Speed Saunders and the Skull-Face Cult #5: DON'T STOP TO ARGUE!

When we last left Speed, he had swum to freedom via the underwater passage beneath the dungeon in Skull-Face's Spirit Halloween hideout, and was about to alert the State Troopers. Here's what Speed Saunders alerting the state troopers looks like:

In case you were wondering, that's Speed's badge in his hand, which apparently he takes with him in his trunks when he goes swimming on vacation.

Once again Speed has used his uber-authority to dragoon some poor placid peacekeeper into being his flunky.  "DON'T STOP TO ARGUE!"  I like to imagine Speed's given the poor man a few violent shakes to make him more amenable to persuasion.

What I find amusing is that Speed assumes Deputy Fife here has the slightest idea what he's talking about, even though the crimes in question happened 370 miles away in Saunders City.  Anyway, Speed's now has two uniforms to accompany him on his assault on Spirt Halloween.  He doesn't need their help, mind you; they're just there to marvel at how awesome Speed is.

That done, Speed calls Commissioner Safetybelt, his ostensible supervisor, who solved the murders off-panel in Speed's absence.  

Apparently this took Speed's colleagues longer than a week to figure out. No wonder Speed is famous.

Like one of the poor saps in the "USS Callister" episode of Black Mirror or the remaining inhabitants of Peaksville in the "It's A Good Life" episode of The Twilight Zone, Commissioner Safetybelt knows his entire existence hinges upon remaining in good favor with the Mad God Saunders. 

"That's a good thing you did, Speed. Real fine!"

"Peputation"? Sounds suspiciously like something Archie Andrews would have.  Let's assume he meant "reputation".  Speed's reputation is already infinite, so defeating the pathetic Skull-Face will be like spitting in the ocean.  Still, he's committed to it for the sake of The Dead Pierre, if nothing else.

Artist Fred Guardineer lavishes love on the following sequence in which Speed leads the two yokel cops in an underwater assault on Skull-Face's Spirit Halloween lair. This depiction includes a real nice slanted panel.  Golden Age comics were full of imaginative layouts.

WHO could Speed be shooting at it?!

NO! Not adorable, innocent SAM!
So long, Sam; as the fan-girls would say, you were too pure for this world.

As previously discussed, "Monster Men" are always expendable.

Officers Goofy & Max dutifully G-GAWSH at Speed's victory (or just at the giant gorilla-person in a dress), while Speed is in a hurry to pull The Fool Girl back into the plot, since we have not even SEEN her since their capture by Skull-Face, and Speed's only got a few more panels to wrap this up.  One of which is this artistic gem that really deserves to be hanging in some museum:

Or perhaps a marriage license bureau.

Fortunately, Speed finds the manager's office at Spirit Halloween right away, just in time to stop That Fool Girl from signing her fortune away, I guess. And his way of stopping her is, quite naturally, by pumping a barrage of bullets into an unarmed man's torso.

Like ya do.

Skull-Face may not be the most sophisticated of evil genius, but he IS smart enough to be wearing a bulletproof vest, which apparently gives him the power to simply walk away from Speed without being apprehended.

"Next time we meet...."
Skull-Face is VERY confident he's going to become a regular member of Speed's Rogues Gallery.

And that might have happened. He might have gotten away, it seems. If not for

Maybe Speed is powerless to stop Skull-Face from escaping but That Fool Girl is not.

Bet you didn't have THAT on your bingo card.

Yep. That Fool Girl, who has said and done nothing (other than jump into a river and go unconscious) in this entire affair, suddenly springs into action when Speeds proves ineffective and pushes Skull-Face to a watery doom. Speed doesn't seem to have anything to do with this outcome at all.  Seems like she could have done that whether Speed showed up or not.  So, Speed's colleagues solved the murders and That Fool Girl stopped the killer.

Yeah, but none of THEM look this good in swimming trunks.

Every more embarrassing for Speed, SHE does the Speedsplanation!

I guess we finally got out our answer to our earlier question of "WHO KILLED MY SISTER?!"

So... this was her plan all along. Speed was really just a supporting character in HER story.  If Speed hadn't shown up, the outcome would have been the same.  Wow.  Also, Speed seems completely uninterested in the fact that That Fool Girl just killed a man in front of him.

Lest there be any doubt of that.

Well, all's well that ends well, I suppose!  But Speed and That Fool Girl decide to pretend that it was Speed who defeated Skull-Face instead of her.

It makes Speed happy.

And it saves HER from a murder charge!