World’s Finest Comics – 244

Synopsis

Somewhere in Washington DC a gloved hand places a bomb in a nondescript briefcase. After flicking on the detonator, the unseen man chuckles softly to himself and walks off with the briefcase in his hand…

Meanwhile at the Pentagon, Yeoman Diana Prince is working late at the office. One of her colleagues, Suzy, is also still at work and Diana can see that she is looking unhappy. She asks whether the late hours are getting her down or whether she has personal problems. With tears in her eyes, Suzy tells Diana that her boyfriend has left her for someone else. Diana tries to reassure her that although it is hard now, she will get over him in time. But Suzy does not believe her.

Just then they hear General Blankenship asking Colonel Steve Trevor whether he is all set for his next mission. Diana also wishes him well and he tells her that this mission is so secret even he should not know about it! With briefcase in hand, Steve leaves and following not far behind him, General Blankenship tells the two girls that they may as well finish for the night too.

Suzy says goodnight and Diana tells her to sleep well and try to forget about her ex-boyfriend. Once she is all alone in the office however, Diana suddenly notices that the General has not locked his door, even though there are a great many vital documents in his desk. Thinking this is very strange behaviour, she decides to investigate further and transforms into Wonder Woman.

Thirty minutes later at the suburban home of General Blankenship, we find the General tied to a chair while a look alike stands beside him. Removing what turns out to be a mask, a Nazi master of disguise named Ludwig Von Schmeer gloats that he has given Colonel Trevor a case full of dynamite.

When Steve meets with the Free French Army later that night to supply money to use against the Fatherland, they will all die! Von Schmeer then removes his revolver and is about to execute the General when he hears a sudden commotion outside.

His thugs who are on guard outside the house have found themselves face to face with the Amazing Amazon. Their orders are to kill any intruders and as they draw their weapons, one of them remarks that there is no point wasting a bullet on a mere female. He moves forward to attack her and finds himself picked up in her arms and thrown across the lawn like a toy. The other two decide that their guns might not be a bad option after all and open fire. Wonder Woman deftly deflects the hail of bullets with her bracelets before moving in to silence the Nazi thugs with one blow.

Within seconds she has crashed through the front door to find Von Schmeer leaning over Blankenship with a gun. He shoots at her before trying to make a getaway, but she unhooks her golden lasso and ensnares him in its coils of truth. She asks him if he has put Steve in any danger and unable to resist her commands, tells her about the bomb in the briefcase. She then asks him where the meeting is due to take place but he replies that he was not able to trick Steve into telling him. She realises Steve must have instinctively mistrusted the fake General Blankenship.

She turns to the real General to ask him the whereabouts of the meeting but discovers Blankenship unconscious with a fractured skull, having been hit by a stray bullet. Knowing he needs to get to a hospital, she uses the rope that had bound Blankenship to tie up Von Schmeer, telling him that she will be back to hand him over to the authorities personally. He sneers that while she may have captured him, she will not be able to save Trevor because “even a Wonder Woman cannot search a city the size of Washington!”

Elsewhere, Steve Trevor arrives early at his destination, still clutching the briefcase. He decides a little wait will not kill him…

Across the city, Wonder Woman has dropped the injured Blankenship off at the nearest hospital and races off to find Steve. She decides to visit the home of Suzy who acts as Steve’s secretary and may know his whereabouts. But she finds Suzy’s apartment empty and thinks it is strange that she would be out so late on a work night.

A few blocks away though, Suzy is indeed out in the night air taking a reflective stroll along the banks of the Potomac River, trying to get thoughts of her boyfriend off her mind. As she turns a corner though she is confronted by two muggers who produce knives and threaten to butcher her unless she hands over her money and watch. Terrified, she pleads with them to let her go and they decide to take her valuables from her dead body instead!

However, as one of the muggers raises his knife to strike he find his arm held in the vice like grip of Wonder Woman. He turns to stare at the Amazon Princess in awe, asking if she is the real Wonder Woman. She calmly replies that she is and that she wants them to hand over their knives. But the mugger has other ideas and advancing on her, tells the Amazon that he is going to carve on her!

With a swift kick from one of her long, booted legs, she knocks the weapon out of his hand before laying him low with a powerful punch. As the second mugger tries to sneak up behind her she elbows him in the stomach and throws him over the top of her head, sending him thudding onto the pavement.

Wonder Woman checks to see if Suzy is all right, thankful that she had remembered how the secretary liked to take a stroll along the river bank. But to her frustration, Suzy has now fainted and she is unable to asks her about Steve’s secret meeting!

Back at Blankenship’s home, one of Von Schmeer’s men, named Emil, arrives and frees the nazi. Von Schmeer tells Emil that although the Woman of Wonder has meddled in their plans, they might still be accomplished if they can just find the location of the secret meeting. Emil is pleased to tell his master that they have managed to capture one of the French and under torture, he has disclosed the location to be the Lincoln Memorial.

Delighted at the news, Von Schmeer tells Emil that because Wonder Woman had been in such a hurry she had not searched the room. Opening a nearby chest of drawers he reveals a second bomb. As he and Emil set off for the location of the meeting, Von Schmeer informs his young aide that if one bomb fails the other will most certainly not!

A little later at the Lincoln Memorial a couple of men approach Colonel Trevor and after exchanging passwords, reveal themselves to be members of the Free French Army. Steve hands over the briefcase and suggests that the Frenchman checks the money to be on the safe side. But before he can undo it, Wonder Woman races towards them yelling at them not to open the case because it has been booby trapped. Thankfully, Suzy had recovered just in time to tell the Amazon Princess where Steve’s meeting was due to take place.

She grabs the case from the shocked Frenchman, intent on throwing it up into the sky, when suddenly Von Schmeer and Emil arrive on the scene. Von Schmeer throws the other bomb at Wonder Woman but she deftly catches it in mid air before throwing both devices high into the night sky. The streets are lit up momentarily as they detonate up out of harm’s way.

Seeing that their plans are in tatters, the two nazis begin to make a run for it but Wonder Woman is not far behind and grabbing them by their feet, she hurls them into the statue of Lincoln, knocking them out stonecold.

She is congratulated by Steve and the Frenchmen who suggest she receives a medal. But she replies that she does not want one – her fight is not for glory…but for a vision of everlasting peace on Earth!