Forget Magazine. Remember, Remember, Remember.

Framed by the Peace Tower, our hero Johnny Canuck rushes to face his first challenge, a meeting with Prime Minister Mackenzie King.

Meanwhile, inside the PM's office...

King is seen in silhouette against the windows of his Centre Block office. He holds a phone to his ear, hunched over in fatigue and grief. Another grim report about the War. King hangs up the phone and holds his head in his hands. As he glances to his desk calendar, we see that he has underlined the meeting with Johnny Canuck.

"Finally, some good news", he thinks.

Enter Johnny Canuck, The Fightin' Canadian! "You wanted to see me, Mr. Prime Minister?" asks our hero.

King beams and ushers Johnny into his office.

"Johnny! Johnny my Boy, come in! Have a seat. Let's get right to business, shall we?"

King's face quickly becomes somber.

"Johnny, your country needs you. We face horrors far beyond those we saw in the last war. The Germans have pulled out all the stops!"

"They've sought out help from beyond the stars, from far into the future, from other dimensions. They even play at damnation, coming at us on all fronts, Johnny. We need all the help we can muster. Will you help us?"

Johnny now stands before a billowing red ensign, hands on hips and chest puffed out as he delivers his credo:

"From sea to shining sea, I will stand on guard for Thee!"

"I had a feeling you would say that!" beams King. "Johnny, allow me to introduce Mr. Lisgar, minister responsible for the Department of Extra-Normal Affairs."

A thin man appears in the doorway. His wire rim glasses frame a humourless face, and dark circles round narrow features, Lisgar is clearly a man with a terrible responsibility. He nods toward the prime minister.

"He will be your government liaison for the duration, I'm sad to say." Johnny's face takes on an air of determination. "Never fear Mr. Prime Minister! I solemnly swear that I will give my last breath in defense of the Dominion."

"Let's pray it doesn't come to that my son. Now go! No time to waste.Lisgar has an assignment for you already," says the PM.

"Yes Sir!" Johnny salutes and then heads off with Lisgar.

King watches Mr. Lisgar and Johnny Canuck leave his office before wearily turning his attention to the floor to ceiling map of Europe marked with troop movements and grim numbers. Silently, King wonders about the future.

"Thank goodness this wonderful hero has turned up. But is he too late?"

The action returns to Lisgar and Johnny, now walking down the corridors of power within the House of Commons.

"Well, Mr. Canuck, I am going to be frank with you. I don't cotton with all this hocus-pocus stuff you've sold the prime minister on. You better hope you have what it takes. The Commonwealth
needs you!"

"I won't let you down Sir." offers Johnny.

"Yes, yes. Bluster all you like. Now then, no time for chitchat. Your first assignment is a humdinger! Those cowards in Berlin have been plotting to assassinate King George V in Toronto!"

"Holy Halifax! Those dastardly fiends!" interjects Johnny.

The two men exit the doors of the House of Commons and rush to a waiting car.

"No time to waste! Driver, to the aerodrome!"

The car races off, but we find that the enemy is one step ahead of our hero! In the shadows, a figure looms over the unconscious body of a pilot who has been tied up and stripped of his uniform.

"Ve have a zpecial zurprise vaiting for you, Johnny Canuck!
MUHAHAHAHA!"

In the interior of the transport plane heading for Toronto, Johnny is the lone occupant, surrounded by cargo. Back on the ground, the roped up pilot comes to, just in time to watch the plane zip overhead.

"My plane! Who stole my plane?"

Who indeed? A Nazi spy of course!

"Wow, the King! That's a big step up from protecting my trap line" thinks Johnny. He is roused from his daydreams by strange radio chatter coming from the cockpit. He goes to the door of the cockpit and sees the pilot reading a manual penned in foreign language.

"Hey Mac, where did you go to school?" asks Johnny.

"Zeee, I mean the University of... Moose Jaw."

"There is no university in Moose Jaw!" says Johnny.

Fists fly. The pilot gets the upper hand, knocking
Johnny to the floor. He then grabs a parachute and dives
from the plane.

"Say GutenTag to zee King, swinehund!" says the Pilot as he jumps.

Johnny looks through the cockpit glass just in time to see that the plane is rushing toward the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto! The King and his guests, including a young Princess Elizabeth, are having tea on the roof patio!

HOW WILL OUR HERO ESCAPE? IS THE KING DOOMED?
Find out next monthin Two-Fisted Tales!

*Originally published as Two-Fisted Tales #8, December 1939, "Rendezvous with Danger!" was the first of many Fightin' Canadian stories.

Ian Reed changes quickly.