#02 Smiling Cavalier
#02 Smiling Cavalier
Gold Key Comics, January 1963
“Blind Man’s Bluff” – (7-page story) – During a race Buzz Murphy, driving very recklessly because Jim is in the lead, causes Jim to crash. Afterwards, Buzz asks Jim’s fiancée out for a drink while he is in the hospital. The next day while Buzz is driving on the racetrack Jim suddenly shows up behind him and causes him to die in a crash. The people at the wreckage comment that Jim had died in the hospital just before the crash
“The Dreamer” – (10-page story) – Mark Pearson shows up at Dr. Korvo’s (a psychiatrist) office after hours begging him to help him. He has a recurring dream about being on a ship when it sinks. Dr. Korvo agrees to try to help him and hypnotizes him because he has amnesia. Under hypnosis Mark is revealed to be on a cruise where he talks to a psychiatrist about a recurring dream he has where he he has amnesia. After talking to the psychiatrist he goes to dinner and then walks on the deck with his girlfriend when the ship hits an iceberg. The ship sinks with him on board and he drowns. While he is remembering his drowning his body disappears but a stack of wet money is left to pay the bill. At the end of the story Dr. Korvo notices a headline in the paper stating that today is the 50th anniversary of the day the Titanic sunk.
“The Smiling Cavalier” – (8-page story) – Laurie Callan loves to visit the museum and try to sketch the 17th century masterpiece “The Smiling Cavalier” but she never seems to be able to get it right. One night when she accidently remains in the museum after it closes the paintings come to life. The “Smiling Cavalier” (Don Juan) and the other two “Smiling Cavalier” paintings come out and chase Laurie until she can escape. The night guard that lets her out looks just like the Don Juan “Smiling Cavalier”.
“The Man from Nowhere” – (1-page text story) – The story of the mystery of Kaspar Houser. Nothing is known of his childhood, his strange sense of smell, his strange eyesight and the truth of various attacks on him that ended with his death.
“The Island” – (13-page story) – Cecil Matthews is a bank employee who is sick of his job. He steals $30,000 and flys to Hawaii where he plans to charter a plane to Papinee, an island he found in an old “Islands of Paradise” book. The bank notices the theft before he can get to Papinee so he hijacks a mail plane to fly him there. Once there he kills the pilot and settles in at the deserted village. What Cecil doesn’t know is that the reason the village is deserted is that the Island of Papinee was chosen by the Government to use in a missile test. The next day he is destroyed when the bomb is detonated on the island.
“The Phantom Plane” – (2-page text story) – The story of the “Lady Be Good”, a Liberator bomber from World War II. The “Lady Be Good” disappeared from Soluch in North Africa in May 1943 and wasn’t seen again until May 1959 when it was found in the Sahara Desert. The tracks of it’s men intersected with the tracks of two other forces, Italian soldiers and British soldiers. The trail was eventually lost and it was never known how the plane got to the Sahara Desert or what happened to its crew.
“The Devil’s Armchair” – (8-page story) – Martha Harris buys an antique chair for her husband’s birthday. He loves the chair but when she or her friend try to sit in it they are jabbed. She tries to take the chair back but is told that it is cursed and that she must keep it forever. It was used by a man named Jean Maraque to kill a young lady who spurned him. Martha does not believe the story and is killed when she tries to throw the chair out.
“Find the Traitor” – (10-page story) – General Luis Amendez is driven through a quiet city to his presidential palace. He rules with an iron fist where people are afraid to even speak around him. When he finds a letter saying that he must die and that the people will be free he tells the police to find the individuals behind the letters and to kill them. If they can’t find them they will be killed themselves. The police find that the one writing the letters is General Amendez himself (he suffers from schizophrenia). They kill the General to keep from being killed themselves.
“The Black Pit” – (10-page story) – Mort Fallon wants to write an article on the 10th anniversary of a mine collapse. Jamie Walsh agrees to take Mort on a tour of the mine and only agrees to take him to the site of the collapse when Mort offers him $100. While on their way there they hear “tommyknockers” (the souls of miners who lost their lives there) warning them to leave. Jamie honors his agreement and when they get to the site of the collapse Mort trips and causes another collapse. Jamie is injured in the collapse and they are almost out of air when he and Mort are rescued by Jamie’s father and brothers Dan and Matt. They lead them to an elevator shaft where they are transported to the surface. When Mort tells Mr. Stoker how they got out he shows Mort that the cables are rusted through and the elevator is at the bottom of the shaft. Mr. Stoker then tells Mort that Jamie’s father and brothers Dan and Matt were killed ten years ago in the original collapse.
“A Very Strange Burial” – (11-page story) – Sydney Clybourne walks in front of a car and is killed. When the police investigate the accident they find a book on him with a story from Sydney’s time in Tanganyika. Sydney was on a safari there with Malcolm Billings when they heard a story about a strange ritual that a local tribe goes through whenever their chief dies. He is loaded on an elephant with all of his earthly belongings and they go to an unknown burial ground. They go on a safari to find the tribe and Sydney’s friend Malcolm poisons the chief. When the elephant is loaded with the chief’s body and his belongings Malcolm follows it and jumps on its back when it is out of sight. Sydney follows it until it arrives at a cliffside and throws everything on its back over the edge. Malcolm is killed and Sydney is left with the knowledge that he was part of the effort to steal the money that got Malcolm killed.
“The Amazing Peter Hurkos” – (1-page story) – Peter Hurkos (the man with the x-ray brain) helps the Dutch authorities in the city of Nijmegen identify the arsonist terrorizing the area.
#02 Smiling Cavalier
