Smash Comics #36

In "The Death of Midnight!!," the hero Midnight meets his end in a clash with the villain Cyclops Ceylon, only to be denied entry to heaven and sent to Hell—where he discovers the Devil isn’t in charge, but a far more unsettling figure. As Midnight faces torment and begins to rally Hell’s damned, a mysterious professor makes a desperate deal with Doc Wackey to trade lives, setting in motion a twist that could alter the fate of both realms.

Espionage and his aide Batu infiltrate the Temple of Secret Sighs in search of the V-Man, only to come face-to-face with The Vengeance, a villain bent on destroying all Western operatives and their allies. Trapped by illusions and deadly tricks, the pair must use their wits to survive the temple's deceptions and uncover the hidden cavern beneath it.

When a movie extra who's the spitting image of Archie O'Toole is hired to impersonate the king so the real deal can slip away unguarded, the double gets all the attention—and all the affection—while Archie's left cooling his heels. Things take a comedic turn when the king finally comes back around and finds his double has become the real center of attention.

When Wildfire grants Micky Kane a magical flame to summon her in danger, he doesn’t have to wait long to test it—just as a gang of thugs targets his father Tom Kane’s latest invention, a crucial antidote for poison gas.

In "Hammer Hand," reporter Happy Terrill finds himself wrongfully accused of a bank robbery by the menacing criminal known only as Hammer Hand, whose iron mallet hand strikes fear into the city. Framed and arrested, Happy loses his job and must fight to clear his name before his reputation—and freedom—are lost for good.

Rookie cop Rankin draws the tedious assignment of staking out a criminal called The Whiner, only to find himself caught in the middle of a murder scheme when the crook and a mysterious woman emerge from a tenement on Ratcase Street. As the situation spirals into violence, Rankin must navigate the chaos and uncover what The Whiner is really after before the scheme reaches its deadly conclusion at a funeral.

In the wartime pages of *Smash Comics #36*, Major Hurtz spins a deadly lie—claiming he killed the elusive Marksman—to gain entry to Berlin. There, he rescues a Polish inventor from captivity and smuggles him across enemy lines inside a bomb casing, setting off a chain of high-stakes deception. When the Marksman later frees the inventor, Hitler’s fury turns on Hurtz, exposing the cost of his gamble.