Biography of Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan, 1938

he following is a **biography of Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan for the year of 1938**.

## Biography

### The stolen-plane scheme

At the start of the year, Slam accepted a job from an airport manager, who offered $25,000 to solve the mystery of a series of planes that had seemingly disappeared mid-flight. The man suspected Baron von Goetz, a German World War pilot who was now running an aerial circus, to be involved. The manager had an agent of his own in the circus who was to assist Slam, but upon arriving at the circus, Slam found that the agent had died in an apparent accident. Slam signed on to the troupe in his stead, and spent the next several days quietly watching for signs of the baron's guilt. One night, he witnessed a man leave a note in the baron's plane detailing their next job, confirming that Goetz was responsible. Slam soon dismantled the operation, killing Goetz and his conspirators in the process. They had been stealing the planes, repainting them, and were planning to sell them off to foreign powers. Shortly after, Slam and Shorty Morgan put a stop to a logging sabotage designed to cheapen the company from within to allow a rival company to buy it out for a cheap—around this time, Snoop Dolan had quietly left the team.

### The pirate-ship *Clarion*

One day, when Slam got himself and Shorty into a brawl in a rough-and-tough tavern, Shorty misplaced his wallet in the fracas. He picked up what he thought was his wallet, but later found that it belonged to one of the ne'er-do-wells that Slam had beaten up. He found a note that seemed to suggest an intention to rob the ship *Clarion* that night. The two went to the *Clarion'*s captain and warned him, but they were ambushed by some of the thugs from earlier and thrown in the brig. In truth, the note Shorty had found simply meant to meet at the *Clarion* to rob a different ship later on. As the *Clarion* went out to sea to loot its target, Slam and Shorty rose up and took down the ship's crew, rendezvousing with the would-be victim passenger liner and taking the pirate crew into custody.

### The Arctic mining deal

Slam and Shorty next accepted a job from Lucy Trent, whose brother Jack had gone missing in the Arctic Circle after having sent a letter about having found a valuable coal mine. Arriving at the outpost known as Stormhaven, Slam asked around about Jack, but everyone seemed scared to even talk about him. Slam and Shorty found themselves targets of the ire of an organization in town that was trying to lay claim to the mine Jack had found. They found Jack tied up as the organization tried to force him to sign away his rights to the mine. Slam and Shorty stopped them, leading to an underwater brawl between Slam and their leader that caused the latter to drown. Jack was grateful for their help, and offered them shares in his new mining venture.

### Accused of murder

While on a pleasant evening stroll, Slam and Shorty heard suspicious noises from an apartment nearby. Running up to investigate, they found a woman dead in her bed, strangled with twine. Slam called the police, but upon arrival the officer in charge, Sergeant Gage, quickly accused them of the deed. He arrested them, but they got into a car accident as he drove them to the station, and they escaped. On the run and in disguise, the two took it upon themselves to not only avoid detection, but to find the real killer themselves. As they got hotter on the culprit's trail, Slam was attacked from behind in the dark. In the scuffle, the perpetrator fled and dropped a small book containing the names of several women who had mysteriously died over the past year. One woman was still alive, and Slam and Shorty made haste to her address. Upon opening her apartment door, they were shocked to find Sergeant Gage inside, and were forced to flee. Reexamining the book, they found a newspaper clipping on Canadian millionaire Geraldine Ryan arriving in town. They traveled to Ryan's lodgings to again try to intercept the killer—upon seeing the men whose pictures had been plastered on the newspapers as killers, Ryan fainted. Slam and Shorty stowed her away and had Shorty dress in drag to bait the killer. The plan worked, as a man named Chester Glass soon arrived and tried to put the moves on Shorty. When he realized what was going on, he fled, and the detectives pursued in a taxi. Arriving at his hideout, Glass dropped the two in a trap door and began filling the space with water. Glass arrogantly confessed to his crimes: he had made a habit of befriending wealthy women to kill them and take their money. His bravado allowed Slam to pull him into the water and knock him out. Sergeant Gage arrived and rescued the vindicated detectives, and brought Glass to justice.

### The Broadway bandit

Slam and Shorty traveled to New York City on vacation, taking in a show on Broadway. The show was stopped midway through after gunshots were heard, which turned out to be a robber firing at the theater manager. The manager survived, and later informed Slam and Shorty that the culprit was a repeat offender, having robbed multiple theaters of late. Slam took his signature unconventional approach to the matter: deducing that these robberies were an inside job, he endeavored to make himself and Shorty a part of the show. The two took a crash course in dancing, and with help from the manager became stars in a new musical comedy in an attempt to get closer to the thief. Backstage, Slam spotted rival detective Joan Carter disguised as a chorus girl, and was concerned that she would steal the case out from under him as she was wont to do. He tasked Shorty with keeping an eye on her. The show was a smash, but Slam's plan to wait for the "Broadway Bandit's" next attack proved too long-winded for the manager, who fired him and Shorty. Shorty snooped around the backstage area for evidence, and found some in the dressing room of actor Boris Desmond, fittingly known for playing gangsters. However, Sergeant Gage from Cleveland arrived and spitefully locked Shorty in a closet. Shorty yelled for help, but when Joan Carter came by, he foolishly told her that Desmond was responsible for the thefts. Carter didn't free him, and tried to track him down herself. Shorty was soon freed by someone else, and he and Slam tracked Desmond down. In that time, Desmond finally robbed the theater, captured Carter, and attempted to kill her. Slam and Shorty stopped him and brought him to justice.

### The radio saboteur

Slam and Shorty were next tasked with solving an explosive incident in a radio studio. Singer Maria Borgio had been killed when her microphone, apparently booby-trapped, exploded in her face, killing her. Per their usual methods, Slam and Shorty got work as singers at the station, bypassing even experienced singers like the infuriated Ramon Gonzales. As they investigated further, Slam took Ramon's affrontedness as a lead, and produced a confession from him. As they fought, Ramon revealed that he had sabotaged Shorty's mic in the same way ahead of his performance that day. Slam rushed to the studio at the tail end of the performance, but Shorty had missed the note necessary to trigger the bomb, and survived. Gonzales was brought to justice. During the case, the two were approached by Sporty Morgan, Shorty's twin brother, who attempted to help them, but he proved to be of little effect.

### The stratospheric deceptions

While driving down a country road attempting to relax, Slam and Shorty witnessed a small craft crash into the ground out of the sky. A woman emerged from the craft; she was defensive and concerned that they were associated with a man called Knife Morley, who had been trying to steal her father's "stratosphere-plane" which she had just flown. By flying higher in the planet's atmosphere, the plane could reach its destination faster than standard airplanes. As a car approached, the woman claimed it was Morley's men; she got in the plane and flew away. In fact, the car was filled with police led by Sergeant Gage, along with a Professor Barton who said that the woman had actually stolen his plane from his laboratory and was of no relation to him at all. Slam and Shorty drove Barton back to his lab and took a look around, but Barton secretly suspected them to be the woman's accomplices, and trapped them in a pair of strapped chairs. He attempted to interrogate them as to Knife Morley's whereabouts, but they naturally could offer nothing. Moments later, Morley himself came in backed up by a couple of thugs, and it soon became clear that he wasn't associated with the detectives. Barton quietly flipped a switch, releasing them, and Slam began fighting with Morley and his men. Strangely, the woman from before showed up and surreptitiously handed Slam a gun, allowing him to take control. Barton slipped out and ran for the parked stratosphere-plane, as the woman opened the closet to reveal Professor James, her father and the true inventor of the plane—Barton was simply another party looking to get his hands on the designs. Ms. James had aligned herself with Morley's gang in an attempt to find her father. Shorty quietly followed Barton onto the plane, and after it took off managed to knock him out and land it himself. Professor James was eternally grateful to Slam and Shorty for repelling his invention's duplicitous would-be thieves.

### The African ape-men

Returning to their apartment one day, Slam and Shorty were shocked to find a large, aggressive ape. Slam knocked it out with a punch to the jaw. A suspicious-looking man soon came and took responsibility for it climbing into the detectives' window, apologizing and taking the ape away. Sensing something was off, Slam and Shorty trailed the man and saw him take the ape into a museum. They followed him inside and witnessed him violently whipping the ape, urging it to murder a woman bound and gagged in the corner of the room. Slam fought off the ape, and it and its handler escaped. Slam freed the woman, who introduced herself as Betty Gladstone. Her father was director of the museum, and had gone to Africa to investigate notions of a lost city of ape-men. She believed that her father was in danger from her attacker. Slam and Shorty offered to go to Africa to seek Gladstone out, and the three of them boarded the steam-liner *Hemisphere* for the continent to the east. Once on the sea, Shorty found the infamous ape caged up in a hold on board, and he and Slam remained vigilant for the ape's handler. That night, the man tried to stab Slam in his sleep, but Slam heard him and fought back. Slam chased him off, and the man slipped and fell overboard to his apparent death. However, the man in fact caught hold of a rope and climbed back aboard, unbeknownst to Slam. As the *Hemisphere* neared Africa, Slam assigned Shorty to watch over the ape in case anyone else claimed control of it. The handler quietly returned, knocked Shorty out, and kidnapped him. As the ship came into port, the police could find no sign of Shorty for the next week. Slam and Betty went out into the wilderness to search for her father, and began finding remnants of Shorty's clothes as well. The two were set upon by the handler, holding Shorty, along with a group of loyal natives. They led Slam and Betty behind a waterfall into the rumored city of ape-men. Slam and Shorty were thrown into captivity along with Professor Gladstone, while Betty was taken elsewhere to be their "queen." The men were thrown into a pit to fight the apes, while the handler tried to impress Betty. She jumped into the pit with them, and Slam pulled the handler down with a whip, throwing him to the apes and killing him. Slam and the others managed to escape, leading their pursuers to a bridge in the jungle that collapsed as the natives attempted to cross it. The detectives and the Gladstones returned to America safely, much to Betty's gratitude.

### Slam the magician

Slam Bradley spent some time studying magic, and soon became quite a potent sorcerer. Shorty became sick of him practicing magic, and took a break from their partnership until he got over himself. At a meeting for the Magicians' Society, Slam declared that he would use magic to protect the city's taxpayers from the corrupt. Slam caught the attention of Pete Hanson, a crooked political leader in the city. Hanson sent a thug to intimidate Bradley, but Bradley simply confronted Hanson himself and requested that he resign and return all of the money he'd made through shady tactics. Hanson naturally refused, and Bradley told him he'd regret it. Slam invisibly spied on Hanson's dealings, and took it upon himself to magically sabotage them at every turn. Hanson forcibly enlisted the help of magician Professor Mysto, but even this was not enough to stop Bradley from using a series of spells to disorient Hanson and his allies. In the end, Bradley convinced Hanson to donate a large sum of money to the city and move to Europe. With Hanson stopped, Slam decided to give up magic, preferring to use his fists to solve problems.

### The Egyptian slave trade

Slam and Shorty traveled to Egypt on a whim, where they were approached by the English ambassador, an old friend of Slam's. He informed them that one of Slam's old foes, a drug trafficker named Seth, was now in the slave trade. Seth knew of Slam's presence in the country, and was out to kill him. Slam got himself captured in order to take down Seth's operation from within. Slam fought through Seth and his men and retrieved vital documents relating to Seth's slave dealings. He escaped and handed these off to the ambassador, supplying enough evidence to take Seth down once and for all.

### The return of Fui Onyui

While waiting to meet up with Shorty on a street corner, Slam picked up a newspaper and learned of the prison escape of Fui Onyui, one of his and Shorty's oldest foes. He hastily made his way to Chinatown, where he met an undercover detective named Yat Sin. The two found Shorty laid out on a table in one of Onyui's establishments, seemingly dead. One of Onyui's men approached them and told Sin that he was simply in suspended animation, and Onyui was willing to negotiate regarding an antidote to revive him. Slam met with Onyui, who told him that he would only awaken Shorty if Slam murdered Judge Phillips, the one who presided over Onyui's case, and thereby get himself arrested and executed. Slam and Yat Sin arranged a scheme whereby Slam, trailed by one of Onyui's men, fired upon Sin disguised as the judge with blanks. Slam returned to Onyui, who had no intention of keeping his end of the deal. Slam caught him and forced him to revive Shorty, and the two knocked Onyui to the ground. The downed Onyui grabbed a gun, but Yat Sin arrived in time to shoot him dead before he could harm the others.

### Into the distant future

Slam and Shorty were approached by a scientist named Kenton who regaled them with talk of a time machine. They were skeptical at first, but he demonstrated its power, taking the three of them to the year 2,000,000,000 A.D. on Shorty's request. They landed on the outskirts of a heavily defended city, where they attacked by some creatures and Kenton was forced to flee. Slam and Shorty were abducted by a group of bizarrely evolved beings, including a birdman and a plantman. They wished to escape the city, as they were to be executed. They offered to cooperate with Slam and Shorty if they would agree to take them to another time. However, city guards stormed the hideout, and in the escape the plantman killed Shorty to throw off the guards. The guards captured Slam and Shorty, and operated on Shorty to bring him back to life. Slam was brought to see the leader of the city, who offered him and Shorty great power and wealth in exchange for handing over the time machine. Slam refused to cooperate, and he and Shorty were thrown into an arena to fight for their lives. They fought and defeated a large, fearsome foe when Shorty threw acid in its eyes, causing it to run roughshod and kill the ruler of the city in its rampage. The criminals returned and used a rocket to fly them to the time machine, but attempted to betray them once more and steal it. Professor Kenton arrived and helped Slam and Shorty fight them off, and returned them to 1938.

## See also

* Biography of Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan, 1937
* Biography of Slam Bradley and Shorty Morgan, 1939

## References

1. ↑ *Detective Comics* #11i: "Slam Bradley and the Flying Circus." (January 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
2. ↑ *Detective Comics* #12i: "Slam Bradley and the Lumberjacks." (February 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
3. ↑ *Detective Comics* #13i: "Slam Bradley at Sea." (March 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
4. ↑ *Detective Comics* #14j: "Slam Bradley Up North." (April 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
5. ↑ *Detective Comics* #15j: "Slam Bradley and the Lady-Killer." (May 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
6. ↑ *Detective Comics* #16i: "Slam Bradley and the Broadway Bandit." (June 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
7. ↑ *Detective Comics* #17j: "Slam Bradley Gets the Air." (July 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
8. ↑ *Detective Comics* #18j: "Slam Bradley in the Stratosphere." (August 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
9. ↑ *Detective Comics* #19j: "Slam Bradley in Africa." (September 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
10. ↑ *Detective Comics* #20j: "Slam Bradley." (October 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
11. ↑ *Detective Comics* #21j: "Slam Bradley." (November 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
12. ↑ *Detective Comics* #22a: "Slam Bradley." (December 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
13. ↑ *Detective Comics* #23j: "Slam Bradley." (January 1939) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
14. ↑ *Detective Comics* #24k: "Slam Bradley." (February 1939) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).