Serial Review...

This is the early days. Johnny doesn't talk in big words yet. They
are presented at the beginning as in the process of establishing the
Crime College. Rather a classic "Guy getting to New York to warn DOC"
opening.

This moves forward slam-bang pretty well. There's some chasing around
in NYC, and then the action moves to Arizona. The Red Skull is a
geologic feature there, and has no significance in the story.

The mystery hinges on geology, and Johnny turns out to be totally
worthless. He can't figure out anything. Down in a subteranean
cavern, symied by a mysterious lava flow, DOC starts asking Monk the
quiz questions, rather than Johnny.

Eventually everybody but Ham gets captured. DOC rescues them. He
cuts the ropes they're tied with using a pocket knife, and I'm
thinking, man why didn't DOC ever invent a really cool pocket knife?
You can just imagine what he oculd have turned a Swiss Army knife
into, given his bent.

This one turns into one of the early "the bad guys get killed due to
their own nefarious misdeeds backfiring" endings, leaving darned few
to be packed off to Crime College.