Monday, May 18, 2009

Detective Comics #280 (June, 1960)


"One night, as Capt. Harding and his ace detective, John Jones, go speeding to the waterfront," they spotted Biff Benson. Harding had a tip Benson was hired to intentionally go to jail to facilitate a crime. Harding figured if Benson didn't go to jail in their district, another unknown hood would just be hired to replace him. Detective John Jones was tasked with keeping Biff out of the pokey until the actual plot could be uncovered.

When Biff tried to smash the window of a jewelry store with a rock, the Manhunter from Mars caught it faster than the human eye could see and relaunched it at Biff's belly. Good Samaritans passing by helped Benson up and off to shelter for the night. The next day, Mike and Joe were driving an armored car flagged down by Biff. The Martian Manhunter simulated a falling meteorite, and Benson was hailed as a hero for getting the truck to slow down before it struck them.
"Too bad there aren't more public-spirited citizens like you around!"
"Oh, shut up!"

Biff next attended a charity costume ball, allowing J'onn J'onzz to arrive as himself. The Space Sleuth caught Benson in the midst of a hold-up, and with unerring aim threw a flower into his gun barrel. The Martian Manhunter next inhaled deeply enough to draw the bullets Biff fired toward his impenetrable chest. Benson figured he'd fired blanks, and tried to grab the crown jewels. Manhunter made Biff "dance" by "drumming on the same floor boards he's standing on, at supersonic speed," causing Benson to collapse. The Super-Sleuth listened to the half-conscious crook mumble an incrimination of Sam Spooner, and a phone call to Capt. Harding confirmed Benson must have been set to kill a witness set to testify against the gang boss. Harding had the witness removed to a safe place, while Detective John Jones finally arrested Benson.
"Y-you mean you really believe I'm a crook-- and you're taking me in? Great!"
"I hope you feel that way when you reach prison, Biff!"

"Bodyguard to a Bandit" was by Jack Miller and Joe Certa.

Meanwhile...

2 comments:

Luke said...

I guess this qualifies as... Martian Dickery?

Diabolu Frank said...

I'm going to say no, but it isn't like there aren't plenty of examples to choose from. Excellent starting points include many latter-day Jack Miller scripts, Priest's Justice League Task Force, about half of everything Ostrander wrote, and the entire 1970s.