Our Gang Comics Issue 12

Cover page: Janet and some other kids look on as Froggie and the gang attempt a stunt.

Overview

Our Gang Comics # 12 was the twelfth issue in Walt Kelly's Our Gang Comic Book series. The issue was first released by Dell Comics around July to August of 1944. The Our Gang material for the book is covered for twelve pages. The issue is a direct continuation of the previous issue.

Main Characters

• Buckwheat Thomas
• Froggy Laughlin
• Happy Laughlin
• Janet Burston
• Mickey Gubitosi

Supporting Characters

• Deadlight Dan
• Tanaka

The Story

Plot: Picking up where the previous issue left off, Deadlight Dan and the kids are looking over the Spanish for that the Japanese spies used as a hideout. Buckwheat finds some old cannons on the fort, which he suggests using to shoot the enemy submarine once it arrives. Froggie and Mickey quickly shoot the idea down, figuring that such old cannons could not possibly work. While Dan and the other kids leave to build a treehouse, Buckwheat and Happy stay behind to play with the cannons. Inside the fort, Tanaka (a Japanese spy that survived Dan's gunshots with a wounded arm) listens to what the boys are saying, feeling it's not best to take action around cannons. As Buckwheat and Happy wonder whether or not they should go back through the fort, as it may be filled with ghosts of the Japanese spies, Tanaka decides to put a scare into the two. Realizing that the boys will call for Dan, he tries to get the boys to stop running, but falls down a flight of steps, knocking himself out cold. Buckwheat and Happy head back towards the cannons, and down a cliff, rushing to Dan and the rest of the gang.

Meanwhile, Dan and the kids have finished building their treehouse. Figuring that Buckwheat and Happy are still playing with the cannons, Mickey and Froggie decide to put a scare into them. Mickey dresses up as "a ghost of one of those Japs", and heads back up to the fort. Tanaka wakes up and decides to radio for help. He winds up running into Mickey; thinking that Mickey is the ghost of Hashoo (the spy that Dan killed), he rushes off in fear. Dan and the gang hurriedly return to the fort to save Mickey. Tanaka tries to attack Dan, but Dan successfully knocks him out unconscious. Just then, the enemy submarine arrives, and Buckwheat begins shooting at them with a cannon. As it turns out, Buckwheat loaded the cannon, and Dan's pipe managed to set the fuse. Dan throws the cannon into the ocean, hitting and blowing up the enemy submarine. Tanaka wakes up and tries one more attack on Dan, but Mickey shows up just in time to push Tanaka over the cliff. Dan and the boys head back into the fort and find Janet at the radio. As it turns out, she managed to contact the coast guard, who is heading out to the island to rescue them.

Quotes

• "Say, Cap'n Dan, these heah cannons look like they might still work - mebbe we-all could use 'em!" - Buckwheat
• "Reckon we could load 'em with powder and ball and sink the Jap fleet when it comes in over the reef, Buckwheat?" - Dan
• "Haw, haw! Those guns are three hundred years old!" - Froggie
• "Yeah, dey laff at Robert E. Lee when he invent de steamboat, too!" - Buckwheat
• "That wasn't Gen'l Lee, it was Benjamin Franklin." - Froggie
• "Blow m'hawser away! If you kids don't get back to school soon, you'll have me believin' that Nathaniel Hawthorne discovered the Pacific Ocean!" - Dan
• "Naw, that was Columbus!" - Mickey
  

• "Maybe we could make it down th' cliff - ratherin' go back thru the underground tunnels? - Happy
• "Oh man! Dat's wuss, ah b'lieve! We isn't angels yet, Happy. Us couldn't git down wifout wings!" - Buckwheat
• (as they try to enter) "Age before beauty, Buckwheat... you go first." - Happy
• "After you, mah deah Alfonse - you s'pose either of dem dead Japs is back there hauntin'?" - Buckwheat
• "I think you're right... I can hear th' Jap wireless set clickin' out a code!" - Happy
• "Man, dat's ma teefs a chatterin'!" - Buckwheat
• "I know it's imagination, but I feel as if something's lurkin' near by." - Happy
• "Couldn't you say 'somebody'? Somethin' sounds so indefinite! Ah don't mean to recall the painful subjeck o' school, Happy - but how much do one and one and one make - couldn't be jes' two, could it?" - Buckwheat
• "Don't blame me, Buckwheat - I wanted to go down the cliff - but three shadows means three people." - Happy
• "PREPARE TO DIE, AMERICAN DOGS! THIS, THE GHOST OF TANAKA CURSES YOU!" - Tanaka
• "OH, LAWSY ME!" - Buckwheat
• "ME TOO - YOWP!" - Happy
  

Sequence

• Previous Issue: Our Gang Comics # 11
• Next Issue: Our Gang Comics # 13