National Comics #60

When The Barker brings Colonel Lane's traveling circus to Firtown, he doesn't count on Big Ed Grew—the lumber baron who owns half the town and intends to keep every penny of profit for himself. As The Barker and Grew clash over the circus's right to perform, each new obstacle spawns a cleverer counter-move, and the stakes keep climbing in this battle of wits set against sawdust and scheming. Can The Barker outmaneuver a man who controls the town's laws, its constables, and its checkbooks?

Policewoman Sally O'Neil finds herself at a yacht party—off duty and unarmed—when two of the harbor's most wanted criminals, Max Vult and Sam Shark, stage a brazen robbery. What begins as a simple stickup becomes a baffling mystery when the bandits and their loot vanish without a trace from a police-surrounded speedboat, leading Sally to volunteer for the case and follow the trail of the Phantom Pirates of the Bay. With help from an informant, she uncovers the criminals' next target and sets a trap of her own.

In "Juvenile Delinquency," retired Judge Putzwillie tries to help kids by offering his advice, but when Lassie takes his invitation too seriously, the judge finds himself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of youthful problems. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, the story captures a charmingly chaotic classroom moment with a touch of old-school humor.

Detective Granny Gumshoe crosses paths with Mr. Worm, a bookkeeper-turned-romantic who survived a fifty-four-story fall and discovered he has no bones in his body—making him the perfect criminal. When Mr. Worm begins stealing priceless jewels and gold to prove his love, Granny must outsmart her peculiar suitor before his devotion becomes unstoppable.

When waterfront detective Steve Wood receives a cryptic letter, he's drawn into a twisted case involving multiple murders bearing the same signature: victims found with knowing smiles and stab wounds from a narrow blade. As Steve races to uncover the connection between the dead—a mysterious tramp, an architect named Yoval, and a woman named Lenore Yoval living in exclusive Breezeway Terrace—he stumbles into a web of greed and betrayal that threatens to claim more lives. With his secretary Sally at his side and Inspector Flanagan on the case, Steve must piece together the deadly pattern before the killer silences anyone who gets too close to the truth.