Gertrude Warner - The Comic Book Mystery

“What is this?” Jessie pointed to a large white box with a glass cover.

“That’s a light table.” Sid turned a switch and the frosted glass top glowed. “It’s used for tracing.” He put a drawing on the glass and laid a sheet of blank paper on top. “See how the drawing shows through? Now you can trace it.”

Henry noticed all the crayon pictures and clay models of Captain Fantastic on the file cabinets.

“Who did these?” he asked.

“Fans,” said Sid. “Kids send me drawings and comics they have made. Sometimes they build models of Captain Fantastic. Some are quite good.”

Benny stood on tiptoe to get a better view of some penciled drawings taped to a drawing board.

“A new Captain Fantastic story!” he said, awestruck.

“Yes, that’s the very latest issue,” said Sid, smiling. “I’m putting the finishing touches on the black and white drawings so I can deliver it to my publisher tomorrow. There, other people will ink the drawings, add color, and letter in the words I’ve written.”

“We just got a sneak peek,” said Henry. “Before anyone else!”

Sid grinned. “You are definitely Captain Fantastic fans. Since you’ve come all the way from Greenfield, you must be hungry.”

“I know you’ll enjoy Sid’s excellent cooking,” said Nancy. “Unfortunately, I have an appointment in town, so I can’t stay to eat with you. But it’s always a pleasure to meet Sid’s fans.” She said good-bye to each of them, kissed her husband on the cheek, and hurried out the door.

The table was already set with cheery red, white, and blue place mats, blue stoneware dishes, and a vase of zinnias. Red glasses threw ruby rays of sunlight.

The children sat down as Sid came in with a tray holding a large bowl of chicken salad, warm blueberry muffins, and a platter of carrot sticks with yogurt dip.

Benny giggled as Batman stood on his hind legs and reached a black furry paw toward his plate.

“You have dreadful manners,” the artist scolded the big cat. He put the cats outdoors, then returned to the table.

“Now tell me about your boxcar,” Sid said.

Henry related the story of how they had found the abandoned boxcar in the woods and lived in it until their grandfather found them.

“Grandfather had our boxcar moved to his house,” Henry concluded. “We use it as a clubhouse now.”

“We keep our Captain Fantastic collection there,” Violet added. “We have every single issue now. Even number nine. It took us a long time to find that one.”

“We brought it with us,” Jessie said. “If it’s not too much trouble, we’d really like you to autograph it.”

While the children were talking, Sid had been doodling his superhero character on paper napkins.

“A souvenir,” he said, passing one to each of them. “And it will be a pleasure to sign your comic.”

“I’ll go get it.” Benny ran into the living room where Jessie had left her backpack and raced back to the table with the comic in its plastic bag.

Sid carefully removed the comic from the bag. Then he leafed through the issue.

He put the comic on the table and looked at them with a frown.

“I can’t sign this,” he said flatly.

“But why?” asked Benny, shocked. Sid had been so nice, giving them lunch and everything. Why would he refuse to sign their comic book?

“Because,” stated Sid Hoyt, “your comic is a fake. I didn’t draw it.”

Jessie gasped. “A fake! Are you sure?”

“Positive. Wait here a moment.” Sid went over to his studio and opened a cabinet. He took out a comic and came back to the dining table.

“This is one of the original printed copies of issue number nine,” he said. “In every issue I create, I hide a secret signature in addition to the one on the splash page. It’s just a fun thing I do. The signature is hidden on page two in this comic. Can you find it?”

The kids gathered around, trying to spot the signature.

Violet shook her head. “I don’t see it.”

“I’ll give you a hint.” Sid pointed to the third panel. “It’s hidden in the fold of Captain Fantastic’s cape in that panel. Now can you find it?”

Henry spied it immediately. “There! Those lines in the folds of the cape by his knee are really your name. But it’s really hard to see.”

“Many fans know about my hidden signature,” Sid said. “But they haven’t been able to figure out where it is. I always hide it in Captain Fantastic’s cape. And I put it in a different place in each issue.”

Jessie was comparing Sid’s copy of number nine with theirs. “Ours doesn’t have the secret signature! Just lines.”

“I’m afraid the comic you bought is counterfeit,” Sid told them sadly.

“Who made the fake comic?” asked Violet. “And why?”

“I don’t know who is making the fakes,” Sid replied. “But let me explain what happened with the original number nine. After I make my final pencil drawings, I write down what the colors are supposed to be. Kind of like a paint-by-numbers chart. Then I take the comic to the publisher. A person there, called a colorist, colors in the original drawings, using my notes.”

“Did that person make the mistake on number nine?” Benny guessed.

“Yes, but only because I wrote the wrong color on the chart,” Sid replied. “Instead of putting the number for green on Captain Fantastic’s suit in the second story, I accidentally wrote the number for orange. The colorist didn’t catch the slip, so number nine was printed with Captain Fantastic wearing an orange cape.”

“I still don’t see why that makes the comic so hard to find,” Jessie said.

“Collectors think the mistake makes the comic a curiosity,” said Sid. “They either hang on to their copies or sell them at high prices. The comic is becoming scarce. I believe someone thought they could make a lot of money if they printed a fake version of number nine.”

“We paid twenty dollars for ours,” said Henry.

“I’m sorry,” said Sid. “Where did you buy it?”

The kids told him about Al Conrad’s booth at the antiques show. They also told him about the note that was stolen at the library.

“What did it say?” asked Sid, interested.

Violet replied, “It said, ‘I’ll try to get orig. of number nine. Sid.’ Your name had quotation marks around it.”

There was something else about the note that was strange, but she couldn’t remember. They hadn’t had the note long before it was stolen.

“Maybe ‘orig.’ is short for ‘original,’ ” said Jessie. “And the quotation marks must mean it was someone pretending to be you.”

“Like when you see a sign at a restaurant that says ‘homemade cooking,’? Violet explained. “The quotation marks mean the food is like homemade cooking, but really it’s cooked at a restaurant.”

“The person who wrote the note must be the counterfeit artist,” Henry concluded.

“Counterfeiting is wrong,” Sid said sternly. “If other fans bought the phony number nine, they were cheated, just like you. I don’t know who made the fake comic, but I want to catch him.”

The Aldens looked at one another.

“This is your lucky day!” Benny said.

“How so?” Sid asked.

“We’re detectives!” replied Benny. “We’ll find the fake comic book artist for you!”

Sid smiled. “This is my lucky day! You’re hired.”

The children shook his hand to seal the deal.