(Whiz Comics 014, 1941)
Dan Dare exists in a world rife with crime in which he is seemingly the only person capable of solving an moderate-to-difficult mystery. Thus, he and his assistant/lover Carol Clews constantly fly from city to city capturing crooks, while Carol fruitlessly attempts to steal Dan away for a much-needed vacation.
In this particular installment, Dan and Carol have been summoned to Chicago by TL Thornton, Publisher of the Daily Clarion and subject of a terror campaign by the city's mysterious crimelord, known only as XYZ.
XYZ's reach is such that a minion captured during an attempt to blow up Dare, Clews and Thornton is assassinated under the very nose of Thornton's secretary Miss Holmes. Is there no crime too audacious for this mastermind?
Upon walking Miss Holmes home, Dare learns the truth: though he and Thornton had been looking for a male crime boss, XYZ is in fact a woman. Yes, Miss Holmes was conducting her criminal enterprise out of the front office of one of the men trying to expose her and that audacity, plus preconceived notions of the masculine nature of criminality, helped her do it.
Just kidding: Dare cottoned on to the possibility that Miss Holmes was XYZ when she killed that captured henchman. He arranged for Carol to follow them and call the police to their location after a suitable interval - Dan Dare is a feminist after all!
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