Congo Chronicle 6: The Madman of the Jungle

Now, then, on to More Fun Comics #61 and "The Madman of the Jungle". There is, despite the Professor's invitation for her to stick around, no sign of the odious Gloria Desmond. Presumably her silk blouse didn't hold up too well to the steamy jungle heat, or maybe her Chanel scarf caught on a branch and strangled her. Good riddance!

We join Bill as he guides Professor Kent through the jungle. At last, we can put to rest the furious debate about whether Professor Kent is an archaeologist, as seen in Chronicle 1, or a botanist, as inferred here. He's both - and, apparently, NOTED in both disciplines!
Unfortunately, Bill still hasn't resolved his underlying resentment about Prof's methodical passion for plants...
Before a full-on argument can develop, Bill and Kent are approached by some native policemen (referred to later in the story as "stupid" - apparently a common enough problem in Africa). The police are after a dangerous escaped convict and need the help of an expert jungle tracker like Congo Bill!
As luck would have it, the pair have hardly said goodbye to the stupid police when...
Jungle tracker meets shirtless convict....reminds me of an issue of Physique Pictorial I read once!
Anyway....seems poor Allen was convicted of the murder of a former client, Jean Villon, who went crazy after crash-landing in the jungle and faked his own death, so that Allen would be framed for his murder and Villon could have the diamonds he found all to himself. Except, turns out, since Villon is crazy, the things he thinks are diamonds are actually worthless pebbles. I know, right? All that careful planning for nothing!
I should also mention that Villon is French. You can tell because a) his name is Jean, b) he's crazy, and c) he's unwashed and has beady eyes.
Villon lures our trio into into his cabin, locks them in, and sets the place on fire - giving Convict Colby an opportune moment to flex his prison-toned muscles. Welcome to the gun show, ladies!
Not to be outdone, Bill flexes his mental muscles with an ingenious escape plan!
The police are drawn by the noise of the explosion and prepare to capture Villon, but not before he's checkmated by a little JUNGLE JUSTICE!
Villon is mauled to death and everyone lives happily ever after.
I bet you "welcomed the excitement", you sly dog! It doesn't hurt that you and shirtless aviator convict Colby have a love of flying in common, does it now?

That's it for now, be back soon. But I leave you with our first CONGO BILL FUN FACT!
CONGO BILL FUN FACT #1: "The Ways of Justice are often strange!" Amen, brother!

Congo Chronicle 4: Gloria Desmond's Quest!

Well, we knew their He-Man paradise couldn't last. Along comes little miss Gloria Desmond in More Fun Comics #59 to foul things up - just like a girl.

"Yes, missy, we are, and don't you forget it! Meanwhile, why don't you give us some endless exposition about you and your problems?"
Bill, ever itching for action as usual, has to be reminded - quite snippily, I must assume - that he's part of a partnership!

One good thing this adventure has to offer - more information on Bill's mysterious background!
Assuming he was 16 or 17 when he flew in World War I (a manly man of action like our Bill would have certainly lied about his age!) that would make Bill....gadzooks! Pushing 40 and still fit as a fiddle!

The plane lands and is soon spotted by a group of savage "Horned Tondurs".
For the record, I can find no evidence that a tribe called the "Horned-Tondurs" ever really existed. The foolish natives, completely oblivious to the marvels of the modern world, makes a fatal - - gaaaaaah! This was a comic book?!? For KIDS???!!!?
Oh, well, it was just a savage. And despite the injury to their chief the filthy moon-worshippers capture Gloria and spirit her away!
Again for the record - several moon-worshipping tribes do inhabit Central Africa, in particular the Baganda tribe - but I can't vouch for the sacrifice business.

Nonetheless, Congo Bill knows there is only one way to rescue Gloria - impersonate their Moon-God by wearing nothing but an aviator's helmet and his underwear!
Well, unless he's a very good actor, he must appear old enough to be her father - so maybe 40's not so off the mark? Bill solidifies his act with an 11 o'clock number, his "Hymn to the Moon God".......
...I don't make this stuff up, folks.

The episode ends with Gloria being brutally murdered by the sava....oh, wait, no, that didn't happen. The episode ends with Gloria flying off in triumph with Congo Bill and Professor Kent, vowing to pester them some more - but what's this? It actually seems to be Professor Kent's idea? Perhaps their separate vacation was more of a warning sign than we guessed!

Now, let's take a moment to recap what we've learned about the manly and mysterious Congo Bill:
He was an air ace in World War I;
He can sing (I imagine a rich, masculine baritone timbre, don't you?);
He wears briefs;
He could be Irish;
He's a picky eater;
He has a fear of captivity.
Stay tuned as we continue to explore the myth and mystery of CONGO BILL!

Congo Chronicle 3: Attack of the Leopard Men!

In More Fun Comics #58 (August 1940) we find Congo Bill and Professor Kent having a leisurely rest in a "peaceful native village" where Professor Kent is "absorbed in the study of African plant life" - so Kent is a botanist, then? The hapless henchmen of the Skull in More Fun #56 seemed to have taken him for an archaeologist - perhaps, in the heady, adventurous days of the early 1940's, any advanced degree would do!

Bill and his new aide-de-camp, O'Toole, are itching for action, as all manly men do! Prof intuitively senses Bill's unease...a crack in the thus-far seamless veneer of their May-December bachelor friendship....?

The peace is disturbed by news that a pack of vicious Leopard Men have been attacking peaceful natives, following the bidding of our old nemesis THE SKULL!

Bill is ready to spring into action and rid the Dark Continent of the threat of The Skull once and for all, when he is interrupted by a dapper and polite newcomer!

An interesting exchange ensues - Bill introduces himself....as CONGO BILL!

Could this be his given name??!? What's more, Inspector Slade of Scotland Yard has heard of him...and doesn't flinch at not being offered a traditional surname!

Bill prepares to set sail with the Inspector....but what's this? Could it be- separate vacations for our gentlemen companions?

Tracking The Skull - - the Leopard Men attack!

The Leopard Men are no match for Inspector Slade's sub-machine gun (de rigeur for all Scotland Yard Inspectors!) and scatter into the jungle. For the first time in the chronicles, we discover a not-so-impressive fact about our pal Bill...he's sold himself to the inspector as an experienced jungle tracker, BUT....

....um, wouldn't the ability to track someone through tangled underbrush be kind of a vital skill for a JUNGLE TRACKER?

Never mind, Bill, you're still our man. Besides, O'Toole is along to ferret out the Skull's hideout - and Bill is right behind to exhibit his real gift - FISTICUFFS!

As well as quick on-the-job problem solving!

Yeah! Take THAT, Savages!

With every foe defeated, THE SKULL faces the nightmare criminals everywhere - the terrible swift sword of the BRITISH JUDICIAL SYSTEM!


I hope, dear reader, that you haven't grown fond of O'Toole, Inspector Slade, OR The Skull - because none of them will ever appear again. Professor Kent, though - will he be able to reconcile his love of botany with Bill's itch for action? STAY TUNED!

Congo Chronicle 2: The Return of the Skull!

In More Fun Comics #57 (July, 1940) we rejoin Congo Bill and Professor Kent on their river cruise, after they have beaten The Skull and made away with the priceless treasure from the lost city. And it makes for pretty hungry work, let me tell you! Er, at least...I think that's what Congo Bill means when he declares his intention to "dig up some fresh meat"....

Never one to shy away from trouble, Bill rescues a chimp from the clutches of a boa constrictor (which are native to Central and South America, not Africa, but facts never get in the way of a man-of-action like Congo Bill!) and the chimp returns the favor by saving Congo Bill from a hungry lioness by...um...biting it on the tail:

Bill rewards the chimp with an Irish name (a possible clue to Bill's own ethnic heritage...?) but - what's this - the Professor's in trouble?!?

Bill finds that Kent has been captured by the enemy they should have killed last issue - The Skull! Bill and O'Toole sneak aboard the captive boat, but Bill is overtaken by the fiendish Skull! Not to worry, for as often happens when Congo Bill's around.....

...the pair of hairy legs that come to Congo Bill's rescue, in case you were wondering, belong to O'Toole, not Professor Kent.

Spunky O'Toole secures the boat for Congo Bill and deposits The Skull on the shore, leaving open the thrilling possibility that he might make a third appearance next issue!

Congo Chronicle 1: Meet Congo Bill!

Welcome, Congo Billions, to an internet first - a blow-by-blow indexing of the heroic exploits of that dashing daredevil of the Dark Continent, CONGO BILL!

Congo Bill (real name: unknown!), a "two-fisted globetrotter" who is half Indiana Jones, half MacGuyver, and all-MAN, has endured as a beloved character since his 1940 debut, and yet has not one single website devoted to his thrilling exploits. I plan to rectify that gross oversight, and along the way explore what made this handsome, confident "confirmed bachelor" (who had a penchant for associating with older bearded men and/or athletic loinclothed teenagers, isolating himself from normal society in pursuit of fame and excitement) tick!

Congo Bill first appeared in More Fun Comics #56 (June, 1940) sailing down an unnamed African river (The Congo, one assumes?)with his older mustachioed male friend, Professor Kent (no relation, presumably, to milquetoast American newspaper reporter Clark Kent, himself the subject of several adventurous tales of the same period) seeking a rumored lost city.


The boat is attacked from the shore (sadly, killing the pair's native guide, "Toto" -one hopes this is his actual African name, and not derived from a famous fictional dog)

Bill and "Prof" (Bill's pet name for Kent) are overtaken by a native attacker, or as the politically-incorrect omniscient narrator likes to say, "a huge black". (We will, regrettably, occasionally be presented with some unfortunate descriptors of the early 1940's, mostly aimed at Africans, Asians, Germans, and women.)


Bill and Prof are taken by the natives to the very lost city they had been seeking, where they meet the mastermind of the operation, that terrifying purveyor of evil, THE SKULL!


Wow, Skull, that's a lot of information for a panel!

And what's up with The Skull's face? Is that a mask? A deformity? It's one effed-up grill, whatever the cause.

The Skull apparently wants Kent to find the city's hidden treasure, but Kent refuses and he and Bill are locked up. Note Bill's concern about what might happen to the two of them - perhaps he's spent time in the pokey before? - and Kent's tender concern for his bachelor friend....



The pair find a secret passage leading from their cell directly to the treasure, defeat The Skull and his henchmen, "One-Eye" and "Slats", and escape with the loot back to their boat - but not before The Skull makes a spine-tingling promise:


Will The Skull deliver on his ominous threat? Will Congo Bill conquer his fear of lock-up? Will Professor Kent take the treasure to a museum, as he says he will, or keep it for himself and his young companion Congo Bill? STAY TUNED!