The Case of the Baffling Neptune

Betty Dean is sitting at a waterfront cafe waiting for the Sub-Mariner to arrive when she is suddenly surrounded by two thugs who demand to know where the "Neptune" is. Betty doesn't understand, and when the two men try to get rough a third man comes to her aid and scares them off at gun point. When a third assailant appears with a knife, he is stopped by the arriving Sub-Mariner, but both men are knocked out and the thugs escape. When Namor comes around he and Betty are introduced to the man who came to her aid, who introduces himself as Pete Logan, a veteran in the war. He asks to join Namor and Betty on their investigation of this attack so he can get another crack at the guys who attack him, the two decide to allow Pete to come along.

When thinking over what the "Neptune" could be, Betty recalls she did a story recently about gangster Mickey Wilson who was gunned down on a boat called the Neptune. She tells them that when she went to report the story there were so many people the only thing she could take a picture of was the boat itself. The trio then go to the newspaper to take a look at the article in the morgue file, reading how when Wilson had burned hands when he was gunned down. Learning that it has gone missing, they examine the photo and get the boats serial number and track down it's previous owner William Lawson. They interview Lawson and learn that he had sold it to a man fitting Mickey Wilson's description, and warn him that men are out looking for it. After the interview, Namor tells Pete to take Betty to her sisters place where she will be safe and dives into the water to search for the boat.

Meanwhile, the thugs who are after Betty spot her and Pete and stop their car and captures her. Namor pulls up to a nearby island where shady characters are known to hang out. There he finds Ricky the Rogue and Lazy Lem who had stolen the boat and are hiding out on the island. When Namor confronts them about the stolen boat a third man comes out of the shadows and knocks Namor out. When he revives he finds that he gang escaped on the Neptune leaving their other boat with no identification. Namor returns to the mainland where he finds Pete who tells him that Betty has been kidnapped. When getting the story from Pete (who admits that he is developing feelings for Betty), Namor realizes that Lawson must be somehow involved and dives back into the water to sneak up on Lawson's home, leaving Pete to go his own.

At Lawson's home, the craft has been pulled ashore and Lawson orders his men to find the money that Mickey Wilson hidden on the boat. Namor attacks but is felled by a trap floor and is chained out. When he revives he is joined by Pete who is also captured by the gang. With the trio captured, Namor bluffs to Lawson that he knows where the money is and strikes a bargain to reveal where it is hidden in exchange for their freedom. Lawson accepts the offer and has his men bring Namor into the ship to search. Inside the ship, Namor searches around and when nobody is looking turns on a fire hose and douses himself with water, revitalizing his strength. He then easily subdues Lawson and his gang. Recalling that Wilson had burned hands at the time of his his death, Namor realizes that Wilson hid the money in the steam pipes of the ship. Smashing the pipes open he finds the money hidden inside.

With the gang rounded up, Namor and Betty leave Pete alone with the money while they call the newspaper and the police. Pete, actually Wilson's son, tries to make off with the money but he is caught by Namor and subdued and he confesses that he had lied to them. Later when everyone is turned over to the police, Betty is upset about learning the truth about Pete as she was starting to fall for him as well. Namor dismisses this as a woman not looking before the leap into love and dives into the ocean.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Betty Dean

The Silk Stocking Strangler

In a cabaret lounge in San Francisco a female singer begins to sing called "Let Me Be Your Sweetheart". This is a song that her boyfriend Frank absolutely loaths because it is not sophisticated enough for his tastes. When he confronts her about it in her dressing room, she refuses to stop singing it because it is helping her to become a noticed singer and enhancing her career. Driven into a frenzy, her boyfriend then takes a pair of her silk stalkings and strangles her to death.

The man completely snaps and goes out on a murder spree almost every night, strangling his female victims with the same stalkings, the press dubbing him the "Silk Stalking Strangler". In the months that follow, Captain America and Bucky are eventually called in to help track down the killer. On a foggy night, the duo are on the Golden Gate Bridge when they come across a couple being attacked by the killer. When they try to intervene, the killer pushes the man into the two heroes and succeeds in strangling the girl to death before vanishing into the fog. When they question the victims boyfriend, he says the killer attacked them as they were singing the song "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". Nearby the crime scene two criminals watch the progression and come up with a great cover for their next series of crimes -- making it look as though they are being carried out by the Silk Stocking Strangler.

As the night go on, the body count rises with no trace of the killer in sight. One night, Captain America and Bucky are alerted that the Silk Stalking Killer has been cornered in a warehouse after he strangled and robbed a man. The captain of police is about to pull in the police drag net to help capture the crook, when Captain America realizes that this person is an impostor as the Motus Operandi is not the same. Captain America convinces the captain to keep the dragnet searching the waterfront and they quickly round up the thugs in the warehouse, who admit that hey were only pretending to be the strangler.

Meanwhile, the dragnet has rounded up three suspects hanging out at the waterfront and taken them to police headquarters. Captain America has the chief put a pair of stalkings on his desk and interview each one. The first two suspects panic and deny being the killer, while the third man acts cool and calmly. Captain America notes that his eyes however are transfixed on the stalkings and that he was whistling "Let Me Be Your Sweetheart". Captain America orders the suspects to be released, and he and Bucky follow the calm and cool man back to his apartment.

There, they get the help of the man's female neighbour to lure the killer into their trap. They have her sing "Let Me Be Your Sweetheart" and upon hearing it the killer breaks into the girls apartment to attack her. Captain America and Bucky intervene and the killer tries to escape onto the roof tops. However, as Captain America and Bucky follow after him the Silk Stalking Killer stumbles off the roof and falls to his death.

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 Eye Has It

The Human Torch and Toro are on their way home from the movies when they are suddenly confronted by some gun toting men who taken them hostage at gun point. The two heroes decide to refrain from flaming on in order to see what these criminals are up to.

Meanwhile, at the mansion owned by John Harriman, he tells his niece Betty that soon she will have somebody brought to her whom he will force her to marry. However, when the Torch and Toro are brought to the home and Betty is told to choose one to be their husband, the two flame on and make an escape with Betty so they can figure out what's going on.

Uncle John is furious but believes he knows how to deal with the heroes and pays a visit to his hired assassin the Eye, who begins hatching a scheme to deal with the Human Torch and Toro. Meanwhile, the Torch and Toro bring Betty to a diner where she explains that she is the heiress to her family fortune upon turning 21 years of age, however her uncle is attempting to thwart this by forcing her to marry before she is 21 so that he can claim the money instead.

The Human Torch and Toro promise to protect the girl and take her back to their apartment. There they are confronted by the Eye who challenges the Torch to a game of chess: the winner gets to decide Betty's fate. However, this is a trap as the Eye has drugged the chess pieces and as the Torch and Toro are soon knocked out as soon as they touch them.

The Eye then takes Betty and the two heroes back to his hideout where he places the Torch and Toro in a asbestos lined cage and forces them to flame on or be shot to death while he forces Betty to marry him. However, the two heroes manage to melt through the floor to the dungeon room where the Eye and Uncle John are getting a drunken ship captain to perform the marriage. After Uncle John and the Eye are turned over to the police, the chief explains to Betty that her Uncle John is not a biological relative, but her fathers step-brother who hated him and hopes to claim the family fortune. With the crisis over, Betty thanks the two heroes for their help and they part company.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

Joyride to Death

Joe the owner of an amusement park is having a hard time keeping his park in business due to competition from the Happy Land Amusement Park across the street, and his out dated rides which are becoming more and more dangerous due to lack of maintenance. After a patron falls from the Ferris wheel and dies, Joe believes that his business is washed up. He then begins calling his friends to ask them to come by and enjoy free rides on the last day his part will be open.

One of these calls goes to Jack Robinson, who offers to "get his friend" the Whizzer to come to the park and use his speed powers to run the amusement park rides. Sure enough with the advertisement that the Whizzer will be operating all the rides, it drums up a lot of business. However, when another accident happens, the Whizzer uses his speed power to prevent it from becoming fatal. Seeing some men running from the Ferris Wheel, the Whizzer chases them into the Tunnel of Love, but loses sight of them. Searching around the tunnel, the hero finds a secret passage that leads to the Happyland Amusement Park, but is unable to find the men responsible, and believes that they are responsible for the accidents happening at Joe's park.

Later, the owner of the Happy Land Park and his hired thugs try to cause a collision on the roller coaster, but the Whizzer stops it and rounds up the perpetrators and turns them over to the authorities. Joe thanks the Whizzer for helping, and shows the hero that he earned enough money to not only keep his park alive, but also buy all the equipment at the Happy Land Amusement Park to update all his old equipment.

Recurring Characters

Whizzer