Comic Comics #3

Captain Kid accepts a challenge to ride Thunder-Lightning, the wildest bucking bronco in the West, at a newly arrived rodeo offering a thousand-dollar prize—but when he shows up, he discovers his rival has some underhanded tricks planned to keep him from collecting. This raucous seven-page romp pits our boastful hero against both a notorious horse and the scheming rodeo operator who'd rather see him fail than pay out.

Jetsam Joe sets out to find pearls with his captain, but a smooth-talking stranger convinces them to buy a mysterious map—only to discover it's a hilarious con that sends them on a wild chase across the decks and down to the ocean floor. After countless dives and a gut-punching twist at the pearl buyer, Joe stumbles upon something far more valuable than he bargained for.

Kanvasback's unlikely shot as the champ's sparring partner takes a wild turn when he lands a devastating blow that gets him a title shot, but facing the real champion in the ring proves he's got more guts than sense. With his corner man Mal Arkey barking dubious strategy and the champ growing increasingly desperate, Kanvasback stumbles toward his moment—though the final round brings a twist that proves his head might be his toughest opponent yet.

Gloria Glamor, a newspaper reporter for the Snortville Sneeze, finally gets her big break when a truckload of butter is hijacked—but she ends up captured by the very criminals she's trying to expose. When a hungry goat cuts her loose, Gloria springs into action to alert her boss Alonzo Fishook and the police, leading to a climactic confrontation at Wilson's Barn that turns delightfully chaotic. What starts as a serious heist story takes a hilariously unexpected turn when the barn's contents—and the criminals' own escape attempt—create an opportunity nobody saw coming.

When Freddy Freshman tries out for the school play at Podunk University, he runs into trouble from Ace Jackson, the drama chairman who'd rather keep the spotlight—and Harriet's attention—for himself. Ace tricks Freddy into memorizing the lead role in secret, planning to humiliate him in front of everyone, but a stroke of bad luck leaves the chairman sidelined just when the show needs him most. Freddy gets his moment on opening night, and it turns out he's got more talent than anyone expected.

A jungle traveler returns to Trader Tom desperate for a cigar after a week away from civilization, and the resourceful trader is happy to oblige—though the customer's complaint five minutes later proves far less sympathetic to Trader Tom's own predicament. It's a quick, clever setup about supply and demand that captures the humor of 1946 comic book wit.

Sheriff Sam is desperate to make an arrest and prove himself worthy of his badge, so he hatches a scheme: he pays a hobo twenty-five dollars to rob his own house, planning to catch the crook red-handed and finally impress the town. But when the hobo's conscience gets in the way of the plan, Sam finds himself back where he started—facing down a crowd with nothing to show but his wounded pride.

Richard Richard, a comically incompetent private dick, takes on what seems like a straightforward case when a mysterious masked man offers him a reward to catch the notorious criminal Bounder Bilgewater—who's supposedly disguised as the visiting English detective Sir Chumley. Armed with his hapless assistants Ah Choo and Flub Dub the Mutt, Richard barrels forward with his trademark brand of bumbling logic, mistaking clues and making wild accusations with zero regard for actual evidence. What unfolds is a slapstick adventure where Richard's sheer denseness leads him into increasingly absurd situations, proving once again why he's known as the world's dumbest detective.