Police Comics #31

In a brief, darkly humorous tale from 1944’s Police Comics #31, Ma’s reaction to a racist slur leads her to mistake a gorilla at a traveling circus for the insult’s subject—only to quickly realize her error, offering a flustered apology with a punchline that underscores the absurdity of prejudice.

When crime writer Thornton Divine recognizes his new tenant John Bounty as Sam Bender, a man who served time for forgery years ago, he begins a ruthless blackmail scheme—but Divine's threats push Bounty to a desperate confrontation that ends in murder. Manhunter arrives on the scene to untangle the lies and accusations swirling around Divine's body, with his instinctive dog Thor playing an unexpected role in exposing the killer's guilt.

In "Stand by for Action," a stage magician's mysterious kidnapping of Hustace leads the Human Bomb to uncover a hidden mind-control scheme, revealing the criminal was not acting of his own will. The revelation shifts the case from a simple crime to a deeper mystery, prompting a change in justice and a new path for the accused.

Burp the Twerp gets a whiff of trouble when he catches the scent of a "gory murder" in the making. What he discovers is a scheme far more sinister than a simple crime—and his super sense of smell might just be the key to sniffing out what's really going on. This pint-sized detective tackles a case that's equal parts mayhem and mystery in this 1944 humor tale from Police Comics.