BULLSEYE BANNON MYSTERIES - THE STRANGE CASE OF EZRA ARK

The third and final instalment of the innovative marketing stunt.

This case really makes a meal of setting up the various suspects over three of the four strips, but crucially does not give away any vital information in the title, which is a marked improvement. (Jumbo Comics 015, Fight Comics 005, Jungle Comics 005, Planet Comics 005, 1940)

In a break from tradition and a major disappointment, the actual solution is not given along with the list of winners, so while it's pretty clear that the dentist did it we are not privy to his actual motivations beyond being sick of taking shit from a rude old man. (Jumbo Comics 018, 1940)

BULLSEYE BANNON MYSTERIES - THE CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED KILLER

Time for the second Bullseye Bannon mystery: everyone get ready to cut up some comics for a chance at a small cash prize.

This time, Bullseye Bannon is for some reason reading the will of the late Dean Earl, who has carefully crafted the kind of situation that murder mysteries thrive on. By the terms of the will, son Titus Earl gets everything, unless he dies, and then someone else gets everything. Bullseye Bannon doesn't exactly help things by pointing all this out in plain language either - when Titus is blown away six panels later it's not even really a surprise. (Jumbo Comics 014, Fight Comics 004, Jungle Comics 004, Planet Comics 004, 1940)

Was this a good mystery? No it was not. Will-based murders are all about slow-burn revelations about motivations and finding hidden documents and so forth, so having everything laid out in strip one really robs the form of its impact. Plus, the title of the mystery clearly points out that Clarence is the killer. (Jumbo Comics 017, 1940)

BULLSEYE BANNON MYSTERIES - THE CASE OF THE DIAMOND DEATH

In 1940, Fiction House tried an innovative new method to sell their comics: a serialized contest! Specifically, they printed a series of adventures by detective Bullseye Bannon across issues of Fight Comics, Jumbo Comics, Jungle Comics and Planet Comics, and to enter the contest you had to send in your solution to the mystery along with four little coupons clipped from the issues. I can only assume that the whole exercise was more trouble than it was worth, because they only bothered to do it three times.

It's a fun little bit of comics ephemera, though, and since I've never really seen it talked about anywhere and I recently finished reading the 1940 issues of the four titles in question, I have gathered together all of the Bullseye Bannon Mysteries for your edification and entertainment. Today we have: the Case of the Diamond Death!

Can you work out the solution to the mystery? You might have been eligible for a small cash prize 85 years ago! Solution below. (Jumbo Comics 013, Fight Comics 003, Jungle Comics 003, Planet Comics 003, 1940)

It this a good mystery: kind of? It would have been better if the only indication that the nameless ex-wife had a diamond ring wasn't the name of the mystery. (Jumbo Comics 016, 1940)