The Black Phantom

Boats along the Mississippi River are plagued by robberies by a masked criminal calling himself the Black Phantom and his gang, the Order of the Phantom. When the story hits the national newspapers, the Sub-Mariner reads about the crooks daring riverside robberies and decides to investigate the crimes himself. Arriving in Mississippi, the Namor patrols along the river that night and catches the Black Phantom and his men in action. When fighting them off, Namor is hit from behind with a boat motor, but manages to briefly pull off the Black Phantom's mask and remember his face before the crook can flee the scene.

The following day Namor runs into Betty Dean, who has come to Mississippi to write a report on the Black Phantom for her paper. She invites Namor to accompany her to Captain Hasley who is putting on a riverboat party. Namor initially refuses until he sees a photo of Hasley, who looks exactly like the man who was posing as the Black Phantom. That night, Namor sends Betty ahead to the party while he makes his own entrance latter. Later that evening, the Black Phantom and his gang boards the ship to rob the guests. Namor gets in the way and chases the Black Phantom and his mob through the ship. Namor is shocked when the Black Phantom takes Captain Hasley hostage at gunpoint. The Phantom knocks Namor out and takes the Sub-Mariner and Captain Hasley hostage. When the ships crew tires to stop them from jumping ship, they find that the Phantom and his men have disappeared.

As it turns out, the Black Phantom's boat is disguised by a complex series of mirrors that renders it invisible to the naked eye. Aboard the ship the Black Phantom reveals himself as the Captain's estranged twin brother Jack who ran away from home years ago. Jack explains that he is taking them both to his hideout where they will meet their end. Meanwhile, back aboard Captain Hasley's ship Betty Dean tries to tell the police that Captain Hasley is really the Black Phantom but they do not believe him. Meanwhile, Namor and Hasley are taken to Bartlett's Landing, an old hang out that the Hasley children played in as children. There he chains his two victims up in a blast proof room with a time bomb that is set to go off in 15 minutes while he flees to the Gulf of Mexico where he can live off the spoils of his crimes.

As the time ticks down, Namor cannot break free of his bonds due to the fact that he has been away from water too long. Suddenly, Betty Dean, having researched Hasley's family history has tracked them to the Black Phantom's hideout. Tossing the bomb safely away, Betty then douses Namor with water, restoring his strength and allowing him to break free of his bonds. Rendezvousing with a police boat, Namor leads them on the trail of the Phantom's boat and smashes its mirrors with an anchor making it visible to the police. When the Black Phantom attempts to toss a stick of TNT at the police and Namor, Namor picks up the Phantom's boat and tosses it away where it explodes killing the Phantom. Returning to shore, he has Betty promise to keep the identity of the Black Phantom a secret to spare Captain Hasley's mother any additional grief.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean

The Curse of the Bayou Witch and Wizard

William Nasland and Fred Davis Jr. are invited to attend the wedding of their fellow soldier Dale Carreaux as he returns to Louisianan to attend the wedding of his brother Philip and his sweetheart Margurite, he warns them of an old family curse: Years ago, his great grandfather jilted a girl who was a practitioner of the black arts. When his great grandfather married woman, the jilted girl killed herself in front of the entire wedding, her brother then killer his great grandfather in the Bayou and then killed himself. Since then, it appeared that he family has been cursed in that the eldest son to get married from each generation suffers a tragic demise. As Philip is the eldest of his generation, Dale fears that he will share the fate of his ancestors. William dismisses the curse as nonsense that they will run out any witch or wizard that might interrupt the wedding.

The following day as William, Fred, and Dale arrive at the Carreaux residence they are all welcomed by Philip and family friend Frank Lavalle. Philip tells them that he has seen a canoe out in the Bayou carrying a horrible looking couple. After dinner, William and Fred are asked to amuse themselves while Dale has a talk with Philip. The pair decide to go take a look at the Bayou themselves. There they spot the Witch and the Wizard canoeing down river and proclaim that the eldest Carreaux will die on his wedding night. Realizing that there must be some truth to the old family curse, William and Fred change into Captain America and Bucky to investigate. Spotting the Wizard, Cap reaches out from a tree to try and grab the old man, but he seemingly disappears in his grasp.

With no trace of the Witch or the Wizard, Cap and Bucky change back to their civilian guises and return to the Carreaux home. There they find that the entire party heard the claims and fear the worst, but are determined to continue with the wedding the following day anyway. On wedding day, as William and Fred are in the audience, the wedding is suddenly halted when Philip's bride-to-be Margurite screams. William and Fred follow the scream out into the Bayou and change into Captain America and Bucky and help Dale search for his bride. In the swamp they find Philip dead with a dagger in his back.

Going out into the Bayou in a boat, they are confronted by the Wizard who attacks Cap with a knife. As they struggle, Bucky is knocked overboard and is threatened by an alligator. Cap wrests the knife out of the Wizard's hand and uses it to kill the gator to save Bucky's life. While the Wizard escapes, the Witch attacks them. Easily besting the Witch, Cap and Bucky take her prisoner as Dale finds Margurite and frees her. They find that the Witch is wearing a mask. When Cap matches the footprints of the Wizard to the shoes that Frank Lavalle is wearing, Cap knocks him out and forces as confession. Apparently Frank loved Margurite and hated that she was marrying Philip so he used the old family curse to try to cover for his murder of Philip. With Frank in police custody, William and Fred resume their civilian guises and console Dale, who mourns his brothers loss but is glad Captain America and Bucky were able to catch his brothers killer.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky

Continuity Notes

• Per What If? #4, the appearances of Captain America and Bucky here are attributed to William Nasland and Fred Davis.

The Voodoo Doll Murders

As the Human Torch and Toro are flying over a suburban area Toro bemoans the lack of excitement they have experienced recently. Just then, they witness a man keel over on his steps. Rushing to the man's aid, the Torch determines that the man is dead. Searching his pockets the Torch finds a voodoo doll with a needle sticking out of its neck in his pocket. They are met by Barnes, the houseman for the dead man, Tom Wentworth. He explains that Mr. Wentworth got the doll in the mail that day and that the package had no return address. When trying to puzzle things out, they make the connection that voodoo might have been the cause of Wentworth's death. Barnes then explains to the two heroes that a local polo player named Rodney Young also received such a statue recently. Believing that Young's life might be at risk, the Torch and Toro race off to the polo club to warn him.

There, Rodney and his wife Arlene are meeting with Rodney's manager Len Jones. Len warns Rodney to take it easy, a warning that the Torch and Toro also make upon their arrival. Rodney dismisses the idea that voodoo might be at play and goes to play his next match. The Torch and Toro then witness as Arlene snubs Rodney's brother Ted and his wife, who are not as well off as Rodney who inherited the entire family fortune. As the polo match begins, Rodney suddenly keels over dead just like Mr. Wentworth. When a doctor examines Rodney's body he pronounces the cause of death as heart failure. Noticing a strange discolouration on Rodney's hands, the Torch examines his polo mallet and discovers that it has been coated with Tinzine acid. The Torch suspects that the voodoo dolls are a cover up and orders an autopsy on Rodney before rushing off speak with the chief of homicide at the police station. Pointing out that the voodoo dolls are made out of ivory, the Torch has all dealers in the area looked up to learn who they have been selling to.

They learn that the ivory was sold to a resident old woman and rush to her home. There they catch her just as she is about to disfigure two dolls carved to look like the Human Torch and Toro. Using their flame powers they try to force the old woman to confess who she is working for. Before she can tell she is shot dead from a gunman outside. Finding footprints, they follow them back to the home of mobster Big Barry. Rounding up the mob, they confirm that they were responsible for the polo killings in order to fix bets on rival teams. However before they can get the mobsters to admit to killing the old woman their flames are doused by anti-flame solution and are knocked out. When they revive, the Torch and Toro find themselves chained to a post with spiked wall that will enclose on them. Spotting a canister of Benzine, the Torch manages to grab it and use it to jump start his and Toro's flame powers and they break free.

Having overheard that the mob was going to the old Young cabin, they ask locals and learn that's where Rodney Sr. died in a supposedly accidental fall. Rushing there, they chase Big Barry and his mob who flee from the Torch and Toro in fear that they are frightened off a cliff and fall to their deaths. Approaching the Young cabin, the Torch and Toro are doused with another flame retardant and are tossed into a well. As they scale their way back up, they pull loose a scrap of paper that contains a partial confession of the murder of Rodney Sr. Deciding to play on a hunch, the Torch has Barnes, Rodney's widow, Ted Young and his wife. When the Torch announces that he knows who the murder is.

Suddenly, Barnes grabs Ted's wife and confesses that he killed Rodney Jr. because he was accused of stealing a diamond pin. The murder was witnessed by Mr. Wentworth and Rodney Jr. but Rodney Jr.'s silence was bought due to the fact that Barnes threatened to reveal that a new will was drawn up giving the entire family fortune to Ted. Disarming Barnes, the Torch then learns that he also forced them to sign confessions that would force Rodney to split his inheritance between Wentworth and Barnes. However, upon learning that the real will and confessions where hidden in the house, he vowed to get the documents so he could claim the entire inheritance but had to kill Rodney Jr. and Wentworth to do it. In order to throw off the trail, Barnes implicated the old voodoo woman.

With the murderers confession, Barnes is turned over to the authorities and the Young fortune is passed on to Ted and his wife, while Arlene wonders what will happen to her social standing now that she is no longer wealthy.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Bank Jobs

Jeff and Jock Blintz, identical twins who are bank robbers come up with the ultimate plan to pull their bank jobs and fool the Whizzer and begin conspiring with Jeff going to San Francisco while Jock goes to Chicago.

A few nights later, Jock and his gang rob the Third National Bank. As they are finishing their robbery, Jock calls the Whizzer and challenges him to stop him telling the hero that he will get from Chicago to San Francisco to pull another robbery. The Whizzer races to the bank too late to stop Jock from escape. He then gets a phone call from Jack, posing as Jock, telling the hero that he had just succeeded in robbing a house boat in San Francisco. Racing to the west coast, the Whizzer spots "Jock" trying to escape and when he attempts to apprehend him is knocked out. When the Whizzer comes around he spots a helicopter fleeing the scene.

Hearing a phone ringing in the house boat, the Whizzer answers it and Jock is calling from the Chicago Trust Bank, he tells the hero that there is a bomb aboard the boat. The Whizzer manages to escape before the bomb explodes, but Jeff and Jock are left to believe that the hero is dead. The Whizzer then races to Chicago while Jeff tries in vein to follow after the hero from his chopper. Arriving at the Chicago Trust Bank, the Whizzer is forced into the safe by a blow torch and sealed inside to suffocate. The Whizzer manages to free himself by using his speed powers to rotate the time lock faster so it unlocks early allowing him to escape.

As he does so, he spots Jock climbing into Jeff's arriving chopper and catches both brothers and his gang and turns them over to the police.

Recurring Characters

Whizzer