The Basil Wolverton Reader #2

Spacehawk, ever the hero, thwarts a tire-stealing ring—only to find himself on the wrong side of the law when he pulls a prank on movie actress Diana Drean, leading to an unexpected arrest for the very crime he just stopped.

In "null," Powerhouse Pepper finds himself in a tense showdown at the Smother Brothers circus, where his incredible feat of strength goes unpaid—leaving him face-to-face with the arrogant strongman Russell Muscle and his scheming barker partner, who’ve got no intention of honoring their end of the bargain.

In this zany 2004 tale from The Basil Wolverton Reader #2, Disk-Eyes the Detective races to stop Spider McStrangle and his gang from pulling off another heist—this time to fund a scheme involving bombs and the destruction of key machinery. With his signature flair and a knack for the absurd, Disk-Eyes dives into a case where every clue is stranger than the last.

In "The Man Who Never Smiled," a greedy man tracks an enigmatic old man—whose face never breaks into a smile—deep into a hidden cave, driven by the promise of wealth. What begins as a desperate bid for fortune quickly turns into a chilling revelation about the true cost of silence and the monstrous truth behind a smile that never comes.