Congo Chronicle 24: Suddenly - WAR!

Suddenly is right.  Without so much as a fare-thee-well, Bill has thrown over erstwhile companion-and-Professor-Kent-substitute Janet Logan, left East Africa (or maybe Libya),  and is tooling downriver "somewhere in the [Dutch] East Indies" with stereotypically-British Lt. Barlow of the RAF, missing in action for the past three months!

One might surmise that, with Action Comics #48 (approximate on-sale date, March 19, 1942) publication lags had finally caught up with real world events, namely the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into WWII (the big one).  While Bill has taken the measure of a fair share of African Nazis, now he can pound the bejeezus out of the Axis powers with the full faith and credit of the U.S. of A.!

But back to our story - Bill senses something wrong and as we know from past experience, Bill's jungle hunches are usually right on the money! Finding a seemingly abandoned village, Bill and Barlow reconnoiter to find - -

The Japanazi officer lays out his plans to attack a US Marine garrison on Webb Island (which, um is in Antarctica...I'm not sure how much good the Marines there will be in stopping the Axis takeover of the Micronesia...)  Bill and Barlow are to be executed at dawn - or so the Nips think!!! Have a little JUNGLE JUSTICE, Jap!  Ka-POW!

Bill and the Lieutenant make their break, but are separated.  Bill finds an abandoned boat stocked with provisions and makes a desperate, shirtless, week-long ocean voyage toward Webb Island!

No sooner does Bill clean up and explain the danger to the island - -

Needless to say, the Japa-Ratzis are no match for our homegrown fightin' Leathernecks!

        

After the skirmish is over, a final plane is spotted over the island. To everyone's surprise - -

Our brave Limey ally had made his escape, stolen a Japanese plane, and made his way to the island after all!    

Now, a final plan is launched to warn the Navy of the presence of the enemy! Bill, shirtless, will swim out to the Japanese destroyer off the coast and radio the Yankee fleet, while Barlow bombs the destroyer into oblivion!  Bill's part of the plan goes off without a hitch, naturally...

Airman Barlow's, however...

A little kamikaze trick borrowed from the enemy, and good enough for 'em!!!

All's well that ends well, and what would a war story be without a poignant ending, eh what?

Congo Chronicle 20: The Vanishing Airplanes!

After weeks of travelling, our intrepid trio finally arrives at the coast - the west coast, to be specific.  (Of Africa, if you haven't been paying attention.)  Freetown, Sierra Leone, to be more specific, which as you probably already know was a British Crown Colony during World War II, as well as the largest port on Africa's west coast.  At any rate, seems word has spread quickly that Congo Bill and company have reached civilization quickly!

But before he can solve another mystery, Bill has one more task to complete, as he and - GAAAAH, what?!?

Yes, gentle readers, the sad tale that I've been foreshadowing has finally come to pass, in panel THREE of the story for crissakes.  With a heartfelt "Well, there they go," Congo Bill says goodbye to his bachelor companion, noted botanist and archaeologist Professor Joe (or maybe James) Kent. Look at how forlorn Joe (or maybe James) looks at Bill's shoulder.  Things have been rough between them for several months now, what with the friction between Joe's (or maybe James') academic pursuits, and Bill's thirst for action and fisticuffs - the constant girlish chattering of Sheila probably only made things worse.  I'm betting Joe (or maybe James) is hoping Bill will tearfully come after him, beg him to stay in Africa looking for rare plants and/or lost civilizations, and never leave his side.  Maybe a little something like this:

But, times and paper rationing being what they were during WWII (The Big One), I'm sure the editors chose to gloss over such sentimentality for the sake of getting on with the he-man adventuring.  Though Professor Kent (and, thankfully, Sheila Hanlen) will never be heard from again in the Jungle Annals, you'll discover that Congo Bill will fill the void in his heart with a steady succession of fit young British Airmen, bearded lost scientists, and eventually, a loincloth-clad jungle boy.  But more on that later, on with adventure. Seems a steady stream of British planes have been taking off from Freetown headed for Cairo - and disappearing mid-flight!  Let's hear from the first of Congo Bill's new friends, Dick (tee hee) McCarthy!

Congo Bill lands when he spots what he believes to be a downed British plane.  But what's this - a trick?  Nice try, Uncle Adolf....now how about a little five-finger Jungle Justice?

Ka-POWIE!

But then - - 

Bill, like the RAF boys before him, is taken as a prisoner of war.  Luckily, the Krauts realize what a prize they've taken!

Don't panic, Congoids, we all know that our boy Bill would never sell out to the Huns!  But he plays along just long enough for Big Dick McCarthy to come looking for him!

(Why Major Joyce didn't just send a squadron out instead of calling on Congo Bill in the first place may have crossed your mind as it did mine, dear reader, but - - oh, wait, look over there!)

Yes!  Bill's longshot scheme of igniting gasoline with a lit cigarette - crazy, RIGHT? - works, against all odds!  The captured airmen are saved!  But - what about the Nazi horde, surely they won't escape the law of the Jungle, will they?  Ha, not if Bill and his tommy gun have anything to say about it.  AND THEY DO! 

Wow, look at the size of it!  

That's all for now, stay tuned for more of Congo Bill's post-Professor Kent overcompensation!