Sexton Blake Bibliography: 1942
Publishing: Another price rise for THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY ... 6d to 7d.
Blake: While THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY continues to focus on Blake's war-time service on the home front, KNOCK-OUT reveals that he and Tinker did, in fact, spend some time in direct engagement with the enemy, mostly aboard the top-secret experimental vessel, the Rolling Sphere.
In DESERT INTRIGUE (THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY 4th series, issue 444, 1960) we learn that in June of this year (1942), Blake was sent on a mission to Egypt by Eustace Craille.
SEXTON BLAKE ANNUAL 1942 · 1942 · Amalgamated Press · Price unknown
Other content: The Foundation Stone Mystery; The Perfect Gentleman; The Finger-Print; The Riddle of the Football Club; The Riddle of the Four Students.
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Notes: This is an abridged reprint of the story that appeared with the same title in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 44 (1933).
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Illustrator: Unknown
Notes: None at present.
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Illustrator: Fred Bennett
Notes: This is an abridged reprint of the story that appeared with the same title in DETECTIVE WEEKLY issue 31 (1933). It's the tale in which George Marsden Plummer dies.
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Illustrator: Unknown
Notes: None at present.
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Illustrator: H. M. Lewis
Notes: This is an abridged reprint of the story that appeared with the same title in UNION JACK issue 1,115 (1925). The story features Granite Grant.
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Illustrator: Eric Parker
Notes: None at present.
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Illustrator: Eric Parker
Notes: This is an abridged reprint of the story that appeared with the same title in DETECTIVE WEEKLY 27 (1933).
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Illustrator: Eric Parker
Notes: None at present.
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Illustrator: Lang
Notes: This is an abridged reprint of the story that appeared with the same title in DETECTIVE WEEKLY 51 (1934). It was reprinted again in SEXTON BLAKE WINS (1986).
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KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 150 · 10/01/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Sexton Blake and Tinker descend from the top of the crane amid a hail of Nazi bullets. With Blake balancing on a metal beam hanging from the crane's hook, Tinker commandeers the controls and swings the jib towards the attacking soldiers. They are knocked flying, giving the detectives a chance to run and hide in the Dutchmen's sleeping hut. Next morning, they join the Dutch work party. However, when Bruno Berndorff approaches they realise that they might be spotted. As a diversion, Tinker throws a match into an oil drum.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 159 · 14/03/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Upon arrival in Australia, Sexton Blake and Tinker visit the Governor-general and are informed of their next mission — to find out how ships are being torpedoed by an unseen enemy. Later that evening, they visit the waterfront and overhear a man named Rastus talking about a vanishing island. Tinker spots a man aiming a gun at Rastus. Blake shoots the gun from the man's hand but fails to capture the assailant, who gets away by diving into the harbour waters. Rastus takes the detectives aboard his ship to meet the captain. Blake charters the vessel. While packing for the voyage, he receives a warning to be on the lookout for a Japanese Master Spy named Count Noko. He realises that this was the man who had tried to shoot Rastus ... and also recognises him as the Governor-General's servant. He tries to phone the government official to warn him but is interrupted by the gun-toting Count. Tinker steps in and overbalances the spy.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 167 · 09/05/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Sexton Blake, Tinker and Rastus are prisoners of the Japanese. When Captain Shumo comes to bully them, they overpower him, then make their way to the dockyard. En route, they load their pockets with grenades from a munitions room, which they then use to blow up an oil tanker.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 168 · 16/05/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Using the smoke from the burning tanker as cover, Sexton Blake, Tinker and Rastus climb up the face of the cliff. From the top, they spot an American destroyer and signal it to start shelling the island. Suddenly a huge gun emerges from the rocks beneath them. Blake & Co must stop it firing!
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 170 · 30/05/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Sexton Blake leads the escaped slaves in an attack on the Vanishing Island. As allied shells begin to fall, Blake notices that Count Noko is making for the engines, intending to sabotage them. The detective overpowers the Japanese spy while Tinker and Rastus tackle the remaining submarine crew. With their enemies overpowered and the disguised submarine under their command, they pilot the craft towards the door in the cliff, using the its guns to blow the portal apart. The route to freedom is clear!
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 171 · 06/06/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Sexton Blake, Tinker and Rastus escape aboard the Vanishing Island. Beyond the Japanese dock, they signal the allied fleet and instruct it to destroy the enemy base. Blake & Co are taken aboard an aircraft carrier and loaned a plane which they fly towards Sydney. However, after two hours in the air they run into a ferocious tropical storm and are forced to land in the sea near a small island. Suddenly, a huge and bizarre spherical craft approacheds them.
Trivia: This issue marks the first ever appearance of the Rolling Sphere.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 174 · 27/06/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Leaving the defeated Japanese destroyers behind, the Rolling Sphere continues its journey until it arrives in Malaya. Blake & Co are greeted by enemy forces and, though small arms fire cannot endanger them, when artillery guns are encountered, Sexton Blake realises that they must get over a nearby mountain range in order to avoid the falling shells. Unfortunately, as the craft speeds across a mountain-side, enemy fire dislodges a huge boulder which crashes into it sending the sphere hurtling down to the valley below.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 175 · 04/07/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Hoo Sung releases a huge grappling hook which catches on the rock face and halts the Rolling Sphere's descent. Having regained control, the Chinese scientists continues on his course, steering the massive machine right through the Japanese forces. Eventually coming to a lake, the brilliant scientist reveals another ability of the the sphere... it can submerse! Safe beneath the water, Blake & are concealed from the enemy.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 181 · 15/08/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Having narrowly escaped Bill Smith and Cobber Brown's tank trap, the Rolling Sphere continues on until it reaches the coast. Here it encounters the gathered Japanese forces. Hoo Sung alters course and steers his craft into a nearby town, smashing through the enemy headquarters to the sea beyond.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 182 · 22/08/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Having rescued General MacRobert from the Japanese, Sexton Blake and his friends reach the Malayan coast in Hoo Sung's Rolling Sphere. Submerging to avoid bombs and depth charges, the sphere settles on the seabed in one of the deepest parts of the ocean. At dawn, it begins to rise to the surface. A British convoy is spotted. Blake also sees that a Japanese submarine is preparing to attack it. The sphere fires a torpedo at the enemy vessel.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 183 · 29/08/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: The Rolling Sphere fires a torpedo at the Japanese submarine, slicing it in two. Hoo Sung then pilots his remarkable craft to the surface where he, Sexton Blake and Tinker see that the convoy is under attack by enemy ships and planes. They join the battle and the Japanese forces are soon defeated. The convoy commander asks them to look out for a ship named the S.S. Changsi which has been lost. It was carrying plans for a secret weapon which must not fall into enemy hands. Blake & Co continue en route to Australia. The next morning they spot pearl divers in a region that has no oyster beds. Hoo Sung submerges the sphere to investigate.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 184 · 05/09/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Hoo Sung steers the Rolling Sphere across the sea bed until it nears a wrecked ship — the object of the pearl divers' attention. Sexton Blake dons a diving suit and exits the sphere, walking across to the wreck. It is the S.S. Changsi ... and the divers are after the secret plans!
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 186 · 19/09/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: In his diving suit, Sexton Blake discovers that the wrecked ship is the S.S. Changsi. He recovers from it a safe which contains plans for a new secret weapon and begins to drag it across the sea bed to the Rolling Sphere. When he is attacked by Japanese divers, Tinker and Rastus come to his assistance to fight them off. The two young men then swim to the surface where they are taken prisoner. Blake reaches the sphere and Hoo Sung pilots it to the surface where he uses the craft's claw to grab the enemy yacht.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 187 · 26/09/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Caught in the grip of the Rolling Sphere's claw, the Japanese surrender. This is witnessed by a scouting plane which reports to headquarters. The Japanese High Command radios its German allies for help. The Germans send a secret agent known only as the Penguin. He hatches a plot to defeat Sexton Blake by luring him into a trap with false reports of a secret weapon being built in Akyab, Burma.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 189 · 10/10/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Hoo Sung surrenders to the Penguin and he, Sexton Blake and Tinker are taken prisoner. Next morning, Blake overhears the guards talking about a secret weapon being built at Chittagong in Burma... and this time the report is real. The Penguin takes Hoo Sung to the Rolling Sphere and orders the scientist to open it. He enters with a squadron of Japanese soldiers. As Blake and Tinker look on, the sphere suddenly spins out of control!
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 190 · 17/10/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: The Penguin forces Hoo Sung to let him into the Rolling Sphere but the clever Chinese scientist disables the craft's gyroscope, causing it to roll and spin. The Japanese soldiers fall out and the Penguin is knocked senseless. After rescuing Blake, Tinker and his crew, the scientist steers the sphere out of the stockade and down to the beach. The Penguin recovers consciousness and tries to attack Blake... but a solid punch sends the villain careening through the door and out of the sphere. The detective decides that they must now head to Chittagong to destroy the enemy's secret weapon.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 191 · 24/10/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Sexton Blake, Tinker and Hoo Sung head towards Chittagong in Burma. Since the Japanese are already aware of their presence, Blake has decided on an all-out attack on the Penguin's secret weapon. As the Rolling Sphere proceeds, it is shot at by tanks. Hoo Sung dodges them by steering into the mountains and across a sheer ravine. The stockade where the secret weapon — the Crocodile — is hidden comes into view. At that moment the Peguin arrives by plane. He boards the Crocodile and drives it out to meet the sphere in a fierce duel!
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 194 · 14/11/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Sexton Blake and the Rolling Sphere go to the rescue of a convoy in the Indian Ocean. They are attacked by the enemy's latest weapon, the Crocodile. Blake dons a diving suit, goes to the surface, and warns the ships not to drop depth charges, else they might damage the sphere. When the detective sinks back down, he lands on top of the Crocodile and manages to disable its primary weapon. The machine, however, captures Blake and flees.
Unrated
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 196 · 28/11/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: Tinker helps Blake out of the diving suit and they flee from The Penguin's men. Climbing a tree, they signal to Hoo Sung who arrives in the Rolling Sphere. They proceed to the enemy's island base where they crush the Crocodile. The Penguin, however, manages to escape.
Rating: ★★★★☆
KNOCK-OUT COMIC AND MAGNET · Issue 198 · 12/12/1942 · Amalgamated Press · 3d
Illustrator: Anon. (Alfred Taylor)
Other content: Various strips and text stories.
Notes: On Palmate Island, Sexton Blake examines a crater left by one of the space bombs and finds a wireless aerial. Another bomb falls nearby but fails to explode. After moving the Rolling Sphere to a place of safety, Hoo Sung helps Blake and Tinker to recover the dud bomb. They find that it is radio controlled. A Japanese sea plane lands nearby and Blake leads his group into hiding, trailing a rope with which he intends to jog the bomb, hoping it will explode and cover the evidence of their presence.
Rating: ★★★★☆
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 3rd series · Issue 22 · Apr. 1942 · Amalgamated Press · 7d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: Unknown.
Notes: The maitre d'hotel at the Bonhomme calls in Sexton Blake to investigate two murders in his establishment. A guest named Trafford has been stabbed in his sleep. The same thing had happened days earlier to another guest. Blake establishes that the killer entered the hotel via its bombed-out wing. One of the guests, Mason, is acting suspiciously but is too scared to reveal anything to the criminologist or to Detective-Inspector Coutts. Blake and Tinker set off in the Grey Panther to find a man named Muldgrave who'd sent a mysterious telegram to Trafford. They trace him to The Old Elms, a large and secluded house. The detective recognises Muldgrave as Moller, the leader of a criminal gang known as The Octopus. With him are two other gang members, Tumbril and Dank. These three are the remaining 'tentacles' of the Octopus ... the other five had been 'lopped off' in an earlier confrontation with Blake. Aided by hired thugs, the three attack. Things look desperate for Blake and Tinker until the police arrive, attracted by the gunfire. Some of the thugs are rounded up but the main three criminals escape. Back at the hotel, Blake discovers that Mason is being paid by The Octopus to look out for a man named J. Little who has been placing bets using £100 notes ... part of a £50,000 haul stolen from the German embassy. Blake believes that the criminal responsible for the theft killed the two guests because they could identify him. It is this man — and the money — that the Octopus is after. The detective and his assistant are captured and narrowly avoid being killed by a time-bomb. The explosion attracts the police and they raid the gang HQ, catching everyone apart from the murderous Moller. At the hotel, an attempt is made to stab Blake in his sleep. His unseen assailant gets away but Blake follows the clues to the killer ... and finds him dead. Moller got to the man before the detective and has now made off with the stolen money. A chase commences, ending in a quarry where Blake gets his man.
Trivia: The author writes that 'Make-up in daylight is dangerous, it can be spotted a mile off'... This is the same author who, in 1919, had Zenith the Albino fooling Sexton Blake by disguising himself as Mrs. Bardell! It's a measure of how much the series has changed towards realism that the art of disguise is, by this point, not the weapon it used to be.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY · 3rd series · Issue 35 · Nov. 1942 · Amalgamated Press · 7d
Illustrator: Eric Parker
Other content: Unknown.
Notes: The Mary Ann Trinder is damaged during a Luftwaffe attack on a convoy and limps back to Wenmouth port where, to Captain Dack's astonishment, a headless corpse is discovered aboard. He visits Sexton Blake and explains that on the night of departure he and Sam Trench had heard gunshots and a woman scream somewhere near the docks. Blake agrees to investigate. In a country house near the port, Joyce Aldred writes a letter in which she asks Dack to meet her and reveals that she was the woman who'd screamed. However, her guardians — Reuben and Martha Grice — discover the letter and are none-to-happy about it, for they hired Lou Delany and Ben Taylor, the men who put the body on the ship. These two crooks, according to Chief Inspector Pike, are dangerous criminals. Dack meets the girl and learns that Reuben had sent her to the docks to collect a package but, when she got there, she'd been shot at by two men and had run away. He decides to follow Reuben. Blake, meanwhile, discovers that two men have disappeared: one is George Lancing, a forger; the other is Peter Faversham, an American production expert who'd been invited to England by the British government. Faversham's description seems to match that of the corpse found in the Mary Ann Trinder ... but Blake has his doubts. Like Dack, Ben Taylor finds out that Reuben sent Joyce to the docks and probably hired the men who shot at her. He sets a trap and one of the hired assassins falls into it. This man confirms that Reuben is trying to kill his ward. Taylor and Delany, having got their answer, then murder the assassin. Captain Dack follows Reuben Grice and discovers that he's leading a double life as a respectable homeowner in a country town. Blake also discovers this and reasons that Grice is being double-crossed by Delany and Taylor. The corpse in the container, Blake thinks, was not the man Grice wanted killed but was George Lancing, mutilated so that Grice would believe the body was Faversham. Taylor and Delany go to a secluded house where they are holding the American prisoner. They interrogate him until he admits to being Joyce's real father and agrees to pay them £20,000 in return for being reunited with her. The two crooks arrive at the Grice's house just as Martha Grice is attempting to kill the girl. Delany shoots the woman dead and waits for Reuben while Taylor takes Joyce to Faversham. Blake and Dack capture Delany and set off in pursuit of Taylor. However, Faversham is far from helpless and when he is reunited with his long lost daughter it is on his terms rather than Taylor's. Blake reveals the connection between the Grices, Joyce and Faversham, solving the mystery of Reuben's double life. Delany and Taylor are given the death sentence for murder.
Trivia: Tinker uses his regular alias of Carter.
Rating: ★★★★★
