yvonne while DuVal protests his innocence. Larry says they got plenty of evidence, two girls are dead "AND IT'S THE CHAIR FOR YOU, DUVAL!"

So that's Larry Steele, Private Detective!

I started reading the Spy story in Detective Comics #25, and the first thing I noticed is that he's called "Bart Reagan," not "Bart Regan" as I thought I'd seen it. Was I mistaken? I looked at my reprints of Detective Comics #1 and #27. and I find that I was right. He's usually Bart Regan, not Bart Reagan.

One of the best things about Detective Comics #25 is the stories by Siegel and Shuster. Bart Regan, Spy is a lot of fun, quick and breezy, and you don't care too much that it makes no sense. Later, we'll get to Slam Bradley, which is a full 13 pages, so there's a lot of room for plot contrivances and characterization. Siegel seems to have learned how to tell a story very early on, and I love Shuster's cartooning, particularly his adventure strip anatomy and the action!

Bart Regan, Spy, started in the very first issue of Detective Comics and continued all the way to #83! It doesn't appear to have been replaced by anything. Detective Comics went from six features to five.

Here, the feature is just called "Spy." I'm pretty sure I've seen it called "Bart Regan, Spy," but I really couldn't say which title was used more often. It starts with Bart and Sally Norris (his fellow spy) being blindfolded by the chief of the mysterious, unnamed U.S. intel organization that they work for. The chief leads them down a secret passage, and when the blindfolds are removed, they are standing before ... the president!

"Are we dreaming?" says Sally.

No, you are not dreaming, Sally! It's Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in one of his many comic book appearances of the late 1930s and early 1940s. He is shown sitting down in every panel in which he appears but the comic does not draw any attention to his wheelchair.

The president explains that catching and prosecuting one foreign spy ring will scare all the other foreign spy rings away. So he orders Bart and Sally to bust up a foreign spy mob! Any old spy mob will do!

That's as specific as their instructions will be. Exactly how to accomplish this is left entirely to Bart and Sally.

But Bart and Sally are nothing if not resourceful. Especially Sally. She quickly comes up with a plan to force the spies to seek them out. But she doesn't tell Bart any of the details. He basically just tags along and says "What are you doing?!" every other panel while Sally promenades along, spotlighted by her own brilliance!

They're going to lay a trop for Latonia, well known as the most flagrant nation spying in the US!

When Bart wants to know what's going on, Sally says "You'll see!"

So ... they break into the Latonian embassy ... steal some random papers out of a desk ,,, and Sally knocks over a lamp on purpose. Bart is beside himself at how awkward Sally is ... but this is Sally's plan!

The watchman arrives, Bart hits him and Sally swings her flashlight so that the watchman can see their faces! "Oh! My mistake!" she says. She also says Bart's name so the watchman can hear her.

Back at Bart's apartment, Sally says the Latonians will try to get the papers back. Bart takes a closer look at the papers ... It's a diagram of the U.S. coastal fortifications! Also "Latonia's future attack plans"!

Bart ominously says. "The spies will stop at nothing to get these back! Even murder!"

The watchman reports the burglary to the Latonian spy ring and identifies the thieves as a woman and a man named Bart. The spies know - it's Bart Reagan and Sally Norris.

The Latonian spies call Bart's apartment and hang up when Bart answers the phone because they now know where he is. Bart suspects that it was the spies calling! Their enemies know where they are! (At home!) "We've got to act quickly!" says Sally.

Three Latonian spies - Gregor, Nanette and a big guy in a purple suit - separate to enter the house from three different ways. The big guy in the purple suit knocks on the door of the apartment. Bart lets him in and tries to arrest him. Nanette comes in another door but Sally sees her in time and aims a gun at her and gets her to drop her weapon and put her hands up.

But then ... in through the window comes Gregor - orange checked suit, blue fedora - aiming his gun at Sally.

At gunpoint, the Latonian spies make Bart and Sally leave the building so they can kill them elsewhere. BUT - Suddenly the lobby is full of U.S. anti-spy agents!

The Latonian spies are quickly apprehended. The chief made sure that Bart and Sally were under surveillance. "Knowing that where you go, trouble follows, I had my men shadow you."

They shadowed them to Bart's apartment! Good going, guys! A job well done!

The next panel is devoted to the front page of a headline! SPY RING SMASHED! FOREIGN AGENTS CAUGHT!

In the final panel Bart and Sally are congratulated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself! The president informs them that because they caught and prosecuted the Latonian spy mob, foreign spies are fleeing the country!

"Gosh!" says Sally.  "That makes us heroes, doesn't it Bart?"

Bart mumbles, "Hero or not, I wish I had the courage to ask you for a kiss!"

Take heart, Regan! You have almost sixty more issues to get a kiss from Sally!

There was an eBay auction for a beat-up (but still very solid) copy of Detective Comics #107, so I put a low bid on it. There were still six days to go in the auction, so I researched it and decided anything under $200 would be a very very good price for it. I ended up getting it for $190.00.

I got a few early 1950s issues of Detective lately because I’m trying to have at least one appearance of every secondary feature in the book. So I have #193 (Roy Raymond, Powwow Smith and Robotman), #206 (Mysto, Sierra Smith) and #223 (Captain Compass).

#107 gives me Slam Bradley, The Boy Commandos and Air Wave.

Since #25 has The Crimson Avenger and Spy, I think I have at least one appearance of every feature that appeared in Detective after #64.

There’s quite a few characters that appeared in the early days of Detective Comics that I don’t have any appearances of. Like Bret Lawson, Red Logan and Cliff Crosby. Those issues are pretty expensive, so I’m think I’m OK for now.

Next from Detective Comics #25: The Crimson Avenger by Jim Chambers!

This is the Crimson Avenger's sixth appearance. He first appeared in Detective Comics #20 and, except for a hiatus from #30 to #36, the Crimson - as he is called pretty regularly, including at least once in this issue - had a long run in Detective Comics, ending with #89. He also appeared in a few early issues of World's Finest and in Leading Comics #1 to #14 as a member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

The Crimson is a lot like The Green Hornet. He wears a cloak and a mask and a hat. He has an Asian chauffeur who drives him around. He publishes a newspaper. He fights crime.

This story starts off with a big headline from the Globe-Leader: FOUR DEAD IN CRASH: 2nd plunge for airline this week.

The publisher of the Globe-Leader, Lee Travis, is in his office, doing the city editor's job. He's discussing the story with Ed, a fairly generic fedora-wearing, metropolitan reporter.

Both of the pilots managed to escape their respective crashes. Lee and Ed think that it's suspicious.

Randomly, two engineers walk into Lee's office. They are young, newly graduated, and they have heard that Lee might be able to help them find work. Lee sends them to rubber magnate H.A. Powers, who is looking for young men to work at his rubber factory in South America.

The scene moves with no caption to the office of H.A. Powers. He has just learned that two more men have applied to work for him in South America.

The story movies very quickly. The reader has to fill in some of the gaps himself. But it's not too hard to do - most of the time.

The two engineers are hired but they are immediately killed when a truck crashes into the air transport bus that was taking them to their plane. Powers had specifically told them to take that particular bus.

Lee hears about the deaths and feels responsible. Ed comments that all these deaths must be costing the airline insurance company a fortune. Lee mulls this over. That's right. You can get $5,000 coverage for just a quarter.

And then ... another plane blows up over the Florida keys! Lee decides to investigate. It's about time!

Meanwhile, H.A. Powers gives $25,000 to the bank to cover some large debts he has accumulated. Hmm. Makes you wonder ...

That's exactly what Lee Travis does! He thinks! Ed has discovered that Powers is almost bankrupt. And Lee has noticed that he's hiring lots of young fellows who are dying at the airport or in plane crashes on the way to South America.

It's the bottom of Page Three and finally the Crimson makes an appearance! The Crimson Avenger and Wing go to Powers's house and the Crimson tells Wing to keep watch. Wing is bald and his skin is very unhealthy-looking. Like a neon lemon. Wing is not great for night surveillance work because he glows in the dark.

Looking through the window, the Crimson sees Powers telling someone to take the next plane to South America. And he has a special satchel for him to pick up before he goes.

The Crimson searches the house and finds a "time device." "I get the set-up now!" he says.

The next day, Lee tells Ed to book a flight to South America to keep an eye on Powers the rubber magnate. Lee apparently has some ridiculously complicated plan in mind.

Lee goes back to the Powers house, but this time he's in his civilian identity ... because reasons. Powers catches him and locks him in a cellar. But Lee is very resourceful and he manages to tap a trunk line and he contacts Wing who comes and helps him out of the cellar. (I think. The story doesn't actually show how he gets out of the cellar.) Wing has brought his Crimson Avenger cloak. So now Lee can really do some crimson avenging!

Powers gives the satchel to the latest young man who thinks he is going to South America. The Crimson shows up and uses a gas gun on Powers, then he drives on to the field and drops off Powers, unconscious. The crew thinks he's drunk and takes him on the plane. (Ed had also bought a ticket for Powers when he bought one for himself.)

Powers wakes up on the plane. When he realizes where he is, he freaks out and grabs the satchel and throws it out the window, just seconds before it explodes!

Very exciting!

Later, Ed tells Lee that Powers confessed to everything. Ed wonders how Lee knew that the Crimson would put Powers on the plane.

Lee claims he didn't know. He just figured that Powers was collecting huge payoffs on insurance by blowing up planes. It's not a very good answer. Ed must suspect that Lee is the Crimson. I wonder if Ed is a regular character?

Poor Wing has no lines and only appears in a handful of panels!

I kind of like the Crimson Avenger. It's too bad the story length - a mere six pages! - doesn't exactly lend itself to complicated stories, world-building or character development.

The next feature in Detective Comics #25 is ... Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise!

Illustrated by Sven Elven

Like Buck Marshal, Cosmo also uses limited color, just black and pink.

Cosmo started in the very first issue of Detective Comics. It's been said that the menacing Asian man on the cover of Detective Comics #1 is Cosmo in disguise. And I think he infiltrates Chinatown dressed as an Asian in his very first appearance. So maybe that is Cosmo on the cover.

Cosmo ran from Detective #1 to #20, skipped #21, and then ran from #22 to #37.

I haven't read enough Cosmo stories to have much of an opinion, but a little Internet research turns up a lot of comments about how seldom he actually wears disguises. He seems to be another amateur sleuth who occasionally utilizes his abilities to disguise himself.

I would like to point out that Cosmo is most assuredly NOT advertised as "Master of Disguise." He is clearly identified as "Phantom of Disguise." I'm not really sure what the difference is, but I'm certain that whatever the heck Cosmo is doing in these comics that's not quite identifiable as "master of disguising" must be what is meant by a "phantom of disguise." Maybe he's a ghost! Or a very subtle sorcerer!

It's a stormy night and Cosmo is sitting by the fire in his dinner jacket, reading a book about phantom disguising, when he gets a summons from Sheriff Loyd. The sheriff is on the track of "some big-time crooks."

So Cosmo braves the cold and somehow manages to meet up with the sheriff after a long, scary drive on a "wintry highway."

Sheriff Loyd explains that many dangerous criminals have hidden themselves away in these hills. Like Leg Diamond. And Dutch Schultz. And Baby Face Carlo. He suspects that a new gang is operating in the area. He opens a door and shows Cosmo ... THREE-BULLET-RIDDLED BODIES!!

It all seems so casual. I though they were at a very nice vacation cabin, but in the scene where he shows Cosmo the bodies, the door looks very thick and layered, like the door to a walk-in freezer ... or a morgue!

This is another one where a lot is left up to the reader. If you want to interpret this as a story where the sheriff is a serial killer who preys on criminals and Cosmo looks the other way ... well, it's not the least likely possibility.

So he takes Cosmo to see the corpses that he is storing in the walk-in freezer in his vacation cabin. See?! Look. Here they are, Cosmo!

The sheriff says they all belonged to Ma Pierce's gang and he found a cache of gold and jewels in a nearby cave.

Cosmo wastes no time coming up with a plan ... for whatever it is that they are going to do. First, he makes some shoes using the feet from a convenient bear rug. (I suspect that this "magic shoemaking power" is one of the components that differentiates a phantom of disguise from a master of disguise.)

So wearing the bear feet, they start tracking the gang. I assume that Cosmo used the front and back paws to make bear shoes for both Loyd and himself. Loyd makes a joke about "walking in bare feet in the snow," and Cosmo smiles politely because he doesn't want Loyd to turn on him later in the story.

The scene shifts to the cabin of the criminals. They are bad people. They are very bad people! They have kidnaped a boy who looks to be about ten. He's tied to a bad without a coat and it looks to be very cold in the cabin.

The bad guys hear a noise and go outside to investigate. They find some bear footprints.

Awww! It's just a bear!

Some time later they are awakened by Cosmo busting in, but the bad guys get the upper hand by threatening the kid. But Cosmo and Loyd know how high the stakes are! They attack the crooks, and in the fight that ensues, the kidnaped boy is shot in the shoulder!

Cosmo and Loyd recognize the abducted child, maybe from the newspaper? Maybe there's an all-points bulletin? It's Baby Reginald! He has been missing since Wednesday!

They beat up the bad guys, lock them in a cellar and take Reginald to a farmhouse.

WARNING: FIVE PAGES HAVE PASSED! THERE IS ONLY ONE PAGE TO GO! BETTER HURRY!

A doctor is called. He bandages the wound, which doesn't seem to be serious, but the boy has developed pneumonia and will need careful attention. The house is owned by an old married couple. The wife, Mrs. Brabart, will take care of the boy while arrangements are made to get him, to a hospital.

Later, a plane lands in a clearing next to the cabin that had previously been used by the bad guys. Ma Pierce herself steps out of the plane and is very surprised when she is surrounded by a bunch of pink-clad state troopers.

Reginald's mother comes to the cabin where he is being cared for and is very happy that her son is OK. She thanks Cosmo, but Cosmo tells her she needs to thank Mr. Brabart, and to help her out so that she has a more comfortable cabin.

Or something like that. It's a little disappointing. These were bad people! They kidnapped a boy, kept him in a cold cabin and he got pneumonia because of their negligence! He could have died! If they don't end up dying in a hail of bullets, we should at ;east find out if they got the electric chair!

But, no. That is not the way of the TRUE phantom of disguise!