We've been looking at the stories reprinted in 1974's Detective Comics #439. We finish that up today. There is actually one other original story other than the Batman tale that started this issue off. But it's part of a multi-issue story arc by Archie Goodwin featuring Manhunter. It's definitely worth reviewing, but I'll hold off on that until I can manage to get hold of the entire run.
So we'll finish off for now with a story from Kid Eternity #3 (Autumn 1946), written by Joe Millard. The art is not definitively credited, though both Pete Riss and Sam Citron are listed as possible artists in the Grand Comics Database.
Kid Eternity and Mr. Keeper run across the century-old ruins of a mansion. The story behind it is that it belong to Jason Mulgrew, a criminal who died before the detective chasing him was able to catch him. Both Mulgrew and (for reasons never explained) the detective are both buried near the mansion.
Ancestors of Mulgrew are arriving at the mansion. Kid Eternity is curious about what's going on, so he summons up the detective from the past, learning that Mulgrew hated his relatives, so waiting a hundred years to reveal the location of his money to a new generation.
Kid E. returns the detective to the afterlife, then summons up Mulgrew for more information. Mulgrew won't talk, though. Kid hurries after the relative, but (in what will be an important plot point) fails to return Mulgrew to eternity.
Soon, booby-traps--set a hundred years ago--are threatening the relatives. Kid calls upon Thomas Edison and then Achilles to deal with this.
Why Achilles? Because Kid figures the final booby-trap leading to the treasure chamber will have a particularly deadly trap. It does--a cannon rigged to fire at the first person who enters. But Achilles is tough enough to shrug this off.
Achilles, by the way, also chows down on sandwiches. The rules for the summoned dead in a Golden Age Kid Eternity story are never made clear, but apparently they can still eat and enjoy food. Achilles declares sandwiches to be a food of the gods. And he's right, isn't he? Stop at a good deli and order your favorite sandwich. Is there anything better than this? I THINK NOT!
But I digress. The treasure vault is empty. Jason Mulgrew, who was summoned early by the kid, enters the mansion and announces that even though his booby-traps failed to kill anyone, he can still take joy in denying his relatives treasure. Keep in mind that these aren't the same relatives that Mulgrew hated a century ago. This is a whole new set, who he hates because he's just a big poopy-head.
Kid summons up Cagliostro, an 18th-Century Italian occult expert, who claims he can figure out where the treasure is really hidden, but disapproves of wealth and won't tell. So Kid banishes him and once again summons up the detective who had been pursuing Mulgrew during their lifetimes.
Apparently, the rules for summoned dead include that they feel pain. The detective merely twists Mulgrew's arm until he reveals where the treasure is hidden. The relatives are now rich and the adventure comes to an end.
What I love about this story is how everyone, both the living who see what the Kid does and the summoned dead, are so darn casual about it, as if this sort of thing happens to them every day. It gives a wonderful ambiance to the story, which is completely straightforward with the silly premise, telling a fun story that is wrapped in a thin but servicable layer of Comic Book Logic. Most of the Golden Age Kid Eternity stories (published by Quality Comics before Quality's characters were acquired by DC) are in the public domain and available online. I need to visit with Kid Eternity more often.
You can read this one online HERE.
Next week, we'll visit with another Golden Age character--a little girl named Eva the Imp--whose superpower is... well, being cute and friendly.
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