All-Winners Comics #5

Aug 4

Aug 4 All-Winners Comics #5

Invading the Nazis' Secret Plan

The Human Torch and Toro are riding the subway in New York when a test blackout is put out over the city. As their subway car rushes to the nearest air raid shelter, Toro notices that one of the passengers of the train has become frightened. The man attempts to commit suicide by jumping out the back of the train but he is saved by the Torch. Toro spots what the man was so frightened about: a Nazi spy carrying a gun, and gives the man chase. The Torch finds that the frightened man has been fatally shot in the back. The dying man tells the Torch that he stumbled upon a Nazi plot to blow up New York's subway tunnels, and that they are hidden in a "steamship office" near Coney Island. Meanwhile, Toro attempts to grab the man who fired the shot but the spy manages to get away once reaching the city above, fortunately Toro gets a good look at his face.

Searching Coney Island, the two find the shooter as he is practicing his shooting at a target practice game. The Torch has Toro hide out while he tries to trick the shooter into leading him to their hideout by having an interest in his shooting skills. The man becomes nervous about the Torch's interest and leaves, unaware that Toro is following and leaving flaming markers for the Torch to follow later.

The shooter rushes to their hideout, which is actually a steam-ship docked near Coney Island. There he warns their leader, Captain von Spitz of the trouble coming just as Spitz has been preparing to have explosives smuggled into a hospital in a shipment of oxygen hoping to destroy a hospital. When the Torch and Toro attack, Spitz opens up one of the canisters of oxygen and locks them in the room. The added O2 in the room causes the two flaming heroes to burn out of control. With the explosives about to go off any minute, the Torch sends Toro to trail the Nazis while he pulls the ship away from shore. Once he gets the burning ship to a safe distance, he hears cries for help and manages to rescue the shooter, who was left to die by Spitz for his failure.

Soon, the Torch and Toro easily take down von Spitz who attempts to flee into the Coney Island crowd. Later when the spies are turned over to the authorities, the shooter — grateful that the Torch saved his life — confesses to the entire plot.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro, Nazis

The Vampire Strikes!

When Steve Rogers and Bucky read about the Japanese use of chemical weapons on the Chinese, Steve is deeply troubled by the news. While in Imperial Japan, high ranking Japanese officials have hired Dr. Tongu, who has developed a serum that can transform people into vampires to use against the Americans. Travelling to America, Tongu consumes his serum and becomes the Vampire.

He descends onto Camp Lehigh and attacks a high ranking military official while Steve and Bucky are on marching detail. Slipping away to change into Captain America and Bucky, they are shocked to see that their foe is a real life vampire. During the fight Cap is temporarily blinded when the Vampire strikes his eyes, allowing the inhuman creature to escape. Changing back into their civilian guises, they are reamed out by Sgt. Duffy for abandoning their post and sent to their tents for the night, surprisingly without a punishment for once. Shortly after, Sgt. Duffy and Colonel Jenison are attacked by the Vampire. Hearing Duffy's cries for help, Steve and Bucky change into costume once more and go to their rescue. They manage to save Duffy, but not Jenison. While struggling with the Vampire, Captain America is carried up into the air by the monsters giant wings and is thrown out of the sky. Cap saves himself by aiming for a nearby lake, landing safely in the water.

Recovering on dry land, Captain America finds Bucky's Sentinel of Liberty badge pointing in the direction of where he went. Cap follows it to a nearby castle where Bucky tells him that he saw the Vampire enter the building. Searching inside, they are confronted by the owner a man named Trent who claims to have bought the property recently to get away from the stress of society for the good of his health. Cap and Bucky are unaware that he is really Dr. Tongu, who once more drinks his serum to transform into the Vampire and attacks the two heroes while their backs are turned.

During the fight, Captain America pushes the Vampire toward an open window just as the sun is beginning to rise. The sunlight causes the Vampire to revert back to human form and he falls to the ground. Fatally wounded, Dr. Tongu curses Cap and Bucky for foiling his plot before dying. Learning who his employers were, Captain America and Bucky send them a mocking letter informing them that their master plan had failed. These Japanese officials are so thoroughly shamed by the letter that they commit suicide to try and redeem their lost honor.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky, Sgt. Duffy, Imperial Japan

Speed On the Rampage

A quartet of criminals are sent to the local state prison where, to their surprise, warden Balew offers them a deal: Join his League of Petty Crime, and he will protect them from the law by allowing them to operate from within his prison, earning a share of the money they steal. The quartet agree and they are released back out into civilization to begin robbing people on the street. The cries for help are heard by Robert Frank, who goes into action as the Whizzer. However, when he tries to catch the crooks warden Balew drives his car into the hero's path and pretends it was an accident, allowing the crooks to get away.

With their first trail a complete success, Balew sends his minions to rob a nearby carnival. Their attempt to robbery raises alarm enough to draw the Whizzer after them once more. The thugs then seek to escape the Whizzer by hopping onto the Thunderbolt roller-coaster, but the hero proves to be faster than the ride itself, able to catch up to it and grind it to a halt. Attempting to flee on foot, the crooks are knocked out by fast balls pitched by the Whizzer. The speedster then demands answers from the crooks, and they tell him who their employer is.

Speeding to the state prison, the Whizzer confronts Balew regarding his involvement. The crooked warden attempts to shoot the hero, but the Whizzer proves too fast, and easily overpowers him and turns him over to his own guards to be locked away.

Recurring Characters

Whizzer

The Hermit's Island of Glittering Gold!

Off the west coast of Africa, the Sub-Mariner stops at an uncharted island to take a rest from swimming. He is soon surprised to find that this island is littered with chunks of gold and muses what a gold rush it would create should anyone learn about its existence before going to sleep for the night. Namor is unaware that this island is inhabited by a hermit who seeks to keep its cache of gold a secret. He manages to get the jump on the Sub-Mariner, knocking the Atlantean out using Heroin leaves, knocking Namor out. The hermit then takes the Sub-Mariner back to his hut where he plans on killing the hero.

In his haste, the hermit does not douse the camp fire that the Sub-Mariner had set. As fate would have it, the fire attracts the attention of a Nazi battle ship piloted by Admiral Doering. Doering orders that he and his men investigate the island immediately.

Meanwhile, the Sub-Mariner revives and is told the hermit's story: He claims to be a man who signed up to sail in a tanker ship that got caught in a storm. The conditions on the boat led the crew to mutiny and the ship eventually sank. The sole survivor, the man came across the island and lived there as a hermit ever since. With his story over, the hermit hears the Nazi ship pulling to shore and believes that the Sub-Mariner had summoned it. Breaking free, Namor knocks out the hermit and goes to see who the new arrivals are.

Arriving just as the Nazis are pulling ashore, Namor attacks them when they discover the gold, knowing that the Nazis desperately need it for their war effort. Fighting the Nazis, Namor is grazed by a bullet and blacks out. By this time the hermit has come around and followed Namor to shore. Seeing that these new invaders are not friends with the Sub-Mariner, the hermit decides to help the monarch of the deep instead. This gives Namor a chance to come around, and he returns the favor by preventing Doering from shooting the hermit in the back. Grabbing the Nazi admiral, Namor threatens to kill him if the Nazis do not surrender.

Things turn out to be a stalemate until the hermit arrives with some homemade explosive and blows up Doering's landing party. Knowing the crew aboard the Nazi battleship would have heard the explosion, the Sub-Mariner forces Doering onto his landing boat and drives it out toward the ship. Once close enough, Namor forces Doering to fire a torpedo at the ship, destroying it and killing its crew. Fearing that a return to Nazi Germany would lead to his death, Doering begs the Sub-Mariner to do something. Namor obliges him, but not in the way Doering would have hoped: He gives the Nazi a good kick into shark infested waters to be eaten alive.

Returning to the island, the hermit thanks Namor for his help and offers him half the gold on his island. Namor declines the offer, telling the hermit that he's too busy fighting a war at the moment and dives into the water.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Nazis

The Demon's Deadly Secret

Paul Voltz, a sculptor and staunch anti-Nazi is being put on the chopping block to be executed for his words against the Nazi regime. Voltz's daughter is on site and is disappointed when it appears that the Destroyer cannot save her father like he promised. However, she soon learns the execution was faked, and that the executioner was none other than the Destroyer in disguise using a number of complicated props to make it look like her father was beheaded so that he could smuggle him out of the camp and bring him to freedom.

Switching back to his civilian guise of Keen Marlow, the Destroyer "meets" with Voltz's daughter and takes her out on a date, asking her about her father's "death" to make sure that she is good at acting like her father is killed. The girl's responses convinces the Destroyer that she will be able to keep up the ruse. While they are at a rathskeller[2] he overhears how three prominent German writers are to be executed for their words against the Third Reich. Marlow decides to investigate this further and rescue the three writers. But first he decides to finish up his previous mission, after Voltz is smuggled out of the country, the Destroyer tosses the fake head of Voltz with a mocking note into the home of the Nazi official in charge of the prison where Voltz was to be executed. This earns the ire of Captain Achhimmel who orders his subordinate Inga von Leeche to try and capture the Destroyer. They decide the best way to start is to canvass the city.

Spotting Achhimmel and Leeche at a rathskelter, Keen Marlow decides to introduce himself to Leeche and work a personal connection as his angle. Posing as German writer Louis Kramer he earns Von Leeche and Achhimmel's trust and suggests that the best way to capture the Destroyer is lead him into a trap by having someone else pose as the hero. Playing into his hand, the Nazis suggest that "Kramer" play the role of the false Destroyer, a delicious irony that the Destroyer decides to play up.

They stage a breakout, getting the Nazis' complete cooperation the Destroyer manages to free the three writers. However, to continue the ruse, the Destroyer then "implicates" his "impostor" by tossing the recently freed writers a note warning them that the man who freed them was a Nazi impostor and they are soon recaptured.

The Destroyer then reports back to the Nazis as "Kramer" and tells them everything went according to plan. Changing back into his Destroyer costume, the hero is spotted by two guards and attacked, but the hero knocks them out. Attacking Leeche and Achhimmel, Achhimmel is accidentally shot dead by Leeche. With the Nazis defeated, the Destroyer mocks Leeche for their failure to capture him and remarks that she will now be in charge now that Achhimmel is dead. He then escorts the three writers beyond the German border. He wishes them luck and before they go, he has one of them punch him in the face hard enough to give him a black eye.

Returning to the Nazi base, "Kramer" manages to convince Leeche that the Destroyer jumped him and took his place, securing his false identity. Later, resuming his identity of Keen Marlow, he meeds up with Voltz's daughter and hears her accounting of the Destroyer's rescue of the three writers. The entire adventure makes Keen muse over how he was able to so easily maintain three different identities.