Sarge Steel - File 113!

Secret Agent Volume 2 #10 is dated October 1967. This is full year after the previous issue. Since that last issue Sarge Steel became a back-up feature in Judomaster, and also guest-starred in a few Thunderbolt issues. I've covered the Judomaster appearances, and I've reviewed his crossover in The Sentinels in Thunderbolt. The cover is by Dick Giordano and the sub-title is "The Iron Man with Steel Fist - Sarge Steel". The story is drawn by Dick Giordano, scripted by Steve Skeates, and lettered by D. Brazycki. Note that the number of this file fits in between the appearances in Judomaster. 

Part I of File #113 "The Case of the Third Hand" begins right in the middle of the action as bullets are fired at Sarge and his date a lovely lady named Linda Velvet. Sarge orders her to stay down as he tries to get at the shooter which he does, wounding the fellow but not before Linda is shot and seriously hurt. Sarge rushes her to the hospital and after seeing to her and making a report returns to the crime scene but is unable to identify the sniper. Filled with guilt he uses all his resources both official and unofficial to uncover the culprit, but he is shocked when his secretary Bessie tells him he has a visitor, an old friend name Lowell Wade from the C.I.A. Wade tells Sarge that Velvet was actually an informant for the spy ring "The Third Hand" and that was why she was shot. Sarge doesn't believe him, but then news comes that the hospital where Velvet is staying is under attack. Sarge and Wade rush to the site, but are too late as Velvet has been killed by a gas grenade attack. Sarge vows to bring the villains to justice.

Part II "Photo Finish" begins with Sarge going to Velvet's apartment to investigate but he finds two thugs there already. After a struggle he is caught in a powerful bearhug by one of the thugs, a giant of a man and knocked out. When he comes to, he finds a beautiful woman kneeling over him. She is Sarah "Sally" Tempest and she claims to be a friend of Velvet's. The apartment has been ransacked. As they talk another man appears, a friend of Tempest's named Hobart Jeffries. All three chat but then Sarge finds a clue a picture of a two-bit gunsel named Johnny Vance. Sarge goes to his own apartment to find it too has been ransacked but the interlopers are still there. The take him at gunpoint to meet with Johnny Vance at his fancy home. After a few questions which Sarge refuses to answer Vance orders his men to attack.

Part III "Blues for Linda" begins with Sarge getting punched around by Vance's thugs, but he turns the tables and using his superior skills defeats the thugs, even getting to Vance who winces from a shoulder wound. Now Sarge knows that Vance was the man who shot Linda and is the man he had wounded. He knocks Vance out and heads back to his office having fully unlocked the secrets. He finds Sally Tempest in his office going through his desk and tells her that he knows the whole story. She is the one involved with The Third Hand and used Linda, playing on their friendship. She had used blackmail to keep Johnny Vance at bay when he wanted her position in the organization and there were documents she had that he wanted. Linda had them and when Vance had learned of her betrayal he had tried to shoot her. The documents were still missing though. While Sarge is relating this tale a hand appears from nowhere and knocks him out. When he recovers he finds Hobart Jefferies has arrived and it was Hobart who had killed Linda with the grenade at the hospital. But Sarge is able get Sally to think that Hobart has betrayed her and when she shoots him, Sarge is able to disarm her and turns her over to the authorities. Later he talks to Wade and shows him a Coney Island plush bunny which had been in his car and had belonged to Linda. The documents were inside all the time. The story closes as Sarge somberly reflects on the romance that might have been.

The back-up feature is Tiffany Sinn. Tiffany Sinn had two previous appearances in Career Girl Romances #38 and #39. 

The story is titled "Muscle Beach Style!". It's written by David A. Kaler and drawn by Jim Aparo. The tale begins with the beautiful Tiffany preparing for a new case while reflecting on her previous ones. As she finishes her make-up, she is anxious to see what the latest C.I.A. caper will bring. She flies to California and on the flight is given her briefing papers by the stewardess and later is given more information by a cabbie. She is to uncover how vital fuel formulas are being stolen and transmitted to foreign agents. After a night's sleep and a shower, she begins her new job at the laboratory and meets Aldo Bateman a handsome fellow who immediately begins to woo Tiffany. They begin to date, and he takes her to the beach where she gets some sun while he goes through a meticulous and rigorous exercise regimen. They date a few more times, each date the same. The agency decides to plant some bait and announces a new formula. Tiffany notices that Aldo is very interested in this new information and on their next date, again at the beach she notes that his exercise regimen, to that time very rigid, was extremely different. She takes note that some men with binoculars are closely watching Aldo as he goes through his moves. Aldo notices her keen interest and suspicious as she attempts to report grabs her up and attempts to carry her out to the surf where he plans to drown her. Others at the beach think they are just two playful lovers and ignore Tiffany's struggles. At last she uses her judo skills to defeat Aldo and drags him back to the beach. It seems his exercises were a complex code he used to transmit the secret information. He is arrested and Tiffany tries to dry off and rest on the beach. Her bosses want her to come back in report, but she says she can't with hair such a mess.

And that completes the run of Sarge Steel/Secret Agent comics. This is a solid issue with a return of the series to a more detective/noir feel. The first-person narration adds to that feel as does the real emotion Sarge seems to feel for Linda. While he is doubtless a cad, Sarge does seem to have some feelings for the women in his life and that has been missing in some of the previous issues. Steve Skeates is pretty wordy in this one, the explanation requiring a lot of exposition. The twists are here, but they are a bit difficult to follow if you don't read carefully. The maguffin, is discovered at the end, but there was not really any real foreshadowing of its ultimate location as there might've been in a tighter mystery story. The Tiffany Sinn story was a lot of fun. Jim Aparo was a dang fine artist and his skills as a storyteller are well on display here. 

Dick Giordano was an amazing talent, tucked away at Charlton Comics, he trudged along for years producing outstanding artwork. In time he'd replace Pat Masulli as editor at Charlton and under his tenure flourished the "Action Hero" line, in all probability the brightest era in the company's long history. He was scouted by DC and became an editor there and eventually a key part of their transformation in the 1980's. DC eventually bought the Action Heroes from DC including Sarge Steel who has gone onto become an integral part of the DCU.  He also became the longtime partner with Neal Adams in Continuity Associates, the premiere stable of artists in the field. 

For now, no more Sarge Steel to come.

This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

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