Speed Saunders and the Skull-Face Cult #3: KUNK

His Day of Pondering in The North Woods with The Dead Pierre having been interrupted by a damsel in distress, Speed is now rescuing

from a watery demise in the river.

I guess she's just unconscious, for no apparent reason.  Seems like a pretty wise choice if you're in a Speed Saunders story.

Ace Lifeguard Speed Saunders is naturally equal to the riverine emergency and swims That Fool Girl to (temporary) safety.

PHEW; they're safe. Wait, what is that orange thing emerging from a giant banana...?

Very temporary, in fact.

KUNK

Oh. It's a non-verbal Missing Link with a blackjack. Of course it is. Who works for Skull-Face of the Skull-Face Cult and is named "Sam". Yeah; yeah, that tracks.

I would comment how insane this panel is outside of context, but, really, it's more insane IN context.

So the Alley Oop character is something you'd expect would require explanation, but... you'd be wrong.   Every once in a while a character like this will turn up in a Speed Saunders story.  A big hulking subhuman to serve as the goon of some nameless mastermind.

After all, it IS where the word "goon" comes from.

It's just a Golden Age thing, and a very convenient one.  They don't need dialog, they can manhandle the hero without making him seem feeble and, when the time comes, the hero can just shoot them with impunity, because it's not like they are PEOPLE,  you know.  Nowadays, they would seem like an astonishing scientific discover that solidly trumps whatever dumb little crimes are happening in the story.  But in those days, poor creatures like Sam were just cannon fodder.

Or Sam could simply be a gorilla in a dress. Comics, you know.

I love the villain's lair set-up. "Would you care for some freshly roasted coffee beans, Mister Bond? Or perhaps some local produce?"

Where is this villain's lair? Well, presumably it's up there in The North Woods.  

Let's think about that a bit.  

The Skull-Face Cult, which has murdered three young women by the shores of New York some 370 miles away, is actually located in The North Woods, right where Speed happens to go on vacation when working on solving the murders.  And then they murder The Dead Pierre to...

to...

okay, I give up. I have zero idea why the Skull-Face Cult murdered The Dead Pierre.  It's never explained.  But it did give Speed the gift of A Day of Pondering.  I guess the Skull-Face Cult didn't want Speed to get bored or forget about them during his vacation.

My god, Speed's trapped in a Spirt Halloween store.

"I am known as Skull-Face."  You are? By whom? 

I am 100% certain one of these two is in that outfit.

Speed, utterly uncowed by the fact that he's been KUNKed on the head and is now captive at a Spirit Halloween in The North Woods, sasses the evil genius supposedly known as Skull-Face.

OMG, Sam is just SO ADORABLE.  He needs to be a plushie.

Even being nearly naked, wet, and trapped does not dim Speed's sense of his own authority.

Now you know why Sam was shown lurking in the background behind Speed.

Until tomorrow, just IMAGINE the titanic battle between Speed and Sam!