All-Winners Comics #2

Aug 4

Aug 4 All-Winners Comics #2

Carnival of Death

The Human Torch and Toro decide to take a vacation to Calm Lake and enjoy the ski hills in the area. However, their vacation is cut short when they spot a skier being murdered by a knife throwing lunatic. Chasing after the killer they note that he is horribly scarred and try to capture him. The killer causes an avalanche, burying the two heroes while he makes his escape. Freeing themselves from the snow, the only clue the Torch and Toro can find is a matchbook for a hotel that is sponsoring a nearby carnival, and that the man who was murdered was Price, one of the co-owners.

Going to the hotel they interview the carnival co-owner Mr. Howe and ask him if his carnival has any enemies. Howe told them how years ago he and his partner Price owned a vaudevillian theater that included knife thrower Jimmy Mack as one of the act. When a fire in the building left Mack horribly scarred, he vowed to get revenge against Howe and Price after suspicion of arson was ruled out. Deemed to be insane, Mack was locked up in a nearby insane asylum. Calling the asylum the heroes learned that Mack had escaped. Attacked by what appeared to be Jimmy Mack, the Torch and Toro fail to capture him and find Howe wounded with a knife.

However, upon finding the same book of matches on Howe, the Torch deduces that Howe was really the one responsible for the murders. Howe confesses, explaining that he helped Jimmy Mack escape and locked him up in his cabin and forced Mack to teach him how to throw knives. Then with a lifelike mask cast to look like Mack, he murdered Price to take over the carnival. Howe attempts to flee the two heroes, however he is caught when he attempts to race across a frozen lake, which the Torch and Toro melt. Going to Howe's cabin, they find Mack chained up and he explains that he was forced to teach Howe to throw knives and all he wanted to do was return to the asylum and get help.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Strange Case of the Malay Idol

When Colonel Carter is heading to Singapore with some secret documents he charges Steve Rogers and Bucky with accompanying him on the plane being piloted by Lieutenant Conroy. As they are flying over the Malay Archipelago they suddenly crash in the ocean. Making it to a nearby island alive, Steve and Bucky spot Carter being taken prisoner by the local natives and go into action as Captain America and Bucky to rescue him. Attacking the tribesmen, Captain America and Bucky are captured by the tribespeople as well and the trio are taken to their master: Lieutenant Conroy.

Conroy reveals that he is really a Nazi spy named Kurt Mueller who killed and replaced Conroy to get at the secret files and that the local Daka tribe on the island worshiped him and the Nazis as a god. Captain America and Bucky break free and during the fight, Captain America knocks Mueller into a fire pit sending him to his death. Before the angry tribespeople can overwhelm the three Americans, the Navy arrive with guns blazing and send the natives fleeing into the jungle. As Colonel Carter and the secret files are recovered, Captain America and Bucky slip away to change back into their civilian identities and act like they were lost in the jungle the whole time.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky

Bombs of Doom!

When Keen Marlow pays a visit to his female friend Florence von Ward he finds that her home has been ransacked. A Nazi official gets the drop on Marlow and explains to him that Florence has been arrested and taken to a concentration camp as a means to force her uncle Professor Herman Berg to use his scientific skills for the Nazi cause. Changing into the Destroyer, Keen knocks out the Nazi soldier and rushes off to rescue Florence and her uncle.

Meanwhile, at the concentration camp, Nazi officials threaten to torture Florence if Herman does not agree to create bombs that carry the black plague to use against Britain. The Destroyer attempts to rescue Herman, but is knocked out by a gun butt to the head. Taken to the Bavarian Alps, the Nazis then toss the Destroyer off a cliff in order to eliminate him. Regaining consciousness the Destroyer survives the fall and learns from a sheep herder the location of the Nazi base.

Tracking it down, he fights his way through its defenses and frees Florence from the dungeon. The Destroyer learns that Herman was forced to complete the bombs and that they were to be flown from a nearby village to attack Britain. Sneaking out of the Nazi base, the duo arrive in the village where the Destroyer sees Hitler himself overseeing the operation. The Destroyer clashes with Nazi forces, frees Herman, and humiliates Hitler. Before the Nazi plane can take off for its bombing run, the Destroyer replaces the vials of the black plague with a letter saluting the British people. Escaping with Florence and Herman, the Destroyer returns home. Listening to the radio that night Keen and Florence learn how British officials were puzzled after shooting down a Nazi plane that did not have any lethal cargo.

Recurring Characters

Destroyer, Florence von Banger, Nazis (Adolf Hitler)

Continuity Notes

Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3, the appearance of the Destroyer here is attributed to Kevin Marlow.

Plague of the Poisoned Jewelry

Robert Frank is walking down the street one day when he suddenly sees a woman drop dead. Examining her corpse he notices that there is purple discoloration on her skin around the jewelery she is wearing. After a rush of similar strange deaths, Robert decides to investigate as the Whizzer and notes that all the victims had recently bought jewels at the Star Department Store.

The Whizzer applies for and gets a job at the store and learns that the store owner is working with a Nazi spy named the Lens to proliferate poisoned jewels all over the city. Exposing them, the Whizzer chases them to the docks where they would be picking up another load of poisoned jewels. Attacking them there, the Whizzer chases them back to the Star Department store where he easily knocks them out and turns them over to the authorities.

Recurring Characters

Whizzer

The Ghost Fleet

Reading a newspaper about a supposed Nazi ghost fleet that materialized out of thin air out at sea, the Sub-Mariner decides to investigate. Upon closer inspection he finds that the "ghost fleet" is nothing more than a series of movie projectors that project the image of Nazi battleships on a large canvass while the real threat comes in the form of nearby Nazi U-Boats that torpedo the British fleets they encounter.

The Sub-Mariner wrecks the operation, exposing it to Allied Forces after rounding up the Nazi agents and sending them off in a lifeboat to be taken prisoner.