Crimes for a Penny (America's Greatest Comics #2)

Our latest tale involving the Crimson Crusaders of another world's Gotham opens in a courtroom, where special prosecutor Brian Butler is wrapping up an "airtight" case against a hapless defendant charges with the murder of John D. Rokkafeller. Yep, this wealthy magnate spells his name a bit differently on Earth-S, and apparently is also a magnet of malice directed towards him.

However, when the defendants' daughter Vera Brown (or Hobson, her father's name... the story can't seem to decide what to call her) protests as to her father's innocence, Butler suddenly withdraws his concluding statements pending further investigation, to the bafflement of a clearly bias judge presiding over this legal matter. Concerned, Judge Peabody orders an assistant to follow up with him as to Butler's whereabouts and such. Something is fishy about this guy's jurisprudence, or lack thereof.

Following up on the private investigator which the daughter hired, Mister Scarlet is too late to save the man's life but come across some rent-a-thugs and their hankerchief masked mastermind who evades capture.

Pinky soon learns of what  has transpired and joins his adopted father in following the trail of a mysterious coin which the masked man's hoods tried to steal from the dying detective. However, during the scrimmage with the criminals, the penny is lost.

Butler interviews Mister Hobson in his jail cell, and learns that he and Rokkafeller were business partners which left their joint venture in the alleged murderer's sole possession which gave Hobson motive. It would seem that Mister Butler, Esquire built up his criminal case based solely on circumstantial evidence! In any event, mention is again made of the coin.

Still nervous about the penny for some reason, the "White Hankerchief" (for lack of a better name) decides to kidnap Vera, although he leaves a trails which Scarlet and Pinky are able to track. Rescuing the distressed damsel, she reveals to our heroes that she reconifzes the voice of the malevolent masked man. 

Although not having the coin, with which the true murderer's name was etched upon, Butler is able to bluff to the court the next day that he obtained the coin which reveals the true culprit. Judge Peabody, it would seem, about the inject the councilor with lead from his hidden revolver before a bailiff restrains him. Turns out, the judge moonlit as a counterfeiter, which Rokkafeller discovered leading to his demise. Guess they don't pay Gotham magistrates the going rate afforded their social status as elsewhere!

• Supporting Scarlet: Pinky is ever ready to evade his ever present arch-enemy, the over-mothering Miss Wade.

• Red Romance: Those days of implied romantic undertones between Butler and Miss Cherry Wade seem a distance memory.

• Menacing the Mister: At this point, the biggest adversary in this series is the corrupt establishment of Gotham City elites, moreso then blue collar crooks.

• Crimson Capabilities: More athletic feats though most this time unseen. Some nice full body tackles.

• Fawcett Facts: Despite the image of a giant coin which Pinky was chasing, this is not their version of the Penny Plunderer's giant penny which became a prominent souvenir of another Gotham City Dynamic Duo.

Fawcett Comics Presents: Scarlet and the Gold #3

By the time that Brian and Pinky encountered was replicas of themselves and other heroes, they had already met Captain Marvel and his sister Mary. However, this brought into their own personal universe fellow Wow wonders Commando Yank and Phantom Eagle, whom they would also share several covers of their mutual comic with throughout the years.

Fawcett Comics Presents: The Scarlet and the Gold #1

In the golden age of comics,  crossovers tales between characters within a publisher's titles was not as frequent as it is today. While DC Comics did have a few such meetings between characters in solo titles, as well as in team-up books such as All-Star Comics and Leading Comics, this was the exception rather than the rule. Fawcett had the Marvel Family alone, with a few notable one-on-one meetings or group cameos within a story spotlighting the lead character.

Mary Marvel was unique in her title as to having a few of these yet not with headliners like her brother and his pals over at Whiz Comics. Instead, it was alongside heroic sidekicks somewhat like herself. The first of these was in her title working with her "old friend" Pinky Butler, who secretly was Pinky the Whiz Kid! 

In this tale, what began as a trip to the museum wherein Mary and Pinky run into each other, turns into a mystery of criminals who appear in the building to rob jewels and other pricey artifacts, then disappear when the kids get close to catching them. 

Twice the two hoods give these crimson crime crusaders the slip, first distracting them with a falling statue, then giving chase in a darkened room to cover their trail.

However, the heroes deduce that the recently donated Trojan Horse is where the crooks are hiding, and although the pair capture them they fail to find their stolen goods.

When Mary Broomfield and Pinky Butler reappear, they are both knocked out by Professor Logan, who donated the false Horse in the first place to give his goons a hiding place. 

Attempting to destroy the evidence and remove the two youngsters aware of his plot, instead Pinky helps free Mary allowing her to become Mary Marvel. Together with the Whiz Kid, she captures the wayward archaeologist and recovers the precious items.

Although the two kids part at the conclusion of the case, later in this issue Pinky would reappear with some of Mary's friends at her dinner, although this cameo was rather brief.

The Moon Torchman / The Boss / The Fire Fiend (Wow Comics #5)

Our first tale of this issue begins on a college campus, where a college professor storms out of the office of his colleague who dispute his theory of harnessing concentrated moon light. Later, as special prosecutor Brian Butler, his adopted son Pinky and personal assistance Miss Cherry Wade are strolling through the same campus, they come up rampaging students effected by the rays emitted from a robes villain's flashlight.

Identified as the Moon Torchman, the fiend turns his attention on Mister Scarlet and Pinky who arrive on the scene. What follows are wild escapades in this collegiate setting.

The madman turns Scarlet into a blithering baby with his celestial green light, while giving Pinky a serious case of head trauma by bashing the kid’s skull with the business end of his lunar flashlight. Initially, Torchman leaves Scarlet in a baby carriage that just happens to be lying around (!!!) in the middle of the road for a truck passing by to run over it. Before that happens, Mister Scarlet shakes off the effects, and the Torchman flees the scene.

Pursued by his opponents, Moon Torchman flashes his mood altering light upon dogs and a football team practicing in the middle of the night (this is one strange college campus).

During a rematch, the pair defeat the robed rogue aka the vengeful professor is cornered by the Dynamic Duo of what will one day become known as Earth-S, and is quickly defeated. Towards the end, Miss Wade oddly bemoans Pinky's well being, while simultaneously attempting to attract Brian's attention!

The next case commences with our three protagonists in the prosecutor's office, discussing a headline about Mister Scarlet having cleaned our crime in the city. No sooner to they pat each other on the back, then a big bruiser known only as the Boss charges into the room. Pushing away both Pinky and Miss Wade, the Boss demands that Butler write out the last will and testament for Mister Scarlet. Meanwhile, Pinky quickly dons his crimson costume, and charges at the behemoth baddie though doesn't knock his foe down. As the Boss leaves, he's pursued by Scarlet and Pinky, leaving a frantic Miss Wade behind to worry over her employer and his son. Mostly his son.

The Boss muscles his way into a wealthy home in order to rob that family, although the Crimson Crusaders track down the thug and his henchmen. Despite the fact that the Boss nearly overturned a car with his massive strength, he and his hoods are overwhelmed by the coordinated attack of our heroes.

Our final adventure opens with Pinky Butler distributing care packages to disadvantaged residents of a poor neighborhood tenement in... yes it a named... Gotham City!

This seems to imply that the lad is returning to where he grew before his mother died, as a local woman knows him by name while thanking him. The fact that the boy has extra money in order to charitably donate to others in need will dramatically shift shortly when his and his step father's financial fortune changes

There in the tenement, he encounters the asbestos-suit clad Fire Fiend, who is attempting to burn down the slums. As the kid is found unconscious on the roadside by Butler and Miss Wade, they revive him and soon after he and his "dad"  changed into their identities as the Red-Robed Knights of Justice, to Miss Wade's dismay. After following a lead to a crazed professor's home whom they believe is the masked marauded, the pair are ensnared but free themselves and defeat the Fiend.

It is then revealed that the daring duo's hunch that Fire Fiend was the slumlord himself... William Wilcox... whom they met earlier. He devised this alter ego in order to cash out of this losing property in his possession. Instead of revealing the man's insidious campaign of destruction, they make him promise to tear down the tenement and rebuild it anew with his own money, which he agrees to.

• Supporting Scarlet:Pinky several times saves his mentor and charges into action, even when under threat of castor oil! Although she does an attractive pose for Mister Butler at the end of tale #1!

• Red Romance: Miss Wade shows passing concern for Brian, but her heart is now squarely in the maternal arena these days.

• Menacing the Mister: Moon Torchman shows promise with his technology but apparently is driven insane from it. The Boss is nondescript. A Fire Fiend would return, though not this one, sadly.

• Crimson Capabilities: No gadgets at the ready aside from some implied robes, while the duo's acrobatics and routines seem to keep their adversaries on the defensive.

• Fawcett Facts: This would be Mister Scarlet's last cover of Wow Comics where he was the sole character featured (along with Pinky the past two issues). Next issue, two new heroes will crowd him to the side for head shots only.

Mr. Hyde - The Hummer - Mr. Scarlet Meets Blackbeard (Wow Comics #4)

With this issue, Mister Scarlet joins a large fraternity of superheroes with a sidekick. The first, of course, was Batman, who was joined by Robin in March of 1940. Then, there was Speedy, who debuted alongside his mentor Green Arrow in September of 1941, and Sandy, whose first case alongside Sandman was in October 1941. Of course, Wing was the junior chauffeur of his employer, both in his boss's civilian and costumed identities, and would later adopt a uniform like that of Crimson Avenger's. Star-Spangled Kid was already around but since it was his adult chauffeur who was his sidekick, that doesn't exactly count.

Other prominent sidekicks were Buddy in  July 1940 (who aided Uncle Sam), Toro in September 1940 (alongside Human Torch), Roy the Super Boy also in September 1940 (mentored by the Wizard), Dusty in January 1941 (assisting the Shield), and Bucky in March 1941 (side-by-side with Captain America. And these were only kids who teamed up with older established heroes. Many costumed and non-costumed adults also befriended costumed crusaders during this formative era in superheroics.

While Pinky first appeared in October 1941, as he and his guardian took on the Death Battalion of Mister Scarlet's former foes, the lad's chronological first appearance was in Winter of 1941.

In this origin tale, Pinky seems to be living a happy childhood raised by his widowed mother, until a madman named Mister Hyde breaks into their home and slays her. Immediately thereafter, special prosecutor Brian Butler and his secretary Miss Wade are charged with finding him suitable guardianship, initially with an orphanage. However, after several days there, one of Pinky's instructors... a man named Mister Jelke... had an odd reaction to a book which transformed him into the villainous Hyde.

The man-monster's next prey was Gotham City's mayor within his home, although Mister Scarlet corners the bestial baddie. Chasing him to the nearby orphanage, when Scarlet leaps over the home's wall in pursuit of Hyde, instead he finds Jelke who states he saw no one rush by him. However, Pinky lives up to his future nickname as the Whiz Kid, piecing together from a monocle left behind that his instructor secretly is carrying on another life.

Assembling a remarkably similar costumed to that of his hero, Pinky seeks to track down Mister Hyde and avenge the death of his mother. But he is delayed by Mister Scarlet himself, who joins him in battling the villain. Together, after an initial reversal, this new Dynamic Duo defeat Mister Hyde. Reverting to his true identity as Jelke, he drinks poison rather than be captured.

Towards the end of this initial adventure, Pinky deduces that Butler and Scarlet are one in the same, which the attorney later accidentally confirms. Miss Wade forms a motherly attachment to the lad, and will frown on his costumed career.

On their next case together, Pinky already wants to becoming his mentor's full time sidekick. Of course, Miss Wade chastises the boy as being a mystery man is a dangerous occupation for someone of his age. 

Meanwhile, a convicted killer is released from prison, and seeks revenge on the attorney who locked him away. Soon after, he seeks out that attorney's former secretary, Miss Wade herself. Mister Scarlet saves her life, although when Miss Cherry sees the lad she makes him promise not to pursue the criminal known as the Hummer.

However, Pinky is not dissuaded from trying to bring in the Hummer whom he runs across on the street, although the villain is able to overpower the lad and then holds he and Mister Scarlet hostage as a result. Escaping a near watery death, tied to the base of a pier at high tide, the crimson crusaders tackle Hummer together... bringing him to justice. Although Miss Wade pieces together that Pinky is disobeying her!

For their third tale, Brian and Pinky are at a costumed party at the Van Hoff estate, along with Miss Cherry Wade. When the evil Bluebeard and his pirate gang attempt to kidnap Mrs. Van Hoff, their plans are disrupted by the actual Scarlet and Pinky who are still wearing their masquerade gear. After pursing Bluebeard, with Pinky saving a captured Mister Scarlet before the pair overpower the scurvy dog, it is revealed that the arch pirate is the Van Hoff's cousin Tom!

• Supporting Scarlet: Pinky becomes a fully functioning assistant to Mister Scarlet, seemingly achieving ace acrobatics and determined deductions without any training! A true prodigy.

• Red Romance: Miss Cherry Wade seems to have shifted her attention from a hot/cold love/hate relationship with Brian and his colorful alter ego, to being a mother figure for Pinky.

• Menacing the Mister: None of the villains our pair faced were notable, except to provide Pinky with a motive to be a mystery man...er...lad.

• Crimson Capabilities: As mentioned, Pinky is perfectly suited for Scarlet as to both physical and mental abilities.

• Fawcett Facts: While his appearance as a sidekick was towards the end of the initial wave of such justice juniors, Pinky is notable as the first... and most prominent... of Fawcett's sidekicks. Unless you count Captain Marvel Junior, who was a junior partner but had mostly his own adventurers. It would be quite sometime before a second sidekick would appear.. aiding our other crimson crusader on this blog.

Sensational Scarlet Second Stringers: An Origin Story

Welcome to the world's first, and most comprehensive, blog dedicated to the exploits of twin dynamic duos of Fawcett Comics clad in red and gold. Those duos being Mister Scarlet and Pinky, as well as Bulletman and Bulletgirl. Each pair were seeming second stringers in the publishing world of Fawcett, both overshadowed by the Marvel Family. However, these costumed crusaders had lengthy runs during the Golden Age of comics, and as such merit mention as would their contemporaries of their day.

Following decades of inactivity, where these heroes and others whom they fought next to all disappeared, it was revealed what became of them when they returned years later... as young as their last appearance! What became of them, and what they ended up doing, will be revealed in time.

We will analyze and dissect the heroes, abilities, plots, supporting characters and adversaries of these Crimson Crimefighters. For instance:

• Mister Scarlet was the masked alter ego of Gotham City district attorney Brian Butler. His chronicled tales during the decade of the 1940's consisted of 93 appearances. Early on, Scarlet flew solo... quite literally... before adopting a young orphan early on in his caped career.
• Pinky, the lad whom Brian sheltered following the death of his mom, immediately emulated his hero by wearing scarlet spandex similar to Butler's. Together, the pair would face struggles that the more famous Dynamic Duo of another world's Gotham, Batman and Robin, never dreamed of tackling. Namely, finding enough money for a square meal each day!
• Bulletman was originally police scientist Jim Barr, seeking to honor his late father who perished in the line of duty but becoming an officer himself. Lacking physical stature for the job, Barr developed and ingested a serum that overnight gave him a muscular physique and mental acumen. Developing a Gravity Regulating Helmet, Jim as Bulletman rocketed through 173 Golden Age tales, though most of them with a partner to assist him.
• Bulletgirl, the aforementioned partner, was Jim's girlfriend Susan Kent. Having discovered her boyfriend's alter ego, she convinced him to provide her with a spare helmet allowing her to fly alongside her man. Together, they built the second most prolific family of fearless fighters, second only to the Marvels whom they would befriend over time.