| Issue | #3 |
| Published | April 1940 |
| Frequency | monthly |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 68 |
| Editing | Martin Goodman |
| Notes | DARING MYSTERY COMICS published monthly by Timely Publications at 8 Lord Street, Buffalo, N. Y. Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Buffalo, N. Y. under act of March 3, 1879. Yearly subscription, $100. Single copies 10 cents. Vol. 1, No. 3. Entire contents copyright 1940 by Timely Publications, 330 West 42nd Street, New York City. Printed in the U. S. A. |
| Characters | The Purple Mask [Dennis Burton]; the Nazis (villains) |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Alex Schomburg |
| Inks | Alex Schomburg |
| Letters | typeset |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Found on the inside front cover. |
| Characters | Dale of the FBI (introduction); J. Edgar Hoover; George Dean; Helen Dean; Red Corker (villain; introduction; death) |
| Synopsis | Red Corker escapes from prison and re-unites with his old gang, having planned dozens of jobs while housed in jail. Ace investigator, Dale, is dispatched from Washington D.C. to Dream Island in San Francisco to try and rescue Helen Dean, daughter of oil magnate George Dean, who has been kidnapped by Corker. |
| Genre | crime |
| Script | Phil Sturm (signed) |
| Pencils | Joe Cal Cagno ? |
| Inks | Al Gabriele ? |
| Notes | Only appearance. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Characters | Breeze Barton (introduction, origin); Ann Barclay (introduction); Zanoba (a scientist, introduction); Mubahn and the demon people (vilains introduction for all) |
| Synopsis | While on a scouting expedition in 1945 in South Africa, Breeze discovers a Japanese Army marching toward British territory, but is shot down. Making his way to Miracle City, a young girl escorts him to a scientist named Zanoba, who is later captured by the Demon People, and Breeze heads out for the rescue. |
| Genre | science fiction; adventure |
| Pencils | Jack Binder |
| Inks | Jack Binder |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Characters | The Purple Mask [Dennis Burton]; Commissioner Herrick; Frederick Swabert (introduction); Renard (villain, introduction, death); his gang (villains, introduction); Mr. Bellos (villain, introduction) |
| Synopsis | The Purple Mask investigates an attempt to force Frederick Swabert to reveal the hiding place of his father's fortune or risk being killed for refusing to do so. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Will Harr (signed) |
| Pencils | Maurice Gutwirth (signed) |
| Inks | Maurice Gutwirth (signed) |
| Notes | Dennis Burton appeared as the Laughing Mask in the previous issue, but is the Purple Mask in this issue and the next. Will Harr's signature is in the splash panel, but Maurice Gutwirth's is in the 3rd-to-last panel of the story. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Characters | The Phantom Reporter [Dick Jones] (introduction); A park commissioner and various corrupt officials (villains, introduction for all); Max and other gangsters (villains, introduction, death for all) |
| Synopsis | Cub reporter Jones is assigned a case in which seven families on the east side of town have been wantonly beaten, resulting in three deaths. He soon discovers, as the Phantom Reporter, that the Park Commissioner, Police Chief and the publisher of several newspapers were behind it all......each having vested interest in the property on the east side, and hoping that the crime wave would get people to vacate their property so they could pick it up cheaply! |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Robert O. Erisman [as ROE] (signed) |
| Pencils | Sam Cooper (signed) |
| Inks | Sam Cooper (signed) |
| Notes | Only appearance. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1; in Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special (Marvel, 2009 series) #1 |
| Characters | Bick Deems; Hardwinter Smith; Widow Ames; Sam Hala (death) |
| Synopsis | Bick and Sam, once the best of friends, get into a shooting match over a widow woman. |
| Genre | western |
| Script | James P. Olsen (signed) |
| Pencils | ? (illustration) |
| Inks | ? (illustration) |
| Colors | ? (illustration) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Characters | Trojak; Edith Alton; Balu (the tiger); Sator (a bird); the Nazis (villains) |
| Synopsis | The native villagers tell Trojak of a strange beast that sneaks into their village every morning and takes one their tribal members away. After dealing with that menace, he then has to rescue Edith from the Nazis. |
| Genre | jungle |
| Script | Joe Simon ? |
| Pencils | Joe Simon (signed) |
| Inks | Joe Simon (signed) |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Characters | Marvex the Super-Robot (introduction, origin); Clara Crandall (introduction); Bolo and other Fifth Dimensional people (villains, introduction, death); Von Crabb (villain, introduction, death) |
| Synopsis | Weird creatures of the 5th Dimension create a super robot in order to send him to Earth to capture human beings to become slaves in that dimension. But Marvex retaliates against his masters, and, by means of an explosion, is blown out of the 5th Dimension to Earth. |
| Genre | adventure |
| Pencils | ? (see note) |
| Inks | Hal Sharp |
| Notes | Art credit revised from Allen Simon? to Hal Sharp by Craig Delich 2009-8-6. Pencil credit revised by Craig Delich 2010-3-20 from Sharp to ?. Sharp is definite inker, but he has a penciler unknown to me at this time. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1; in All Select Comics 70th Anniversary Special (Marvel, 2009 series) #1 |
| Characters | Captain Strong [Bob Strong] (introduction); Major Renald; Ali Hassan and his band of pirates (villains, introduction) |
| Synopsis | Bob Strong, a member of the French Foreign Legion, is ordered to stop the plundering of caravans by the evil Ali Hassan. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Jack Alderman ? |
| Inks | Jack Alderman ? |
| Notes | Only appearance. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Characters | Dr. Hokom |
| Synopsis | The traveling medicine man is selling his "Palsy Walsy" tonic with no success. |
| Genre | humor |
| Script | Joe Beck ? |
| Pencils | Otto Eppers ? |
| Inks | Otto Eppers ? |
| Notes | Credits listed come from the Marvel Masterworks volume. Sequence added by Craig Delich 2008-8-17. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery (Marvel, 2008 series) #1 |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Found on the inside back cover. |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Found on the back cover. |