Invasion by Ice

The Human Torch and Toro have been invited to the British Embassy in Washington where they are asked by a ranking British general if they could come to Britain's assistance in the event of a Nazi invasion. The Torch pledges their assistance before putting on a display of their powers.

Meanwhile, in Berlin Germany, Hermann Goering meets with Adolf Hitler to plan just such an invasion. Goering suggests that they hire Herr Blutcher, a man who is totally insane and although he was confined to an insane asylum for years has recently been released and is totally devoted to the Nazi regime. Accepting the suggestion, Hitler meets with Blutcher alone to detail the plans.

Weeks later in the United States, Nazi agents meet to discuss Blutcher's plan which begins with the elimination of the Human Torch and Toro. They ambush the two heroes as they are returning home, dousing them with chemicals and knocking them out. Bringing them to their hideout, the two heroes come around and easily defeat the spies and learn of the secret plot to invade Britain.

The two flaming heroes fly out to Britain as quickly as possible and meet with the general to discuss the invasion plan, which the general believes will come by means of an invasion force across the Channel by using a freezing coil to create a sheet of ice across the water way.

The Human Torch and Toro arrive at the Channel to see that Blutcher and his forces indeed are doing just as such and attempting to cross the waterway on sail sleds. The two heroes keep the Nazi forces at bay and melt the ice allowing British battleships to get close enough to pull the freezing coil out of the water. When it is exposed, the Human Torch destroys it with his flame powers then he and Toro easily roundup Blutcher and the surviving Nazi forces. After the battle is over, the two heroes are commended for their heroic deeds.

Recurring Characters

Human Torch, Toro, Nazis (Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goring)

Captain America

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are part of a deployment of American soldiers to New Guinea to combat Japanese forces in the region. As they are waiting for lunch their camp is suddenly attacked by Japanese fighters forcing the soldiers to take cover. While hiding in a dug-out, Bucky and Steve hear some sounds coming from underneath their feet like digging but dismiss it when they are called back after the attack is over.

They and the other soldiers are ordered to attention and are on hand for the arrival of General Douglas MacArthur as well as to prepare to launch an attack on the beach front that the Japanese have been fighting for dominance over. Later, a native who overheard this goes to the leader of the Japanese camp, a soldier named Kuhomai who is pleased to hear this and begins plotting to assassinate MacArthur as he was the man who killed his father in battle months earlier.

That night, Captain America and Bucky go into action to deal with the Japanese camp before General MacArthur arrives. Searching around the water, they find a tunnel leading underground. After fighting off alligators they follow the tunnel and find Kuhomai and his men bringing boxes of TNT to a cavern dug out under the American base which they intent to blow up when MacArthur arrives. The two heroes attack, but despite their efforts they are overpowered and taken prisoner. They are tied up and left surrounded by boxes of explosives and left to be killed in the blast.

However, quick thinking, Captain America pries apart one of the boxes of explosives and uses the nails to free Bucky. With time running out he sends his sidekick over the boxes. Bucky then finds the ignition wires and severs them before the electrical current can set off the bombs. When Kuhomai sends one of his men to investigate why the explosives did not go off, Cap and Bucky jump him and take him hostage.

They then move away enough of the explosives from the camp and rewire them then force the Japanese soldier they have captured to give the all clear signal to Kuhomai to set off the bombs. Captain America sends Bucky ahead to warn the soldiers and send them to the Japanese camp. They arrive just in time to see Kuhomai set off the explosions and blow up his own camp. The rest of the soldiers are wiped out by American forces and when Bucky returns to camp afterward he finds that Cap was thrown clear from the blast. Later as Steve Rogers, Cap is reamed out by Sgt. Duffy for his supposedly being "AWOL" during the counter-attack.

Recurring Characters

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

Sub-Mariner Changes the Face of the Earth

Military officials in the United States contact the Sub-Mariner and has him meet with them in Washington D.C. They ask him to help deliver a message to the Free France resistance movement at their secret headquarters in France. Namor accepts the mission and is supposed to be taken to the Potomac to begin his swim across the Atlantic. However, his driver turns out to be a Nazi spy who takes him up river to a bunch of other spies in order to be eliminated. Namor manages to fight his way to freedom and escapes in the river. The Nazi spy, having learned the course that Namor is going to take across the Atlantic radios the route to a Nazi U-Boat.

The Nazis prepare a trap by placing an abandoned U-Boat on the surface in order to draw the Sub-Mariner to the location and try to ambush him from behind. However, Namor manages to avoid the attack and sink the Nazi U-Boat with one of its own torpedoes.

Namor reaches the shores of France where he is attacked by a Nazi PT Boat, but manages to sink it as well. He gets into the Parisian harbor where he boards the red fishing boat owned by his contact in the Free French Resistance. There he is smuggled to shore, however they are spotted by a Nazi harbor patrol, but Namor grabs his contact and dives into the water swimming them to safety.

Taken to Free French headquarters, the commanding officer in charge reads the message that tells the freedom fighters that they will soon be aided by Allied Forces in the liberation of France. With his mission delivered, Namor decides to lend a helping hand and heads for North Africa where the action is supposed to start.

Recurring Characters

Sub-Mariner, Nazis

Destroyer

Deep in the bowels of Hell, Satan is unimpressed by the job that Adolf Hitler is doing on the surface world and sends his lover Madam Satan to bring Attila the Hun -- his most ruthless slave -- to the surface to take Hitler's place.

They appear on the surface and force their way to see Adolf Hitler himself and demand that he turn over the Nazis to Attila. Hitler decides to follow their orders but tells them that they will need a secret weapon in order to eliminate the Allied Forces. Unknown to them at the time, they are being watched by the Destroyer, who had come to terrorize Hitler personally and decides to sit back and see what is happening.

Madam Satan demonstrates a new weapon to be given to the Nazis, a gas that turns its victims to stone. The Destroyer then attacks both Hitler and Attila. When they attempt to use the gas on him, the hero holds his breath to avoid breathing it in. However, even the Destroyer has his limits and he is turned into stone. After the Destroyer is defeated, Attila shows Hitler that heat from fire can reverse the effects of the transformation and turns the soldiers they turned into stone back to normal.

Hitler then has the Destroyer's statue put on a dinner table and has a victory celebration with his men. After Hitler retires for the night the soldiers drink themselves to sleep at the table. One of them leaves a lit cigar on the table and it rolls towards the Destroyer's body. The heat from the cigar restores the Destroyer's legs to normal. The hero then walks to a nearby fire place and uses it's heat to change himself back to human form.

The Destroyer is then spotted by Madam Satan and Attila the Hun who both attack him. During the fight, the Destroyer disarms Madam Satan and then tosses Attila into the fire. Contact with the flames sends Attila back to Hell. Madam Satan follows after him, finding herself no match for the Destroyer. The fight awakens the Nazis who attack, but the Destroyer uses the gas to turn them to stone.

He then chases Hitler through the house attempting to use it on the Fuehrer himself. However, during the chase Allied Forces bomb the house, and the resulting explosions separates Hitler from the Destroyer and he manages to escape. The Destroyer then falls back and decides to destroy the canister containing the stone gas, deciding that such a weapon was too powerful for anyone to use.

Recurring Characters

Destroyer, Nazis (Adolf Hitler), Attila the Hun

Continuity Notes

• Per the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3 the appearance of the Destroyer is attributed to Roger Aubrey, retroactively making this the first appearance of the character.

• It is unknown if the character calling himself Satan is a unique entity or one of the many other Hell-Lords who have used the name in the past. The Unofficial Appendix seems to think this is a unique entity, so that’s good enough for me.

Holdup! Robbery! Murder!

Riko and his gang hold up a bank, killing the guard and stealing millions of dollars. To insure a clean getaway, they then force the remaining bank staff into the vault and lock them inside. Inside the vault, the two remaining bank employees fear that they will run out of air before the authorities can free them from inside.

When the authorities arrive on the scene they call for the Whizzer to lend a hand. When the hero arrives and sees that they are going to use a explosive to open the vault, the Whizzer warns that it would kill the men inside and tells them that he knows a man who can help them. Rushing out to the country he finds his friend A.J. Raffles, a former safe cracker who has reformed after serving his time. The Whizzer convinces the former criminal to use his safe cracking skills to help the police free the men trapped inside the vault.

While Raffles begins trying to crack the safe, the Whizzer goes after Riko and his gang. Chasing their getaway car to the country, the Whizzer makes the car crash and then forces the crooks out of the car. As he is busy knocking out the gang, Riko makes an attempted escape in a stolen motorcycle. But this escape is short lived as the Whizzer catches up to him and captures him as well.

When he returns and turns the crooks over to police custody, the Whizzer arrives just in time to learn that Raffles succeeded in cracking the safe, saving the lives of the bank employees inside and he is hailed as hero as well.

Recurring Characters

Whizzer