Smash Comics #25

When a young reporter named Bud witnesses a robbery and kidnapping at gunpoint, he rushes to alert his colleague Happy Terrill—who moonlights as the superpowered vigilante the Ray. Mitch Mouldin, a racketeer operating his criminal empire from his estate "Poison Oaks," has captured three hostages and plans to dispose of them in a lime pit, but the Ray's arrival turns the tables into an explosive confrontation. As the battle rages and the Ray falls into mortal danger, Bud must act fast to save him—and together they'll face off against Mouldin's fleeing gang in a desperate race against time.

In "Liver-Lip McGaw," Doc Wackey's latest invention, the Visoscope, lets Midnight peer across the city with uncanny precision—just when a shadowy threat emerges from the streets below. With the device in hand, the hero must track a mysterious criminal before the night ends.

When Captain Krawl unleashes a sleep-gas weapon to commandeer battleships and establish a worldwide naval blockade in 1941, the daring pilot Spinner Benson and his ally Wendall must race to stop the villain's scheme before he can consolidate control of the seas. Captured aboard one of Krawl's hijacked vessels, Wendall finds himself forced to choose between joining the ruthless captain's crew or watching innocent American seamen perish, all while Spinner works to alert the Navy to their location. It's a high-flying battle of wits and nerves against a foe who answers to no nation.

When young Carol Martin is granted extraordinary powers by the Lord of Fire, she steps into a dangerous mission to stop a shadowy group holding a famed U.S. Senator hostage—forcing him to publicly betray America’s promise to support other democracies. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, this 1941 tale from Smash Comics #25 blends patriotic urgency with the emerging mythos of superhero origin stories.

In "null" from Smash Comics #25 (1941), the robotic hero Bozo confronts the deadly Clown, a villain whose white-faced visage marks each crime scene and whose poison-laced attacks threaten to plunge organized crime into chaos. With Hazzard at his side, Bozo pursues the brute-force menace through the city, enduring a brutal takedown into the river before turning the tide and storming the Clown’s hideout to bring him to justice.