Episode 16: Madam Fatal, Sealed Oscars, and Wartime Spy Thrills

Simon Carver

Welcome to the show. This is the 16th episode of Distinguished Comics Radio, airing on this chilly Sunday, February 23rd, 1941. I am Simon Carver, coming to you once again from London, where the blackout is still very much our nightly reality, but the spirit of this city remains absolutely unbroken. And joining me from the warmth of our New York studio is my trusty partner.

Robert Reed

And I'm Robert Reed, keeping the home fires burning in New York! Simon, it is cold enough to freeze the tail off a brass monkey over here, but the city is buzzing. Everyone's talking about the 13th Academy Awards coming up this Thursday, February 27th, at the Biltmore Bowl.

Simon Carver

Ah, yes, Bob Hope is hosting. But the real chatter is about this brand-new secrecy system. For the first time, they're using sealed envelopes from Price Waterhouse to keep the winners secret until the very moment they open them on stage. No more leaks to the Los Angeles Times like last year!

Robert Reed

Sealed envelopes! That's like something out of a G-Man thriller. If they want real mystery, though, they don't need to look at Hollywood. They just need to open the pages of Crack Comics, published by Everett "Busy" Arnold's Quality Comics Group. Specifically, their most bizarre, mind-bending feature yet: Madam Fatal, who made her debut in Crack Comics number one back in May of 1940.

Simon Carver

Crack Comics number one. That is an extraordinary book. It was drawn and written by a young twenty-six-year-old Armenian-American artist named Arthur Pinajian. Pinajian grew up in West Hoboken, New Jersey, and he has this marvelously expressive, fluid line. But the concept he came up with here... it is unlike anything else on the newsstands. We are talking about Richard Stanton, a wealthy, retired stage actor and renowned female impersonator.

Robert Reed

A retired female impersonator as a crime-buster! Holy cow, Simon, when I first laid eyes on that red coat, the red hat, and the spectacles, I thought my spectacles were dirty! But Richard Stanton is a man driven by a deep, aching tragedy. He puts on the dress, the wig, and the makeup to become an unassuming old lady, all so he can walk the meanest streets unnoticed, searching for his kidnapped daughter.

Simon Carver

"Searching for his kidnapped daughter." It is a heartbreaking motive wrapped in an incredibly daring theatrical disguise. He even has a pet parrot named Hamlet!

Robert Reed

Hamlet! And the bird actually quotes Shakespeare! He sits there in his cage squawking "To be or not to be, that is the question!" Pinajian must have had a grand old time writing those word balloons. It's the perfect theatrical touch for a retired actor's penthouse.

Simon Carver

Let us do a deep dive into that very first story in Crack Comics number one. We open with Stanton in his Madam Fatal disguise, visiting a neighbor named Sarah. She is in tears because her husband is sick in bed, and they're being extorted by a brutal gang of racketeers. And the leader of this gang is a nasty piece of work named John Carver.

Robert Reed

John Carver! Now, hold on a second, Simon. Carver? Any relation to the award-winning broadcast journalist currently hiding out in a London cellar?

Simon Carver

I can assure our listeners, Robert, that the New York Carvers have no connection to this fictional brute! But this John Carver is indeed a rat. His thugs, Mike and Lou, barge into Sarah's apartment to collect the cash. But they didn't reckon on the "old lady" sitting in the corner. Stanton leaps up, socks Mike right in the jaw, and then grabs the window drapes and rips them down, throwing them right over Lou's head!

Robert Reed

Ripping down the drapes! That is classic stagecraft turned into street justice! He beats them black and blue with a heavy wooden cane! After the dust settles, Stanton searches Mike's pockets and finds a business address: the Benson Building. So, Madam Fatal heads downtown, tricks a friendly porter named Mr. Porter to look through the scrap wastebaskets, and finds an envelope with John Carver's home address: 410 Elm Drive, Westhaven.

Simon Carver

Westhaven, yes. Stanton stage-manages a brilliant trick. He goes to Carver's neighborhood and purposefully walks in front of Carver's speeding red coupe! The car knocks him down, and Carver, not wanting a public scene, tells his driver to put the "injured old lady" in the back seat and bring her to his private library to recover.

Robert Reed

Talk about taking a hit for the show! But once they get Madam Fatal onto the sofa, a bundle of papers slips out of her coat pocket. Carver picks them up and starts reading. It's a bunch of old newspaper clippings. "Richard Stanton plays final stage role... Richard Stanton marries... Proud father of baby girl... Stanton heir still missing... No word as yet from kidnappers!"

Simon Carver

It is a stunning dramatic reveal. Carver turns to the sofa, stares at Madam Fatal, and realizes the truth. He cries out, "I should have known!" And Stanton stands up, pulls off his white wig, and reveals his true face. It turns out, nine years prior, Carver was a jealous rival in love. When Stanton married the girl they both coveted, Carver went mad with rage, waited two years, and then kidnapped Stanton's only daughter.

Robert Reed

Nine years of searching! That is a long time to carry a grudge and a disguise. Stanton demands to know where his little girl is. But Carver pulls a pistol! Stanton doesn't panic—he grabs the edge of the rug and pulls it right out from under Carver's feet. Carver goes flying, the gun goes off... and Carver shoots himself!

Simon Carver

The ultimate backfire. Carver lies dying on the rug. Stanton kneels beside him, begging, "Can you hear me? Is my daughter alive? Where is she, Carver?" And Carver gasps out, "Yes... yes... she's alive... somewhere... where, Carver? Ugh..." And he dies. He dies right there, leaving Stanton with nothing but the torment of knowing she is out there, but not knowing where. It is one of the most tragic, haunting cliffhangers I have ever read in a comic book.

Robert Reed

It's a tough pill to swallow. No parade, no happy ending. Stanton goes home, puts the wig back on, and vows to keep fighting crime as Madam Fatal until he finds her. Hamlet the parrot tries to comfort him, but you can feel the heavy loneliness in those final panels.

Simon Carver

That heavy tone takes a very abrupt, fascinating shift as we move into Crack Comics number two through four. The feature transitions from personal, street-level vengeance to high-stakes national defense. In issue number two, a local scientist named Professor Lane invents a new, highly destructive chemical gas. Foreign spies are crawling all over town trying to steal the formula.

Robert Reed

Foreign spies! In June of 1940, that was hitting very close to home with everything going on across the pond. The spies kidnap the real Colonel Jeffrey, and one of their agents disguises himself as the Colonel to meet Professor Lane. But Madam Fatal is hiding in the shrubbery outside, watching the whole thing.

Simon Carver

And she spots the deception because of a brilliant piece of detective work! The imposter looks at the test tube of chemical gas and says, "It certainly has a beautiful rich red color." But the real Colonel Jeffrey was color-blind! Everyone in his regiment knew he couldn't tell red from green.

Robert Reed

Color-blind! That is a top-notch clue! Madam Fatal swings in on a window drape, knocks the fake Colonel into next week, and saves the day. And then, in issue number three, we go from chemical gas to gold bullion! The steamship S.S. Iris is sunk off the coast of Maine by a group of modern pirates.

Simon Carver

A gothic adventure indeed. Stanton paddles a canoe along the rugged Maine coast to Windward Castle, this imposing fortress built on a cliff. He climbs the sheer rock face in his red dress and heels! Inside, he discovers the ship's crew are working with a villain named Ross and his assistant, Slade, using a hidden torpedo launcher under the castle to sink ships and steal the gold.

Robert Reed

Swinging on drapes again! He crashes through the room, defeats Ross, and chases him to the edge of the cliff. Ross tries to jump, but Madam Fatal grabs his gun arm and flips him over her shoulder! Then, in issue number four, we get another defense plot. A traitor is trying to steal the model of a new special bomber plane. And Simon, you are not going to believe the name of one of the suspects on the defense committee.

Simon Carver

Do tell, Robert. Who is this saboteur?

Robert Reed

A gasoline refiner named Gordon Reed! Now, I know what you're thinking, but a Reed would never be a fifth-columnist! And sure enough, Gordon Reed is innocent. It's the plane manufacturer, Philip White, who is the real traitor. But to escape with the model plane, Stanton has to hide it in a baby carriage!

Simon Carver

A baby carriage! It is a delightfully absurd visual. An elderly woman pushing a baby carriage through the streets, which actually contains a top-secret military bomber prototype. And when the thugs catch on, Stanton has to sprint to the freight yards and leap onto a moving steam locomotive to escape! Pinajian's pacing in these issues is just breathless.

Robert Reed

Breathless is the word! It gets even wilder in Crack Comics five through eight. In issue five, we are at the circus. A lion gets loose, and Madam Fatal subdues it! Then she teams up with a circus strongman named Cyclops—who wears nothing but a leopard skin—to rescue a kidnapped girl named Patsy.

Simon Carver

A leopard-skin strongman and an old lady in a red coat fighting side-by-side. It is pure comic-book poetry. But then, in issue six, we go to the Florida Everglades. Stanton is on a train, the Silver Streak Limited, tracking a smuggling ring. The villains throw Madam Fatal off the train and right into a swamp teeming with man-eating crocodiles!

Robert Reed

Crocodiles! But Pinajian drops a great caption: "But Madam Fatal is an expert swimmer!" He just dives through the water, dodging those snapping jaws like he's back in the Chicago municipal pools! He reaches the shore, sneaks into the smugglers' cabin, and knocks out the radio operator by slamming a wooden chair right into his stomach!

Simon Carver

The old chair-to-the-midsection trick! And then we have issue seven, which is a genuine sci-fi horror story. Wealthy financiers are being murdered by what looks like bolts of lightning on clear, cloudless days. Stanton tracks the "electric wizard" to a hidden cave in South Jersey, where a massive dynamo is generating millions of volts of electric current.

Robert Reed

A hidden dynamo cave! When the villain turns the lightning machine on Madam Fatal, Stanton throws a steady stream of heavy rocks to ruin the power motor! The whole cave floods with sea water, and Stanton has to swim out with a cramp! It is just fantastic, high-energy stuff.

Simon Carver

It really is. And that leads us to issue eight, set on Bleak Island. There is a rumor of a "sea ghost" that looks like a giant, fanged apeman terrorizing the local waters. Stanton puts on a heavy canvas diving suit to search the floor of the ocean, finding the wrecked yacht, the Rex. He gets into a silent, underwater fistfight with another diver!

Robert Reed

An underwater fistfight in deep-sea brass helmets! You can practically hear the air bubbles. It turns out the "apeman" is a local strongman named Thor, controlled by the villain Doctor Prowl to scare people away from the wreck. Madam Fatal saves the day by cracking Doctor Prowl over the head with her cane!

Simon Carver

Arthur Pinajian's art across all eight of these issues is just spectacular. He uses these bold, heavy blacks, and his characters have this wonderful, theatrical posture. You can tell he understood the stage. It is a crying shame that more people don't talk about his work today.

Robert Reed

Well, they're talking about him now, Simon! And speaking of great features, next week on our standard broadcast, we are diving deep into the ghostly wrath of the Spectre in More Fun Comics number 52 through 62, plus his appearances in All Star Comics one and two.

Simon Carver

The Spectre. Now there is a character who knows how to handle the dark. If any of our listeners have thoughts on Madam Fatal, or want to share their predictions for the Academy Awards this Thursday, do send us some mail. Our friend from the future, Mr. Moore, insists we can be reached at distinguishedcomicsradio@gmail.com.

Robert Reed

That's distinguishedcomicsradio@gmail.com. Send us those letters, folks! From the New York studio, I'm Robert Reed. Keep your chin up, and keep reading the funny pages!

Simon Carver

And from a quiet, darkened London, where we keep our flashlights ready and our spirits high, I am Simon Carver. Good night, everyone, and keep your courage up.