DCRO 18- New Comics (1935) #8 [Y Story]

Story title: "The Invisible Empire, Part 5"

Cover Date: September 1936

By: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

DCRO entry

Alright, today we start the final stretch of The Invisible Empire. We have three (that's right, it's a seven-part story, I made a mistake) more parts to go, so let's get to it.

The story begins with a helpful summary in the form of Steve's boss congratulating him for stopping the terrorists twice. Nice bit of continuity! It turns out that maybe Siegel and Shuster actually knew what they were doing after all. 

Steve, however, accurately believes we haven't seen the last of the terrorists. Good, because we still don't know a lot about them.

Anyway, in the meantime, an autogyro (first time I hear that word) casually blows up the Plymouth bridge.

I mean, it's not a huge shock after what we've seen in the previous parts of the story.

Steve and his federal man pal, Ralph Ventor, go out to see what caused the explosion they heard, and look at this!

Just how fast do newspapers get printed in the DCU?

Then, Steve and his buddy somehow learn that, for some reason, the autogyro is still overflying the city, so they pick up a random plane and chase after it.

An aerial battle ensues almost immediately:

Also, what's up with this transition panel?

The autogyro is green and also, you know, not a plane. So why is Steve battling a yellow plane here? Anyway, Steve is closing down on the autogyro, and about to win, but then another plane (a yellow one) shows up and shoots the Federal Men down instead. I see, that explains the transition panel I guess, but what a way to mess up the flow of the story.

Luckily, our heroes have parachutes, so they fall safely and hide out. 

There are three things very wrong with this panel, let's see if you can spot them! 

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.

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Nothing? Ok, let me point them out then: 

1-The moon looks like it's covered in Dorito dust.

2- The yellow plane seems to be flying extremely close to the ground.

3- The searchlight is only a few centimeters close to Steve and Ralph! They totally should have been spotted!

The plane flies off (of course) and Steve and Ralph magically learn another clue off-screen (or off-page I guess?): There's a radio station somewhere doing... something. I guess it had communication with the autogyro or something. Whatever, they go to the place (an abandoned warehouse) and they find an alone dude who's managing the place. Steve holds him and Ralph ties him up... Let's hope they're sure he's the bad guy. Also, they shove him into a closet. Maybe he'll come out as Doctor Occult!

Then, someone calls the station, and before waiting for confirmation from the operator, they spill the "important instructions", which are heard by the Federal Men.

Well, that doesn't sound very nice...

Steve has an idea relating to this, but before he can tell Ralph about it, a woman comes in and aims a gun at them.

Before the final page of the story, there's this!

I'm not gonna try it, but something tells me that a piece of newsprint paper pasted on cardboard and pinned onto a coat wouldn't look very nice.

Anyway, the Doctor Occult wannabee kicks the closet door, distracting the woman and giving Steve an opportunity to jump in (as he does) and take the gun.

So, the girl then recognizes Steve and tells them that she's a reporter that received a "hot tip" about the place. Now that the matter's cleared, apparently, everyone starts recognizing each other because Ralph also recognizes the reporter. 

Also, a fearless female reporter created by Siegel and Shuster? I don't know why but that's ringing some bells... 

Lois Lane Jean Dennis then informs the Federal Men that she'll essentially be latching onto their adventures now, in search of some scoops.

Then, there's a cutoff to a "distant spot" where the bad guys are building... Whatever this is.

And that's it for now, but instead of a "to be continued" we get a message from Steve Carson.

I was going to say something about this message being somewhat simplistic and old-fashioned, but I mean, this is a kid's strip from 1936 so I don't know what I was expecting...

Now, the ratings:

Quality/Enjoyment: 2/5

Not a terrible story, but pretty bland. I mean, there's nothing here that we haven't seen in Federal Men already. Also, the events kind of just happened without much cohesion, and I noticed a lot of conveniences, even more so than usual.

It is nice that we were introduced to another Federal Man though. I don't know if more of them will join the roster over time or if Ralph will stay long, but if those things happen, then it would make more sense that the series is called Federal Men instead of Federal Man.

Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5

Alright, that's it for now, but we still have two more parts to go. For now, thanks for reading and have a nice rest of your day!