(Wonderworld Comics 017, 1940)
Our story opens as a man named John Daniels approaches Yarko the Great after a show and requests his aid in preventing whatever fate befell his mysteriously missing brother James from also happening to him, as threatened by an ominous note. Yarko of course accepts.
I wouldn't call this the most clearly-plotted comic story of all time, so instead of laying everything out in sequence I'll just introduce the cast of characters:
John Daniels: Receiver of threats and client to Yarko. Is almost immediately murdered by the Masked Man.
Philip Daniels: Hostile to Yarko's presence from the start. High-strung. Murdered about halfway through the story.
Miss West: Almost completely inconsequential. Seemingly there to pad out crowd scenes.
Countess Maureen: Mysterious femme fatale house guest.
James Daniels: The missing brother. His watch is found on a skeleton in a hidden room (please ignore that Yarko is calling him John - it's James), which must mean that it's his skeleton.
Cousin Daniels: Shows up at the very end after most of the suspects have been murdered, just to pad things out for a panel or two.
The Masked Man: Your basic murderous man in a suit and cowl. As always I appreciate the fact that he has a nose hole in his surprisingly rigid-looking mask. Yarko ends up going a couple rounds with him but does not actually manage to capture him. Considering that Yarko is functionally omnipotent and coupled with the fact that the Masked Man murders two guys right under his nose might just make him the most competent villain that we've seen in a while.
All good things must come to an end, however, and Yarko eventually figures out that a) the skeleton with the watch was actually a clever ruse and b) the Countess is in fact James Daniels in disguise! He makes a go of attempting to kill Yarko even after being exposed (and please note how much more masculine his face looks after the wig comes off - I would say that perhaps James had some magic of his own but that happens basically every time a situation like this is the crux of a comic book plot in the 40s) but it's a lost cause at that point. And just why did he do all those murders anyway? Why, for the inheritance, of course!
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