All-Winners Comics #6

Aug 4

Aug 4 All-Winners Comics #6

Hot Stamp Mob

All the schools in the New York City metropolitan area are competing for a trophy that will be awarded to the school that manages to sell the most war stamps. At his school, Toro and a fellow classmate suggest to the principal an idea where they sell posters and use the money to buy more stamps. The principal decides that this is a good idea and sends the two boys off to carry out their idea. As Toro is drawing a replica of the war stamp, both her and his classmate notice that the war stamp that Toro is using as a model is a counterfeit, as his hand is not holding onto the plow that is in the pictures of the official stamps. Calling in the Human Torch, Toro takes his findings to the principal. The principal gives them a list of the different shops where he buys defense stamps when the post office is sold out and the two begin canvassing the different stores.

At one of the stores, they catch the vendor red handed attempting to sell them counterfeit stamps. However, before he can stool on the leader of the rackets, he is gunned down in a hail of bullets. Chasing after the shooter, the Torch and Toro are forced to stand down when the shooter grabs a little girl as a hostage. As a getaway car pulls up to get the goon out, the Torch and Toro can do nothing but stand by helplessly and take down the license plate so that the child does not get hurt.

Inside the car the leader behind the counterfeit racket, named Big Eyes, scolds his subordinate for grabbing the girl and decides that they should eliminate her. Unable to bring himself to kill a little girl, the goon instead decides that they should let her go and grabs a scrap of paper to write a note to pin onto her dress. Big Eyes stops him, and scolds him for almost tagging their electrical bill on the girl, which lists the address to their hideout. Tearing off the address portion of the bill, the goon writes down the little girls information and leaves her on the side of the street. Returned to her home by a beat cop, the little girl is reunited with her mother. Seeing the note, the Torch and Toro examine it, and notice that the account number of the customer is still on the bill and that they could track him down with that. Rushing to the electric company, they learn that the bill belongs to a Joseph Thomas on 389 Prentess Street.

Going there, the Torch and Toro expose the illegal printing press they have operating out of the basement of the house. Leaping into the basement, the Torch and Toro find out too late that Big Eyes has rigged a pump to suck all the air out of the room. The two heroes flames go out and they pass out from the lack of air. Big Eyes then recovers his men from the room and they all watch through a window from upstairs as the Torch and Toro suffocate. With the last of his energy, the Torch breaks the light and realizing that the wall panels are screwed into the wall, he removes a screw with a screwdriver. This allows enough air to come in that the Torch and Toro can continue breathing to revitalize themselves.

They then feign dying of suffocation so that Big Eyes and his men turn off the air vacuum and go into the basement to remove their bodies. Naturally, the crooks do this making them easy prey for the two heroes who easily defeat them and go to contact the authorities.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro

The Stone-Man Slayer!

Within Nazi Germany, a mad sculptor (and Nazi supporter) has finished his creation, a massive purple statue. The sculptor takes this to the evil Professor Schultz who uses a machine to attempt to bring the massive statue to life. The machine causes feedback that blows up the lab, killing both men, but the intended results: the statue being transformed into a living weapon for the Nazis to use in the war, was a complete success. The creature tears out of the flaming wreck seeking enemies of the Nazis to destroy.

Not far away, some British soldiers arrive in Germany on a secret mission to destroy a Nazi ammunition factory. While they easily knock out some Nazi soldiers they run into, they are suddenly ambushed by the massive statue. The creature murders the whole unit except one soldier, before the Destroyer arrives on the scene and manages to fight off the monster and forces it to flee into the woods. Learning of the British soldiers mission from the only survivor, the Destroyer picks up the wounded man and the two go off to complete the mission together.

Meanwhile, the stone man runs into an army of Nazi soldiers and their commander, after receiving a warning that the Destroyer is in the area, decides to use the loyal creature to destroy the Nazis greatest menace. Elsewhere, at the ammunition factory, the Destroyer and British soldier get the drop on the security patrolling the property. While the soldier keeps the Nazis at gun point, the Destroyer goes ahead to destroy the plant. Shortly after the Destroyer leaves, the soldier is attacked and killed by the statue creature.

Not far away, the Destroyer gets the jump on another guard and steals his uniform. This works to get him into the factory where he plants the explosives. On his way out, he is recognized by the Nazis and drops his disguise. Fighting the soldiers, the Destroyer is overpowered and quickly taken prisoner. When he comes to, he sees the stone monster and when he tells the creature that he's rigged the place to explode it fearfully flees the scene, smashing through the dungeon doorway. The British soldier, on death's door crawls through the doorway and frees the Destroyer from his bonds before dying. The Destroyer manages to get out just moments before the base explodes, destroying the stone monster.

Later, having returned to Britain in his civilian identity of Keen Marlow, the Destroyer relays the victory and sacrifice over the airwaves to the citizens of Britain.

Recurring Characters

Destroyer, Nazis

Recurring Characters

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

The Mock Mikado Strikes!

At the turn of the 19th century, a Japanese emperor is surprised to learn that his wife has given birth to not one son, but two. Knowing that the two heirs to his empire would fight in a bloody civil war that would divide their country, the emperor orders his minion Baron Bujitso to take the second boy, dubbed the "Mock Mikado" to the United States, hoping that once he has grown up he will take over the United States, expanding his empire across the globe so that both boys can rule over one half of the Earth.

Bujitso and an army of soldiers arrived in Mexico where they raised the boy, until the winter of 1941. On his deathbed, Bujitso ordered the Mock Mikado to fulfill his family legacy and take over the United States. Short months later, the Mock Mikado gathers his army to invade the United States through California. Leading them on horseback into the States, their arrival is witnessed by Private Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. The two heroes leap into action as Captain America and Bucky to try and stop the invaders.

Even though they manage to get on to a horse and try to fight back the army of men, they are but two fighters against the literal army. Cap and Bucky are soon overpowered and then taken prisoner, the Mock Mikado deciding to spare their lives until after they have secured California. The Mikado's minions come across a movie set in need of extras for the film they are currently working on. The oblivious director orders one of his staff to try and recruit them into the film, realizing too late that they are Japanese invaders who rampage their set before continuing on their invasion of California. The warriors then easily defeat the American army stationed near by and soon California falls to their army.

With their executions looming, Captain America and Bucky manage to break free and learn the location of the Mock Mikado's camp from a dying American soldier. Riding there on motorcycle, the duo rush the camp chopping down their tents as they ride through. Having alerted the army to their plan, Cap and Bucky lures the Mock Mikado and his minions into a dead-end mountain pass. There, the Mikado and his men think they have the two heroes trapped, however soldiers pop up on either side and gun down the Mikado's men. Also his incoming invasion fleet from Japan is soon bombed by American bombs that were warned of their approach. Defeated, the Mikado is bound up with rope and left for the soldiers by Captain America and Bucky. Sgt. Duffy is on the scene to recover the would be invader, and turn him over to military brass.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, Bucky, Sgt. Duffy, General Haywood, Imperial Japan

The Black Avenger!

FCC agent Jerry Carstairs is asked to visit with the local FBI. There he is shocked to see that they have captured a spy that bares a remarkable resemblance to him. Carstairs, in order to protect his double identity as the Black Avenger, feigns to be too frightened to pose as the spy and learn the location of their hideout. The spy manages to break free and slips out the window before the FBI agents can capture him.

While the agents are chasing after the spy, Carstairs changes into the Black Avenger and stops their getaway car and knocks out the spy before the FBI can arrive on the scene. Changing back to his civilian identity, Carstairs "changes his mind" and agrees to pose as the spy. He goes to the appointed meeting place and uses the correct password to be brought to the spies hideout. There he meets their leader Kurt Weidener, who shoots one of his men for squealing on them and dumps his body into an incinerator. While Carstairs is blindfolded and taken to the secret hideout, the real spy manages to break out of his cell and heads towards his employers to warn him of the double cross that is about to happen.

He happens to arrive just as Jerry is flipping a switch to keep their airwaves open. Tied up in thrown into a room until he can be dealt with later, Jerry breaks free of his bonds and changes into the Black Avenger. Chasing the crooks into a nearby wood, they almost kill the hero by causing a small cave-in to happen. But the Black Avenger manages to break free and capture one of the crooks, forcing him to reveal where his boss is hiding out. The Black Avenger then tracks down Weidener and easily knocks him out, leaving him and his men for the FBI.

Recurring Characters

Black Avenger, Nazis

Continuity Notes

This is the last Golden Age appearance of the Thunderer/Black Avenger. The character makes a brief return in Avengers/Invaders #10 & 12 and Ant-Man: Last Days #1.

Spies Use Their Heads!

In Los Angeles, the Sub-Mariner hears the scream of someone being attacked. He comes across a masked man attacking another person. When Namor tries to stop the attacker, he is stabbed in the shoulder for his troubles and passes out from the wound, allowing the killer to escape. Coming around shortly after, the Sub-Mariner inspects the body and is horrified to find that the victim had been scalped. Showing the body to a police officer, the Sub-Mariner decides to investigate the crime himself. The following day in the paper, local Native American film star named Johnny Feather-in-Hat has been accused of the killing, although the Sub-Mariner is not convinced that this is the case.

Taking the knife to the manufacturer, the Sub-Mariner learns that the company doesn't make many knives due to the fact that they have gone into weapons manufacturing and tracks down the shop that had purchased the knives. He learns that the knife was sold to a Japanese man and is given a description. The Sub-Mariner takes this description and calls in to Navy intelligence. There he is told that the man he is describing is a Japanese man named Professor Gojo, a man so important to Uncle Sam, that he is not in an internment camp.

Suspicious, the Sub-Mariner decides to pay a visit to Gojo's mansion and is nearly electrocuted by an electrified window ledge when trying to break into the property. Going down the chimney instead, the Sub-Mariner finds Gojo instructing a number of fellow Japanese men on the art of murder. Gojo, as it turns out, has opened up a school to instruct Japanese men how to kill Americans and has taken a sick pleasure in taking trophies from his various victims. Beating Gojo into submission, the Sub-Mariner learns that the man that Gojo had killed and scalped the night before was an American spy who had a tattoo of Japanese defenses tattooed on his scalp which he then smuggled out of Japan. When his superiors learned of this, they sent Gojo orders to eliminate this man and take his scalp so that the secrets could remain safe.

Gojo breaks free and also manages to subdue the Sub-Mariner locking him to the wall in shackles and then signals a Japanese air raid to commence. As the raid goes on, the Sub-Mariner manages to turn on the light in the room he is locked in, alerting police officers on duty making sure all lights are off during the air raid. They free the Sub-Mariner who manages to report to the military about the invasion plan, and the American army fights it off. Tracking Gojo to the basement of the mansion, he is too late to stop the shamed spy from committing suicide. Going with Navy officials to the island where the Japanese soldiers are stationed, the Sub-Mariner swims to it with a torpedo which he tosses into the inactive volcano on the island. The exploding torpedo causes a massive volcanic eruption that wipes out the Japanese soldiers, ending the invasion threat.