National Comics #58

In "Talking Animals!" from National Comics #58 (1947), a bear, a seal, and a fox—each equipped with hidden transmitters by their trainer—find themselves caught in a scheme far more dangerous than their act suggests. As the animals struggle to understand their sudden, unnatural ability to speak, the true purpose behind their training begins to unravel.

Sally O'Neil, a young policewoman, arrives on a movie set to protect the production of "The Story of Wiley Gorn" after an unsigned threat arrives—but when a runaway tank causes real chaos and murder, she discovers the picture's producer has been killed over a missing script. As O'Neil digs deeper into who's behind the violence, she uncovers that the film's source material draws from the life of a prominent public figure with dangerous secrets to protect.

Steve Wood, the private detective, springs into action when a young woman reporter vanishes from a waterfront rendezvous—one he'd arranged to keep her safe while he closed in on a gang of river pirates operating along the docks. As suspicion falls on his own secretary and the investigation deepens into fog-shrouded Pier 7, Steve realizes the real culprits have their own sinister plan in motion. A tense game of cat-and-mouse unfolds where the detective must outmaneuver crooks who'll stop at nothing to frame him for murder.