True Comics #65

In this chronicle of American ingenuity, witness how Henry Ford's stubborn belief in the automobile—dismissed by skeptics as a mere "childish invention"—transformed into a nation-spanning industry. From Ford's bold decision to leave his job at Detroit Edison in 1899, through the discovery of vanadium steel and Barney Oldfield's record-breaking races in the "999," to Charles F. Kettering's electric starter that finally freed drivers from the tyranny of hand-cranking, this story traces the innovations and determination that put a car on every American road. Watch as the automobile evolved from a curiosity needing constant blacksmith repairs into a reliable machine that powered the nation through peace and war alike.

Larry MacPhail's rise from a decorated war captain to baseball's most colorful promoter is the stuff of legend—transforming struggling franchises with innovation, showmanship, and relentless ambition. Starting in the minor leagues and moving through Cincinnati and Brooklyn, MacPhail revolutionized the game with night baseball, modern amenities, and a talent for assembling winning rosters before landing the top job with the New York Yankees. This biography captures how one man brought fighting spirit, color, and fun to America's pastime.

For centuries, explorers sought a water route through the Arctic to reach the riches of the East, but the frozen passage claimed many lives—from John Cabot's early voyage to Henry Hudson's tragic end at the hands of mutineers, to Sir John Franklin's mysterious disappearance. Years later, a determined young Roald Amundsen, hardened by the Norwegian cold, inherited their dream of conquering the Northwest Passage, and his unwavering resolve would finally succeed where so many brave men had failed.

A platypus begins an extraordinary ocean voyage from Australia to America, with island helpers providing an unusual cargo of ten thousand worms to sustain the exotic traveler. When Australian Ambassador Makin welcomes the peculiar passenger at the Bronx Zoo in May 1947, visitors discover one of nature's strangest creatures—a webbed, duck-billed mammal that devours nearly its own weight in worms each night.