Sparkling Stars #31

Inspector Hunt races to save Arizona Lee from a criminal conspiracy when repeated attempts on her life escalate into a dangerous kidnapping orchestrated by his arch-enemy, Pantha Klaw. Stowed away in a mobster's car trunk, Hunt finds himself on a nightmarish journey that leads him straight into Klaw's clutches aboard a remote freighter in New York Harbor. With Arizona's life hanging in the balance and time running out, Hunt must find a way to outwit his ruthless foe before it's too late.

Dorothy Schroeder joined the All-American Girls League at just 15 years old and now, at 18, plays shortstop for the Kenosha Comets in Wisconsin. Her talent has earned her serious recognition—the manager of the Chicago Cubs believes she'd command top-tier major league pay if she were a man, putting her skill on par with some of baseball's greatest names.

Uncle Bunkle regales his nephew Winky and young Gully with a tall tale from 1865, when he was captain of the whaling ship S.S. Betty Grable and found himself stranded on the mysterious tropical island of Betty Bali—where the animals have learned to talk and enslaved humans as pets and servants. When Uncle Bunkle discovers the animals' sinister plot to invade the U.S.A. and turn the tables on mankind, he must use his wits and a bar of soap to save the nation from thralldom.

Ali-Baba dreams of escaping the washtub and, with a little supernatural help, trains to challenge the legendary Strangler for a pot of gold in the wrestling ring. When magic words and quick thinking carry him through a wild tournament, Ali finds himself rewarded with riches and a cushy post in the Sultan's palace—but his newfound fortune and favor attract more trouble than he bargained for. This 1948 humor tale from Sparkling Stars #31 is a rollicking romp through Ali's rise and fall, packed with slapstick, scheming harem intrigue, and the kind of comic mayhem that made Golden Age humor comics a blast.

Maurice Podoloff, at 56, presides over two of sports' fastest-growing leagues—hockey and basketball—as president of both the American Hockey Association and the Basketball Association of America, having built his reputation over decades in sports promotion and arena development. This profile celebrates a career that began with bringing professional hockey to New Haven and culminated in unanimous selection to lead the new pro basketball circuit.

On the distant planet Squeek, scientist Adam Mouse perfects a secret formula that transforms him into Dyno-Mouse, a superhero mouse with extraordinary abilities—and when he learns of a deadly mousetrap being developed on Earth, he rockets across the cosmos to test it himself. What Dyno-Mouse discovers inside Professor Foop's contraption will determine the fate of every mouse on our world, and his choice about what to tell the inventor could change everything.

When a young Charles "Gabby" Hartnett's throwing arm is shattered in an accident, doctors warn it will never function again—yet through years of determined exercise and patience, he gradually restores it to full strength. This true account follows Hartnett's remarkable rise from a boy written off by medicine to one of baseball's greatest catchers, selected five times for the National League All-Stars and eventually taking the helm as manager of the Chicago Cubs after 17 seasons behind the plate.

Wilbur Underhill, the Tri-State Terror, climbs from small-time petty crime into a vicious career of bank robberies and murders across the Southwest, always one step ahead of the law—until the F.B.I. finally closes in. This true crime account follows a killer who learns that no jail can hold him and no escape route runs far enough when federal law enforcement decides to take the case.