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SECRET AGENT 2B-3

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Full Name: Secret Agent 2B-3
Nationality: American
Organization: American Intelligence
Occupation Agent

Creator: John Jordan
Time Span: 1944 - 1945

ABOUT THE SERIES

Secret Agent B2-3 is an agent with American Intelligence.

I am pretty sure that is a true statement but there is so little known about this operative that it is only a guess as for whom he works. In the three recorded adventures available, nowhere is his nationality or affiliation actually stated.

In the first mission we find of his, he is in Tibet trying to prevent a would-be world conqueror from conquering the world. Who sent him is never mentioned. At the time we think the assignment took place, everyone was pretty busy at World War II. The second job has him definitely in the States based on the architecture and the fact everyone is driving on the right side of the road. The third and final assignment, though, told a good year after the first two, has him in hat and trenchcoat talking to a British Admiral, Sir James Dunwoodie, who greets him by saying he "had to borrow you from the Air Intelligence". Whose military, British or American? It is not said.

So I put him down as American working for their intelligence community but I could be wrong.

His ability to blend in while in disguise is darn good. He takes the role of a High Lama in the mountains of Tibet and either he pays the other lamas really well to go along with his fakery or he speaks Tibetan well enough to fool the natives. When he poses as inventor Jim Carson, everyone at the factory and in the neighborhood is convinced which is also an accomplishment, unless his name really is Carson and he does invent planes on the side.

He is depicted as a good looking white man in his late 20s or early 30s. He has a good relationship with the opposite sex but perhaps his relationships do not last. The beautiful Manya is his love interest in the first case. He is working closely with a Mary Lynn in the second (she is definitely American so likely B2-3 is as well). There are no women in sight in the third one.

COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND MANGA

Number of Stories:3
First Appearance:1944
Last Appearance:1945

I can find very little about the company which put out the Captain Flight Comics, the anthology magazine which gave the world the three adventures of Secret Agent 2B-3. I did read that it was owned by Ajax/Farrell, a company which had a couple of subsidiaries in the comic book industry, none of which made a particular mark.

Captain Flight Comics is named after the lead character throughout the short run of 11 issues, Captain Flight, an inventor and ace pilot and all-around ladies' man. His best invention is the Microbe plane which is wanted by several different countries and his keen flying abilities save him many times from unfriendlies in the air. Unfortunately, his love for a beautiful foreign agent causes him trouble.

While the good captain is the eponymous hero of the magazine, it is an anthology with other series appearing and disappearing. Ace Reynolds is a war correspondent who gets tangled in all sort of things. Professor X (no connection to the X-Man leader) solves crimes. Telo the Mental Wizard uses his uncanny ability to stymy baddies. Spence Stark is a police detective. There are a couple more but none that stand out.

This lack of specialness haunts all the characters in the magazines and is definitely the case with Secret Agent 2B-3.

Note: the titles are my creation.


1 'A Man Known As Ghoro' 'A Man Known As Ghoro'
Published by Four-Star Publications
Contributors: John Jordan (writer and artist)
Copyright: 07/1944

From Captain Flight Comics #3 - It is the task of 2B-3 to go undercover as a Lama in Tibet to apprehend a man who has been kidnapping government officials. He asks the help of a female agent named Manya who is promptly snatched herself. Ghoro is a would-be world conqueror.
Click here to read the story.

2 'I Am Jim Carson' 'I Am Jim Carson'
Published by Four-Star Publications
Contributors: Al Anders (writer and artist)
Copyright: 12/1944

From Captain Flight Comics #5 - Pretending to be the inventor of a new fighter plane, 2B-3 assumes the role of Jim Carson. When the attempt by an enemy agent to buy the plans for $1 million fails, the agent and his minions kidnap 2B-3's girl friend, Mary Lynn.
Click here to read the story.

3 'That Sounds Like Nazi Revenge' 'That Sounds Like Nazi Revenge'
Published by Four-Star Publications
Contributors: Al Anders (writer and artist)
Copyright: 12/1945

From Captain Flight Comics #10 - 2B-3 is asked by the British Navy to help find the saboteurs who are plotting to blow up the Suez Canal.
Click here to read the story.

MY COMMENTS

There is so little to this series it cannot possibly make a decent grade. The first story is long (8 pages) with a lot of action in it but the fact that he is pretending to be a High Lama and getting away with it is way beyond credible. The second story makes a lot more sense and is, despite being fairly short, a good yarn complete with a bad guy with a terrific bad guy mustache. The third story is back to the slightly improbable range with German agents pretending to be British naval officers and doing a good job at it but falling for a "Hands Up" cry in German.

So, obviously I did not like this series and do not recommend it at all except for the fact that as short as it is, it will only take a few short minutes to get through it. It will take that long as well to forget all about it.

GRADE

My Grade: B-

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